Headaches and Hot flashes

I wrote this entry last night, in my mind, while I was laying awake waiting for the advil to kick in. I suffer from headaches. I remember vividly where I was and what I was doing when I got my first migraine. I was in the basement of the music wing at college, in the classroom with the grand piano.  David McIntyre was the professor in that classroom with the freshman class.  We were sitting kind of in a semi-circle.  David was teaching something about 20 Century music and using the piano to demonstrate some techniques. His voice started going really strange. What was a lovely, soothing baritone-ish speaking voice morphed into something sinister and dark and deep and loud - so loud I could hardly stand it. The piano became unbearable. My friends Lissa and Jen were watching me from across the room - a fact I discovered later. It was they who quietly stood up from their desks, came over to me, gathered my books and almost carried me back to the dorm. I couldn't get into bed fast enough. But somehow the room was so bright - painfully bright.  I must have forced myself up sometime to close the blind and make it as dark in there as possible. It took a long time for me to get to sleep, but just when I finally drifted off, the vacuum in the hall jolted me awake. The custodian was  cleaning that day. I was nauseous and in so much pain. I didn't have a clue what was wrong with me.  I imagined it must have been a brain tumour. I didn't know.  The next morning I felt fine. I got out of the shower. Julie, 1 of the girls in the dorm met me at the sink, looked at me and said, "oh, did you have a migraine?" I hadn't looked at myself yet at that point. I didn't know I had 2 black eyes. She told me her mom suffered with migraines and usually always got black eyes from the extreme pressure. What a relief to know!

That was half a lifetime ago. My doctor had prescribed  pills to me for migraines when I was older and married and a mother. Each pill cost $20, roughly.  Worth every cent if it would help. They kind of knocked me out. Then my heart would start racing when I took them.  It got to the point where I would not take 1 unless Danny or my Mom was nearby to help if needed.

So, because I was scared for my health every time I took a pill, I decided to try acupuncture instead. The first trip to the chiropractor who did the acupuncture was an adventure. I sat in a chair by a table and he flicked tiny little needles into different points in my hand. Many needles were in my thumb and index finger area. The doctor left the room. I got extremely woozy and nauseous and wished for a can of ginger ale.  The next time I was prepared. I had my bottle of ginger ale! After the needles were installed the doctor left. All I could do was look at the bottle. There was no way to open it. My fingers were immobile. Darn! Trip 3 wasn't going to be like that. I had my ginger ale bottle opened, with a bendy straw!  I was set! I could drink my ginger ale.  But I didn't need to. The nausea was gone!  And so were the migraines.  Mostly.  I still get headaches, some of them very bad, and very few migraines. I find the headaches come when there is a change in the barometer. I am Danny's farming weather-girl. I am more accurate than the forecasters on the tv and radio. Makes me wonder what we're in store for in the next few days with the headache I had last night. I got up, grabbed a face cloth, wrung it under cold, cold water, took it to bed and put it on my forehead. It came in handy in the middle of the night when that hot flash attacked me!