I saw my doctor yesterday about the migraines. Ironically, it was a particularly bad day (due in part to the weather) and I looked quite pitiful, huddled inside two sweaters, wearing my super-dark sunglasses. (Those are the sunglasses I had made, custom, that the optometrist said might be safe to wear when welding.) Apparently it's been a very bad year for everyone, in terms of weather-related health problems, and he didn't argue a bit, just asked questions about why I didn't like my old medication and suggested a new one. I said okay to the new one. (I may tell him what to do in terms of chronic pain, but he knows more than me about just about everything else.)
So over I go to the pharmacy, land of my nightmares. I hate those fuckers. Have I mentioned lately I hate those fuckers?
I was in line to ask them what the bloody hell was taking so long, when my name came up on the 'perscription ready' list. When I got to the window, I was greeted with a sheaf of papers to sign - turns out my new migraine medication is a controlled substance, just like the narcotics and tranquilizers I've been trying to quit taking for the last month.
Sigh. At least I only take these when I've got a migraine, and once the weather settles down, that means almost never.
It's called "Midrin" for those who are curious. It's a 'combination drug', meaning it's some unholy witches' brew of stuff, not one single chemical. There's an anti-inflammatory, a vasoconstrictor (which is what I was on before that messed me up, but this is mild enough it doesn't bother me), some kind of sedative related to chloral hydrate (isn't that a hoot? Knock out drops. Fun), and God knows what else. one or two other things.
Long story short, they make me slur my speech, but I slept last night for the first time in three weeks, and am awake enough this morning to be writing a blog post at nine AM, instead of laying in the recliner with the cat on me, barely coherent. When I took it yesterday, I got really goofy, but I've yet to decide if that's the drug, or just being free of pain -- I've seen it in chronic pain situations before. My CP doctor told me about it, too. Basically, if you've been in pain for a while, being suddenly free of pain can make you so giddy it's like you're drunk. And it can happen with drugs that have NO drunkeness effect. I've had it before with anti-inflammatories. So we'll see. But there are far worse things than being goofy. I kinda like being goofy.
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Anyway. Now that I'm feeling better, I'm working on the Vogue Knitting holiday review. I swear. Unfortunately, last I checked the VK web site is down and there are no photos available. I took some of my own, using my camera to take photos of the magazine. But they kind of suck. So unless the web site goes up in the next day or so, you're stuck with more photos of a lesser quality, for the review.
I had the husbeast look through the magazine in the hopes of another description like 'fistful of monkey's assholes', but no luck. Mostly he just kept saying "what is that doing in a winter magazine?" which was the same thing I was asking.
There is one pattern that made me think "Oh my god, another Dalek", but you'll just have to wait and see. (Unless you have the magazine, then feel free to guess which one I'm talking about. I bet you know.)
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Last night, we were watching "How it's Made" on Discover. It's a show that does factory tours. The husbeast and I are engineering geeks, so we love the show, and it's something safe to watch when the Goober's running around (as opposed to, say, murder vision, which is strictly a nap time sort of thing).
I don't know if it's the environment or simply DNA, but the Goober appears to be turning into an engineering geek before our very eyes. It was a segment on how they make ball-bearings, and she was fascinated.
(Note the pig slippers.)
I went to high school with a girl who was about five feet tall, looked like a pixie, and had a tiny little-girl voice. She told everyone that she wanted to be a mechanical engineer. Last I heard, she was working for NASA. I always think of her when the Goober starts on the engineering stuff.
Now I'm gonna go knit. Because I feel like it. Whee!
10 comments:
I am so glad you feel better. This weather is wreaking havoc on my sinuses and because I have high bp I can't take any decongestants. Warm cloths and steam only go so far and I can't walk around work with a cloth on my face. The absence of pain is a tangible thing. And yay for baby engineers! I have a child who always liked to take things apart and still does. Now she is focused on car engines. It saves me money at the mechanics.
I'm glad you're feeling better!
I love How it's Made, although my fiance laughs at me. It's weird because my company works on automation of a different sort, and I actually studied machine automation in school, so to see it applied in so many differet settings is really neat. I also like the episodes where they show factories that still require real human beings.
Does she like construction toys? I was forbidden to play with my brothers' errector sets because, "Girls don't do that." Duh! I can get my own errector set now!
I'm surprised you were prescribed Midrin, that was the treatment I was given 15 years ago for my migraines! I'm sending fuck off migraine vibes your way. Cheers.
Gotta love a drug with the word "mucate" in the ingredients list!
You know what I want to see? How t-shirt fabric is knitted. Those machines have to be pretty incredible. I'll be so disappointed if it turns out to be trained mice.
I'm so glad you're feeling better--the chronic health stuff just SUCKS. The Goober is gonna blow it up, when she gets to school--the teachers won't know what hit them and be grateful for the favor.
I hate how the base Pharm works controlled substance Rx's. hate, hate, hate it. I know they have to count the stuff twice but you end up waiting three or four times longer than everyone else which is WRONG.
Midrin...don't know why they have it controlled now cause I took it years ago and it wasn't, at least at Keesler. I don't remember it making me goofy (I didn't get relieved of duty while on it and I was a medic) but I do remember that you aren't suppose to take Tylenol while on it since that's an ingredient.
How it's made is neat. I like the history of food shows too. History anything is good at our house.
Have you thought about getting your sinuses roto-rootered? I lived on sudafed year-round and still got sinus infections, with all that involves while on zxytec. Finally got an ENT referral and within two weeks I'd had the procedure. It's been wonderful. No more headaches. No more muck down the throat. No more feeling like my heads gonna explode and bending over a new high in pain endurance. Anyway, just a thought...if you can get past the primary care gatekeepers...
I've had those "OMG, what happened to the pain" moments! I understand the giddiness. Congrats on finding something that works.
Hope the new medication does the trick, goofiness is fun!
And yay on baby engineers - I remember talking to my cousin on the phone years ago and having her go "Ah, I need to go, the baby has just dismantled the washing machine" and she meant literally! (the baby being about 3 years old at the time).
Me too on the Midrin. I never liked the stuff. Now I go around preaching the Gospel of Imitrex (sumatriptan)to anyone with migraine -- have you tried it? It's expensive, but works miracles for me -- I can take it even after the headache starts, and an hour later ALL THE PAIN IS GONE (and usually doesn't come back).
Added advantages: it's a single drug, no narcotics, no controlled substances, no sedatives, very few side effects for most people, non-addictive and relatively safe as drugs go :)
In the distant future, electronic treatments may make migraines go away for months at a time, but for the moment, Imitrex seems to be the best we've got.
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