Thursday, May 11, 2006

Migraines

I woke up with a migraine this morning. Thankfully the medications have been pretty effective, so I have been able to do most of the things I wanted to do. One of the most frustrating things about dealing with these headaches has been having to interact with the rest of the world. People ask "Have they figured out what is causing the headaches?" No. They are migraines. Other people assume that if my head hurts, there must be a tumor or something wrong inside my cranium, but there's really not. It is a genetic illness that is modified by my own body's serotonin system, etc. - or at least that's the current theory. Maybe I'm just crazy!

Other people tell me, "My brother/sister/cousin/uncle/(insert your favorite family member or friend here) tried acupuncture/reflexology/chiropractic/(insert your favorite therapy here) and his/her headaches completely went away." Then they expect that I am going to drop everything and try that therapy. I don't think they understand that I have spent the last 6 years and tons of time and a fair amount of money trying all kinds of treatment (including chiropractic and acupuncture and Botox [$1200 worth]) and that the medications that I'm on are the best so far. I'm really pretty tired of going to doctors and trying treatments at this point. Believe it or not, daily headaches that don't require meds until after 5pm and migraines several times a week, but that respond to medicines really is a pretty good situation for me. After the house sells and things calm down in life, then I'll see what else I can try. I'm not thrilled about the amount of money that my meds cost and about the side effects. And I don't like that L and C don't get much schoolwork done on days like today. But, it's where God has brought us, and it's where I'll stay until He says otherwise.

Today's migraine was also triggered by awful weather. A strong cold front came through which is a major trigger for me. In addition to this, two of our windows started leaking, and we have been putting towels down to catch the water all day. In eight years, the window has leaked twice - once about 4 years ago (about which we had forgotten - and it was one doozy of a storm) and today. I hope we got the towels down before any damage was done to the window sills. I also baked bread and I hope the weather didn't make my bread turn out heavy. It looks good so far.

I did figure out how to put links on the side of the blog. One is to Christianity Today. I always check them out every day. I very much enjoy their evaluation of world events from a Christian perspective. The other is Knitty. They are my favorite knitting site. I have learned so much from the knitting how-to links. I have only used one of the patterns so far, but I have several that I am just waiting to use. If you are a knitter, check it out!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Catherine--
Just had to tell you that I've become addicted to your blog since you mentioned it in your WHSFC email. It's such a comforting and normal perspective on daily life homeschooling, walking with God AND dealing with the ups and downs, messes and joys. (And the fact that a Christian homeschooler admits her kids are reading Harry Potter...priceless). So here I am at midnight baking cupcakes for the kids' swim coach and checking if I've missed any of your updates.

We missed you at the Timber-Rattlers game Tuesday but you missed nothing. Everyone was cold, wet and leaving by the 4th inning.

I'll be praying for your open house!

Anonymous said...

You don't sound crazy. Maybe a little mad...