If I Could Pop a Pill I Would
If only it were that simple. If I could take a Tylenol or aspirin or even something strong and doctor-prescribed. If it were that easy it would be fantastic and I could stop holding my head in my hands while sitting at my desk. But you see, it doesn’t work like that.
I’m 9 days into a headache. Yes, that’s correct, 9 days of a headache. It ebbs and flows and for a few blissful hours every day I (usually) find myself pain free, but for the most part, it’s there, baring down on my temples like a white-hot knife.
This isn’t the first time it’s happened. Eight years ago, when I was 22, I had a headache that lasted 8 months. 8 fucking months. I went to a doctor and then a neurologist. I tried every migraine medicine on the market, only these aren’t migraines so the drugs were ineffective. I cut all the good stuff out of my diet - alcohol, dairy, chocolate, refined sugar. I got a cat-scan or an MRI (I don’t know what the difference is) and when the results came back normal my doctor informed me it wasn’t a tumor or anything of the like. I, of course, replied, “It’s not a tumor!” in my best Arnold impression. My doctor was not amused. I most certainly was.
And then the headaches stopped. Just went away one day and never returned, except when I was under intense stress, but that was usually coupled with lack of eating so the headaches made sense then. Right now, there is nothing to tie them to - I’m not stressed, I’m eating healthy and exercising daily, I’m in a great relationship with a great man and the baby doves somehow survived my dog’s murderous jaws. So why exactly am I battling these intense, daily headaches again? I don’t know, but I’ve got an appointment with a neurologist who is part of a Headache Center so I have high hopes they’ll be able to tell me what’s wrong. Or that they can at least assure me it’s not a tumor and I can once again to my Arnold impression. Really people, it’s the little things that get me through the day.













