Kel

I eventually was told to go to physical therapy, which mostly worked, but dear god, those were miserable months. Plus the weighing in was no fun, either, though I was more concerned with the place behind my ears apparently being struck randomly with an ax. I feel for you, PQ. And I hope this falls under commiserating and not diagnosing.

I'm sorry your fabulous release has had this specter lurking in the background (a la Scooby Doo). Headaches suck.

Hopefully your neurologist can convincingly play the part of "those meddlin' kids" and unmask and banish the villain from your haunted head.

(There's an example of a metaphor gone all wrong and taken to extremes.)

Best wishes-
adrienne

But your book is still great!

P.S. As a nurse, can I put my vote in for the 'dead twin in the forehead' theory? It seems like if you could cure that it would be good for another book deal, or maybe even a movie-LOL. Seriously, I have finished your book, and absolutely loved the whole thing. I especially liked how you ended it.

I know a little bit where you're coming from, except my albatross wasn't a monster headache, it was the sciaitica-that-would-never-ever-go away (so sexy). Until it did, but it took awhile. The chronic stuff is hard to deal with, but you can do it!

I can't imagine having a headache every day for months on end. AND not being able to get it to go away. That must be truly heinous.

I sure hope you and your neurologist figure it out and treat it soon!

:)

By the way, my headaches were triggered by hormones - that little cycle we have - so at least one headache a month, and by barometric pressure changes - in SC we have those about every hour.

Anyway I do hope your headache goes away. You're right that its who you are and that its a big part of your life; thats the bad thing about headaches, they take over.

I look forward to your post tomorrow. I'm thinking of you.

I hope your head gets better :)

Hope you feel better soon.

Now drink!

(hope you feel better)

Maybe you should go the other way and have a "quack cure" contest.

Hope you get some answers about your headache. I get migraines that sometimes last for days , so I know how much headaches suck, but I can't imagine living with it for as long as you have.

And yes, some things you have to be careful when blogging about - I'm bad about that :)

I like shading in boxes, too, though we don't have Scantron as such over here...

I got your book and read it. I absolutely loved it. Even though I'm a man I could relate to sooo many of the things you said.

Hope you can find a solution to that headache soon. Maybe it is gremlins. I hear they can be nasty and hard to get rid of.

Really, I'm sorry you are suffering so. You've heard from me before and you may remember that I'm a huge believer in prayer. So all of your fans and you could start praying for your healing and see what happens. What could it hurt? Jan

My head has hurt in exactly the manner you describe - non-stop - for over 11 years. (I'm only 22, so I guess you could say half my life.) I'm really interested to see what you have to say in your next post! I won't throw any crazy diagnoses out there, but I can empathize with you every step of the way. I only hope that you will find more success and resolution than I have with medical treatments!

I also truly hope this is only a temporary foray into the world of living with chronic pain for you. If your pain continues, it's not so bad -- trust me. It sounds immensely perverse, but you become accustomed to it after awhile; if my head *didn't* hurt, I'd think it wasn't attached to my head. Eventually, it becomes a normal part of life and it's possible to mostly blend in with the rest. Anyway, I'll wait for part three to see if I have anything at all useful I could offer to you. I'll cross my fingers in the meantime for you!

I sing it to my beagle. "My Beagle..My Beagle.." It works out quite well and he seems to get a bit of a pick me up when I'm singing to him. Or at least his tail wags harder!

Get better.

Finally, thanks for coming by to visit the other day! I appreciated your comment... ciao bella!

And I'm sorry about your headache -- that's just the worst.

Take good care!!

The never-ending head ache sounds much like a man named S. N. Goenka, who came across a form of meditation while in search of a cure for his migraines. He was rich, seeing the best doctors in multiple countries. Nothing worked. He was accepted into a meditation course when he agreed not to meditate solely for his migraines,but it actually did the trick. (That sounds weird, but if you read his book, you'll understand why.)

I had similar issues with my knees hurting on and off for no reason. It got to where I couldn't even walk at times. I've never been overweight, never been a runner, and according to several doctors there's nothing physically wrong with me. After taking up meditation, I never had that pain again.

It's worth looking into! I suggest reading S. N. Goenka's "Art of Living," which introduces you to Vipassana meditation.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck! :)

And also to say (as a fellow child of the 80's): Weren't My Buddy & Kid Sister totally creepy? I didn't even press play on the embedded video. Just hearing about those again is more than I want to deal with! (shivers)

-Kyrsten

Ahhh... the good ol' days!

I'm sorry to hear of the chronic headache, but wondered if anyone ever mentioned celiac disease or gluten intolerance to you? This might have actually explained the initial weight gain as well as the constant headache, as that is a common symptom.

It's worth looking into, as food intolerance (in this case, wheat, rye, barley, and oats would be the culprit) is the EASIEST and CHEAPEST thing in the world to fix--no surgery, no meds, no "miracle products" to by, and no doctor visits unless you want them.

Just eliminate the offending food from your (already limited!) diet. Sounds horrendous, but it's actually much easier and tastier than it sounds.

Check out any celiac website (I like www.celiac.com), and good luck to you.

I hope the headaches go the way of the weight and disappear forever!

In September 2008, I felt what I thought was the beginning of another migraine episode, but it felt different. I had short bouts of piercing pains followed by constant throbbing. The list of drugs I tried was a long one and nothing really worked to completely get rid of the headache.

I had a unique symptom at the beginning of my one, long headache--my scalp itched, as if I had dandruff. After much research, my self-diagnosis was occipital neuralgia. It is not common, but not uncommon. There are many causes (some of them quite scary, including lung cancer and brain tumor) and it is often hard to determine the root cause. The good news is that it is fairly easy to rule out the scary causes.

I found a neurologist that specializes in headaches and he has been treating me. I have had to have a series of injections in my head to deaden the occipital nerve. Also my doctor prescribed various medications, in particular indomethacin for the pain (an old pain reliever that works great but is very hard on your stomach). After the pain was managed with the head injections and indomethacin, he prescribed nortryptiline. Nortryptiline is an old anti-depression drug (one of the first) that is not really used for depression any longer but it is used to de-stimulate over-stimulated nerves (such as my occipital nerve). It has been 9 months and I no longer have a constant headache. I do still get sharp pains occasionally (maybe once or twice a week), but it is definitely manageable and not debilitating. I am now weaning myself off the nortryptiline, hoping to not need it. The nortryptiline is not addictive (it is not a narcotic), but I can't quit cold-turkey so as not to risk a recurrence of over stimulating the occipital nerve.

You have probably been given a lot of advice, but I figured I would share my situation with you. If it doesn't help you, it may lead someone else suffering with constant a head ache in the right direction.