Migraine Battle 2010

Four days ago, I woke up with a migraine. This is not unusual for me-- I get migraines pretty frequently, sometimes as many as two or three times a week. Usually, I get the migraine, take some ibuprofen/naproxen sodium/whatever is on hand. If I have to go to work, I just tough it out and pray the migraine goes away before too long. Typically, after I get some sleep, it's gone.

But this migraine is different. This one is special.

As I said, I woke up with a migraine four days ago. This thing hasn't gone away, despite my best efforts. It started innocently enough. The pain set in gradually, creeping in with such subtlety and malice that I didn't realize it was happening at first.
INDEED. If only I'd known what. I'd like to believe that if I'd started taking tylenol or something at that stage, I wouldn't be where I am today. Ah well, wish in one hand and shit in the other; see which one fills up first.

That was Friday. I was supposed to be playing Dungeons and Dragons with my friends that day. We went to lunch beforehand. It was shortly before that, that I realized what was happening to me. Horrified and alarmed, I took some ibuprofen. I was not going to let the migraine defeat me.

I took the bottle with me in my purse to lunch and then to Dungeons and Dragons afterward, just in case. The migraine didn't let up and before long I was squinting at my character sheet and doing my damndest to laugh at every joke, not break character, and generally try to make everyone believe my migraine had gone away and I was, in fact, fine.

Many hours later when we called it quits, not all of us were ready to just go home, myself included. I'd taken some more ibuprofen and I was starting to feel a little bit better. Surely, I thought, my migraine had gone away. So a few of us decided to play Magic the Gathering.

Until 3 AM.

Well, I went home and went to bed. When I woke up later on Saturday, my migraine was reminding me that it had never gone away at all, and that the horror was only beginning.

The next two days were a blur of me laying in bed, feeling sorry for myself and drinking lots of water. I also tried putting vapor rub under my eyes and nose in the hopes that I was dealing with a sinus headache and that the vapor rub would open up my sinuses and everything would magically be fine.

This was not the case.

Last night ended with me going in the bathroom and turning on the shower as hot as it would go to fill the bathroom with steam. I hoped that perhaps that would help. I know, stupid-- but I was desperate at that point.

The migraine was winning. It wouldn't go away. So I went to bed.

It's still winning today. Like an army of rabid hamsters gnawing on my brain, it's winning. But I will not give up. This damn thing is gonna go away and I'm going to get back to living in peace.

Never stop fighting! YEAAAAAH!