My Body: To Top It All Off...
The head. You have all heard about my head. Oh yes. But I will finish this little blog series I started.
Let's start with what you already know. I have been getting migraines since I was 17. I very clearly remember my first migraine. It happened in Denver. Mom and I had gone down for my Great Aunt's funeral. I got the worst headache I'd ever had. Mom asked me some questions and knew it was a migraine. She gave me one of her nasal imitrex. I ate black olives to wash out the taste of it draining down the back of my throat. Ate the whole can. Then I slept for a while and felt better when I woke up.
That was my senior year of high school, and I had more migraines after that. I carried a cocktail of OTC painkillers in my backpack. I wore sunglasses in class because the fluorescent lighting hurt my eyes. I also often wore stretchy gloves in class because my hands were cold. People thought I was either drunk or high.
I used my mom's imitrex through college. Or maybe the doc gave me my own prescription. I don't remember. After college, when I started working, I was having migraines with a low pain level that lasted days, sometimes a whole week. I'd have lots of symptoms like sensitivity to light and sound, vertigo, nausea, tingly fingers, and for a while tenderness at my temples. I saw a doc who ordered an MRI. Results were normal. She gave me imitrex pills. The pills were a higher dose than the nasal kind, and I experienced tightness in my jaw and throat that were worse than the migraines. I started to only take it if I could go lay down right away. I tried some other drugs, but none seemed to really make a difference. You know what did finally make a difference? I got fired. 4 years at the same job and I got fired with no warning. My stress level suddenly dropped and I got fewer migraines.
Since then, I've tried losing weight, getting in shape, and even more drugs. While I like the weight loss and getting in shape, they haven't really helped the migraines. Right now I'm taking feverfew, and haven't had a migraine since I started it. Let's see how long that lasts. I now get a higher pain level and fewer symptoms.
Ok. Other things about my head. I have hair that is fine, on the thin side, and straight. It has no body. When I wore it long, it would just hang there, so it was often in a ponytail or messy bun. It has never held curl well. I went through stages of perming it. Once as a kid and once as an adult. The adult me called it a body wave. Haha. My hair has now been short for 8 years. And by short I mean never below the bottoms of my ears. What I consider short, most "short hair" style magazines call very short. I also have 2 cowlicks; to the right of the crown, and along the nape of my neck. The hair on my neck grows to the left. It's also medium brown naturally. It was dark blonde as a kid and has slowly darkened to medium brown. With hair dye, it has been every natural color and some unnatural colors. It has been just about every shade of red possible.
What else? Piercings! All my piercings are on my head. First was the usual lobe piercing when I was 9. Aunt Debbie got them pierced for my birthday. Second lobe holes I got in Switzerland when I was 18 and touring Europe with the Wyoming Ambassadors of Music. Next was the cartilage on my left ear when I was, oh, 20? That one got a bad infection once that I got antibiotics for. I got my nose pierced when I was, um, 27 I think. Misty went with me. Finally, I got my conch pierced on the right ear. When was that? Last summer? Here in El Paso at any rate. I love it.
Also on my head, I have acne. At 32 years old. And it's not going anywhere. I've been using the honey mask I blogged about, and I like how it makes my skin feel. I figure it's something I'll be dealing with for a long time.
If you want to know about the inside of my head, it's a mystery still to me. I can't tell you why I'm a cynic, or why I often dream about paranormal things and violence. I can't tell you why I love to count things but hate doing math, or why I love to edit but can't write for crap. I can't explain why my mom and sister and I often know just when to call each other, or when something very emotional has happened to one of us.
And that wraps it up. My body, from head to toe. Or toe to head. Whatever.
Let's start with what you already know. I have been getting migraines since I was 17. I very clearly remember my first migraine. It happened in Denver. Mom and I had gone down for my Great Aunt's funeral. I got the worst headache I'd ever had. Mom asked me some questions and knew it was a migraine. She gave me one of her nasal imitrex. I ate black olives to wash out the taste of it draining down the back of my throat. Ate the whole can. Then I slept for a while and felt better when I woke up.
That was my senior year of high school, and I had more migraines after that. I carried a cocktail of OTC painkillers in my backpack. I wore sunglasses in class because the fluorescent lighting hurt my eyes. I also often wore stretchy gloves in class because my hands were cold. People thought I was either drunk or high.
I used my mom's imitrex through college. Or maybe the doc gave me my own prescription. I don't remember. After college, when I started working, I was having migraines with a low pain level that lasted days, sometimes a whole week. I'd have lots of symptoms like sensitivity to light and sound, vertigo, nausea, tingly fingers, and for a while tenderness at my temples. I saw a doc who ordered an MRI. Results were normal. She gave me imitrex pills. The pills were a higher dose than the nasal kind, and I experienced tightness in my jaw and throat that were worse than the migraines. I started to only take it if I could go lay down right away. I tried some other drugs, but none seemed to really make a difference. You know what did finally make a difference? I got fired. 4 years at the same job and I got fired with no warning. My stress level suddenly dropped and I got fewer migraines.
Since then, I've tried losing weight, getting in shape, and even more drugs. While I like the weight loss and getting in shape, they haven't really helped the migraines. Right now I'm taking feverfew, and haven't had a migraine since I started it. Let's see how long that lasts. I now get a higher pain level and fewer symptoms.
Ok. Other things about my head. I have hair that is fine, on the thin side, and straight. It has no body. When I wore it long, it would just hang there, so it was often in a ponytail or messy bun. It has never held curl well. I went through stages of perming it. Once as a kid and once as an adult. The adult me called it a body wave. Haha. My hair has now been short for 8 years. And by short I mean never below the bottoms of my ears. What I consider short, most "short hair" style magazines call very short. I also have 2 cowlicks; to the right of the crown, and along the nape of my neck. The hair on my neck grows to the left. It's also medium brown naturally. It was dark blonde as a kid and has slowly darkened to medium brown. With hair dye, it has been every natural color and some unnatural colors. It has been just about every shade of red possible.
What else? Piercings! All my piercings are on my head. First was the usual lobe piercing when I was 9. Aunt Debbie got them pierced for my birthday. Second lobe holes I got in Switzerland when I was 18 and touring Europe with the Wyoming Ambassadors of Music. Next was the cartilage on my left ear when I was, oh, 20? That one got a bad infection once that I got antibiotics for. I got my nose pierced when I was, um, 27 I think. Misty went with me. Finally, I got my conch pierced on the right ear. When was that? Last summer? Here in El Paso at any rate. I love it.
Also on my head, I have acne. At 32 years old. And it's not going anywhere. I've been using the honey mask I blogged about, and I like how it makes my skin feel. I figure it's something I'll be dealing with for a long time.
If you want to know about the inside of my head, it's a mystery still to me. I can't tell you why I'm a cynic, or why I often dream about paranormal things and violence. I can't tell you why I love to count things but hate doing math, or why I love to edit but can't write for crap. I can't explain why my mom and sister and I often know just when to call each other, or when something very emotional has happened to one of us.
And that wraps it up. My body, from head to toe. Or toe to head. Whatever.
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