My Achy Breaky Head
It’s National Headache Awareness Week and I have a headache. Oh! If your Aunt B had a nickel for every time she used that excuse.
My headaches come in screeching reds and oranges, piercing yellows and fuchsias. They cluster around my ear and siren out to the edges of my head. They make me grouchy and short-tempered with the Tween-let and anyone else who crosses my path. Thank goodness for those around me that this only happens once a month.
Headaches are the most common health complaint and according to research, of those people that go to the emergency with headache complaints, only 1% of them actually have a serious illness. This is NOT to say that headaches are not a sign of something serious. Sudden onset of pain, or headaches that are accompanied by a stiff neck, eye or ear pain, fever, convulsions, loss of consciousness or a blow to the head require urgent medical attention.
What causes headaches? Well for me, doing laundry, LA traffic, a phone call from any one of my exes. Truthfully, what triggers my headaches is usually caffeine. Do you know what triggers yours? Sometimes you can be dehydrated (too much alcohol will do this) and there are certain foods as well, aged cheese, red wine and MSG are known culprits.
The best way for me to deal with headache pain is to ride it out. Aspirin and other pain relievers do very little to alleviate the symptoms. Deep breathing and relaxation techniques help the most. Research findings tell us that acupuncture has been successful way to treat chronic headaches. I’ve never tried it, but if any of you know of, or have tried alternative treatments I’d love to hear from you.
Has all of this given you a headache? There are resources and tools here, at the American Headache Association website, in both English and Spanish.
Time for laundry! Somebody pass me an aspirin.
- Aunt B
