A no good, very bad day

Back to your regularly scheduled "100 Things" in a few... a quick "regular" post, first.

I've had a left-side sinus infection off and on for months, perhaps years. Over the past few years, I've developed migraines, mostly on the left side. Saturday morning, the two intersected -- mind you, it was also the worst migraine I ever remember having, as well.

I haven't been in that much pain in a long time.

I initially woke up at 6:30, feeling a headache coming on, but expecting only a mild one. I woke up again at 9, and waited maybe 15 minutes before I poked Bruce and told him I should go to the local clinic.

I'd never officially been diagnosed with migraines until yesterday, so I usually would just sleep the bad ones off. But given that this was my third bad one in 6 weeks, it was time to do something about it. And that was truly the case, since I was in so much pain I was unable to walk a straight line and unable to read anything without dry-heaving. And thoughts of food? No could do.

So he drove me to the clinic... and I sat in the waiting room in so much pain, hunched over, tears streaming down the left side of my face. I got in to the doctor (who knows me pretty well, since he's treated both my hand injury and Bruce's shoulder injury) and he basically told me... why the hell did you wait so long to get these headaches looked at?

(They seemed to coincide with sinus infections, so I've tried myriad methods to treat my headaches from that angle... with no success. That's why.)

Anyway, I honestly can't remember half of the appointment, and I'm sure that if I didn't have a pharmaceutical background and an interest in health science, I wouldn't remember much at all. In any case, since I was nearly unconscious, I was treated, sent home, and told to come back next week to discuss headache treatment when more lucid.

I got a shot of Imitrex into my arm. Ahhh, within the first hour, I could actually watch TV without everything swimming in front of my eyes. Got a booster shot two hours later, which by mid-afternoon, reduced me to moderate headache -- making me mostly functional!

I also got some "happy drugs" (amidine) that would squelch a headache if it continued into the night. The thing is -- I'd told a friend I'd go to his birthday party that night, including promises of interesting alcoholic concoctions -- and amidine and alcohol do NOT mix. I was ready to bag the party, but Bruce was feeling the need to be social and seemed to want to go.

I held off on happy drugs, wanting to drink something (yeah, like that's a good idea with a bloodstream full of imitrex). Until shortly before the party, when the pain worsened a bit again. Then the left-side tearing restarted. And then, the pukey feeling came back. So I took the pills and sacrificed the alcohol. Oh well, no biggie.

But the moment I got to the party was, happily, my first pain-free moment of the day! Oh joy, oh rapture! And the people there seemed very cool. Unfortunately this stupid laryngitis-thing (which may be an indirect result of too many migraines in a row, rather than actual sinus infection) made it impossible for me to be social, and it was totally frustrating. I hate coming across as so anti-social, but what to do? If we cross paths again, they will meet a very different Brooke.

In any case, I heard some very interesting stories about this friend from people who've known him 10+ years. (Blackmail, my dear, if you're reading this. Ha!) But still had to leave early (not only out of anti-social frustration) because both the amidine and imitrex have "dizziness" as their major side effect, and the room started spinning even when I was standing still. Still, I wasn't in pain at all, so I was a lot happier.

Today, I show no signs of having experienced one of the worst headaches I've ever had. Funny how life works that way. Just goes to show that sometimes living "in the moment" isn't the best thing to do -- think ahead 24 hours, or even less, to a time when I won't be in pain.

And I hate to live a life controlled by drugs, which I'll have to do, given the increased migraine frequency I've experienced. But I've been down that road once before (a story for another time, when I had a series of panic attacks) and I can do it again and stay strong.