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Dealing with chronic headaches is\u00a0a helluva ride.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n About two weeks back, I got a whopper of a migraine. It pulsed and pounded through my head for a full week, with only the briefest moments of relief. Hot showers helped, when\u00a0the water was running on my head, and so did head\/neck\/shoulder massages from Daniel. But once the showers and massages\u00a0were over, or maybe ten minutes later, the pain came rushing back. <\/span><\/p>\n By Friday of last week (two Fridays ago now), I woke up with vertigo. I was dizzy and spinning for three full days before it slowly started to fade and by that point I felt so grateful just to walk normally. A day or so later, the migraine let up, too.<\/span><\/p>\n To back up a bit though, I should mention that headaches are a routine thing for me. For at least the last three years, I\u2019ve gotten a headache a day. They usually come in the afternoon, around 3 o\u2019clock or so, and don\u2019t go away unless I take something, like ibuprofen (Advil) or acetaminophen (Tylenol). I realize how absolutely bonkers it sounds to have a daily headache and not have gotten to the bottom of it sooner, but a.) admittedly, I\u2019m terrible about self-care sometimes\u2014it\u2019s that thing where, if your mom is ever sick you\u2019re all, \u201cGet to the doctor!!\u201d But if you\u2019re sick, it\u2019s, \u201cI\u2019m fiiiiine. Don\u2019t worry!\u201d, \u00a0b.) I could tell myself I\u2019d keep trying to fix it on my own (despite the fact that all my troubleshooting attempts never worked), and c.) sad to admit it but, I guess I just figured…lots of people have headaches. My mom, who is, of course, just panic-stricken about the whole thing, tells me that my dad (and his mom, too) had terrible and persistent headaches, and even went to a \u201cheadache clinic,\u201d as she describes it, when he was in his early thirties. She says he never found a solution there.<\/p>\n Before this past summer, I might have coasted through another headache-a-day year just fi\u2014not really. But the headaches got worse. Sometimes they\u2019d last for a day, or two, or the pressure in my head\u2014behind my eyes, mostly\u2014would pound with such a fury that I couldn\u2019t think. Experiencing the cruel ones made even the milder ones seem less benign. I started to worry about how frequently I was taking Advil and Tylenol, even though I was never taking over the recommended daily dose for either.<\/p>\n A few weeks ago, I talked to my doctor about the headaches and she referred me to a neurologist. I am so looking forward to getting some insight into these migraines and hopefully, dropping my daily Advil\/Tylenol.<\/p>\nA Headache a Day Keeps the<\/em>\u2014wait<\/h3>\n
Cruel Summer<\/h3>\n
Enter: The Neurologist<\/h3>\n