telophase | (no subject)

(no subject)

I've got two big, painful slashes across my left palm now courtesy of the cat. Can't blame her - she was playing with a string and got tangled up in it, and I was attempting to detangle her, and when a cat is in playing or fighting mode and overstimulated, they don't distinguish between you and whatever it is they're playing or fighting with. To her credit, she did sort of get that "OMG!!" look on her face, untangled herself quite effectively without my help, and then wandered off a bit and licked her shoulder in that displacement-behavior sort of way. But my hand still hurts. At least it's my left hand and not my right - it hurts to do anything with it at the moment and holding my pencil or the stylus for the computer tablet with those scratches would suck mightily.

And I've got another bad headache. I shall be *so* happy once spring is OVER.

*whine* *whimper* *feels sorry for self* *goes back to watching Penn & Teller's Bullshit! and eating comfort food*

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I still have a scar from an ... interestingly placed cat-scratch: I was putting the cats in the bathroom in anticipation of a cat-allergic guest and got rabbit-kicked: Had to greet company with my wrist swathed in gauze and medical tape.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

Heh. One of my memories from childhood is seeing my mother pick up one of our cats, to get her away from another cat or soemthing, and getting her arm mauled in exchange. To her credit, she didn't drop the cat and got it inside. I have very distinct memories of seeing the large blood spots on the concrete of the patio. :) Mom and I discovered recently that it's one of the few specific memories we share.

Oddly enough, I too have a clear childhood memory of seeing bloodspots on the concrete of our patio, but that was when my mom accidentally slammed her finger in the car door. *winces* Painful, but no cats involved.

I am a walking battle scar, thanks to my little demon.

Okay...and that's weird...I had never heard of Penn and Teller's Bullshit! until earlier today....now that's the third time I've heard about it....

IT IS A SIGN!!! :) Pretty entertaiing show - it's a debunking type of show, and if you're not familiar with how Penn & Teller approach things and what their (lack of) beliefs are, it's fairly, erm, surprising.

I just finished watching season two on DVD (from Netflix)! Excellent show.

Interesting coincidence.

Heh, so you're a walking barometer too?

I think it's allergies - I've started getting migraines in the past three years, and I've identified triggers of caffeine withdrawal, low blood sugar, and, I think, allergies.

Although I don't think this one is a migraine, because my Advil Migraine seems to be working. Er. Well, the way I was diagnosed with migraines is that none of the OTC stuff had an effect on these headaches, yet the migraine med Relpax worked, so I go by that definition. :)

Heh... I don't know why my headaches happen, but meds don't usually work on them and they're tied in with changes in the weather... it's amusing, because I can usually predict the next time it'll rain or snow. Never really been diagnosed with migraines though...that's just the description that seems to fit best.

Funny story: I was in the hospital recently (don't worry, nothing bad...it's just that doctors' offices don't tend to be open on saturday nights) and the following conversation occured:
Doctor: Who do you see for your migraines?
Me: ...I don't.
Doctor (slightly put-off): Well, what do you take for them?
Me: Errr....I don't.
Twas amusing. Yay for OTC painkiller-resistant headaches?
-Meli

I started getting low-grade ehadaches in the spring that alsted for a week and OTC painkillers had no effect. Then I moved up to Dallas, and one night I hadn't had caffeine in over 24 hours and ... I was woken up by OH MY GOD I AM GOING TO DIE pain - so bad I was sick to my stomach. I figured it might be the caffeine, made myself a strong cup of tea, and eventually it resided enough to let me go to sleep. Over that course of a year, I had several others, which is when I found that blood sugar had something to do with it because if I ate, I could control the pain a bit - the longest lasted 48 hours and I was so sick to my stomach that I thought I had a stomach bug and didn't realize it was the headache causing the stomach stuff for about 12 hours. :)

Eventually I forced myself to go to the doctor during one (usually the last thing I wanted to do was drive, and when I'm not in pain I feel silly going in), and he said that it was probably either a cluster headache, a tension ehadache, or a migraine, and he gave me samples of three different medicines to try and said that if the migraine meds worked, it was a migraine.

They worked. Whee. And when I got a job and health insurance, I went to the new doctor, explained everything to her and she said it was probably migraines and gave me a prescription for the stuff that works. I found out that the reason OTC meds don't work is that migraines are the opposite of regular headaches - I think the pain of regular headaches is caused by blood vessels contracting, and OTC meds make them dilate. But migraine pain (at least the sort I get) is caused by blood vessels dilating, so OTC meds won't have any effect, and I have to take meds that constrict the blood vessels.

And speaking of blood and blood sugar, I'm getting hungry and I'd better eat something because the headache's coming back and I really don't want it to *become* a migraine. :)

My cat has a habit of jumping off of my lap -- when I'm wearing shorts, it's bad. It wasn't so bad before we had the basement carpeted, because his claws would wear down, but a few years ago he ripped into my left thigh and left a scar. It also got infected slightly because I was silly and didn't put disinfectant on it right away -- all that gross stuff in his nails . . . eww.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only