Headache

I have always been that person who waits too long to do something I should have done a long time ago.  Say, for instance, taking anti-depressants which you can read about here or shopping for Christmas or writing a report for school or whatever.  You get the gist.

When I was a little kid if I had even the slightest sniffle or cough my mother would run me to the doctor and demand an antibiotic which we know now wasn't necessary and probably made our immune systems worse off but whatever.  Even as an adult (before she died) if I had a cough for more than three days she'd try to get me to go to the doctor for an antibiotic.  Of course, by the time I was an adult I had learned that a virus takes 7 to 10 days to clear the body.  I was sick in January, really sick, with a virus that took 10 days until I felt a little bit better.  Then it took two weeks to get rid of the dry cough.  I could hear her in the back of my head saying, "You should go to the doctor and get an antibiotic."  To which I replied, to myself of course, "It'll go away!  It's not bacterial!" 

Maybe because my mom was a such pill pusher (not really, but it's funny to think so) and took something for everything that came down the pike that I don't like to take medications now.  I watched her try to control her headaches for years.  She had these horrible debilitating headaches all her life that she controlled with huge amounts of Excedrin and Coke.  Lots of caffeine and aspirin led to huge stomach ulcers which introduced a whole new set of problems.  So then she turned to Tylenol which, let's face it, does nothing for headaches.  After her ulcers cleared up she turned back to her favorite--Excedrin and Coke.  Especially at the end of her life which from the lack of oxygen caused her to have excruciating headaches but hell she was already dying.  She ended up having to take heavy doses of some kind of legal narcotic to control the pain.  At least she died pain free, relatively. (And yes, I know that caffeine and sugar create headaches and it's a cycle and we told her but.....it was her life.)

I mean, if I get a sinus infection I don't mind taking an antibiotic.  But I always know the difference between a virus and a sinus infection--my teeth will hurt.  But if my hip hurts because I've knocked it out of alignment from running I go to the chiropractor.  If my shoulders hurt because I've sat at my desk too long working on something I call the massage therapist. 

But if my head hurts----I will wait for HOURS to do something about it.  I will wait until I am so nauseated and light hurts my eyes and I'm lying in bed debilitated before I will take something.  And Tylenol doesn't help.  Neither does Motrin.  Only Excedrin will do the trick.  I only have to take one.  One Excedrin will get rid of my headaches (I know they are migraines--leave me alone) but I will wait and see if it will go away on it's own.  It doesn't until I take my medication.

Yesterday I started to get a headache at about 3pm.  I was working on a family history project all afternoon and into the evening.  I ignored the headache.  I got up, made dinner, had a little family home evening, then went back to my project until I couldn't bear it anymore.  Then instead of taking the one Excedrin I think to myself, "If I go to bed it will be gone in the morning."  That used to be the case but as I get older it's not.  I woke up with the same damned headache.

 Guess what I did first thing this morning......I took an Excedrin.  And 30 minutes later?  Headache gone. 

It goes back to me always thinking, "I CAN DO IT MYSELF!"  I'm a 3 year old in a 45 year old body/mind.