make it stop!!!
Throughout my life, I have been fortunate in that I haven't ever had major health problems. The occasional flu, strep, or whatnot, but never anything more than the common infections that most Americans experience at one time or another. Unfortunately, I think that the tide is changing.
Last Tuesday night, I woke up at 1:30 am with the absolute worst headache of my life. The pain was in the front of my head and it was throbbing hard. I also felt slightly nauseous. Not gonna throw up nauseous, just the mild nausea in which your stomach feels wavy. I popped 2 Tylonals and waited, but nothing happened. At 2:30 am, I phoned work and called out sick for Wednesday and then decided to run to the Emergency Room. I got dressed and was ready to go, but decided to lie down for just a minute and do some deep breathing before I left. By some miracle, I managed to fall asleep and slept through the night until 9:00 the next morning. When I woke, I felt fine!!!
The next day, I phoned my doctor and set up an appointment. Prior to the appointment, I also spoke to the Nurse Practicioner at work. I informed both of them that my mother used to get horrific headaches (possibly migraines) and that my maternal grandfather got them in his younger days. They said a family history certainly predisposes me to them. However, both the doctor and Nurse Practicioner told me that a major headache like the one I described is a serious concern and the next time it occurs, I needed to go to the ER and undergo a CAT-scan. Naturally, this got me worried. Anytime, a doctor or nurse wants to get a picture of your brain, it means they're worried about something showing up. Sure enough, both of them said that a horrific headache could sometimes be a sign of a serious neurlogical problem: ruptured blood vessel or what not. Naturally, this got me worried. It reminded me of something Nate Fisher solemnly said on an episode of Six Feet Under: "We're all just ticking timebombs."
I make it through the weekend fine. Jake and I went on a fraternity retreat to the mountains in West Virginia with 9 of our friends. On Monday, I go to work for my 3PM-11PM shift. At around 5PM, I begin to feel a headache coming on. However, this headache feels like the tension headaches I've typically gotten every 2 weeks or so since I was 15 that Tylonal wipes out. At 6PM, I take some Tylonal anticipating it would go away. Well it didn't. However, it didn't get any worse and I was able to continue my shift. However, around 11PM, the Tylonal began to wear off and the pain began to get worse and worse and began to feel similar to what I felt the previous Tuesday (throbbing pain in the front of my head). At this point, I made the decision to head to the Emergency Room near my house.
This was the first adult visit I've had to the ER. First off, I think the name is misleading. From my knowledge, an "emergency" is something that requires immediate attention. Anybody who works in the mental health field knows this. At the ER, anything that is not life-threatening requires a long ass wait. I deluded myself into thinking that since it was midnight, it wouldn't be too crowded and the wait wouldn't be long. Well, at least I was right about the first part.
I sat for two and a half hours in the waiting room trying to block out the infomercial on television. As the time went on, I felt the pain get worse and the mild nausea kicked in. When they finally called me into a hospital bed, I continued waiting for another 30 minutes for the doctor. The doctor arrives. She seemed nice and had a pleasant bedside manner. She asked me about my symptoms and had me undergo a basic neurlogical test which showed nothing abnormal. She said that she wanted to run a CAT-scan to rule out anything serious (the whole point of my visit) and then authorized the nurse to give me an injection of a pain-killing medication. At this point, I should note that Jake was an absolute doll throughout the entire experience. Unfortunately, he moved to the graveyard shift at his new job so he couldn't physically be with me as he was already at work when this was going on. However, he kept me company on the cellphone and his verbal support was absolutely beautiful. I mention this because the doctor asked me if I was driving myself. I informed her I was. She said that she would give me a non-narcotic pain medication so that I would be guarenteed the ability to drive home. Although I understood and agreed with her judgement call, I was hoping to get something stronger. After all, if I have to spend the entire night at the ER, at least let me get an opiate buzz going!!! The nurse enters and injects me with a pain medication. I expected it to hit me automatically, until I reminded myself it was an intra-muscular injection, not an intravenous one. For the next half an hour, both my head was throbbing in pain, and my upper arm was sore from the injection site!!!
30 minutes later, I was feeling much better!!! The non-narcotic pain medicine worked and my arm no longer felt sore. I even felt a slight buzz!!! I managed to get some sleep for a little while. I was glad I did as it took 3 hours from the time I saw the doctor to get to the CAT-scan. At 6AM, an aide comes to my room and says "picture time." He wheels me to the radiology department. The radiology tech has me lie down in the machine and takes the picture. Three measly minutes! I waited three hours to sit in a machine for 3 measly minutes. At this point, I feel my anxiety rise. The test has been completed. All I'm waiting for is the doctor to tell me what it showed. I wait another 2 hours, contemplating what might be. The pain was long gone, and subconsciously I felt it was nothing more than a major headache, but I was still apprehensive about the possibility I was deluding myself.
At 8AM (8 fucking hours since I walked in the hospital door), the doctor comes in and says the CAT-scan showed nothing abnormal. Mazel tov!!! She said that my headaches could be caused by a number of factors and encouraged me to keep a diary about what I eat and do before any of them occur. She prescribes me Florinal (a narcotic specifically designed for severe headaches) and says that this should treat the pain. Lastly, she says that if they continue to occur frequently, see a neurologist. At this point, I felt a lot of relief. The CAT-scan said that all was well and I had pain medication for any future headaches. However, I have a feeling that like my mother, I am going to be dealing with severe headaches for the rest of my life. It's not a pleasant feeling to go from healthy to recognizing a probable chronic health problem.
Last Tuesday night, I woke up at 1:30 am with the absolute worst headache of my life. The pain was in the front of my head and it was throbbing hard. I also felt slightly nauseous. Not gonna throw up nauseous, just the mild nausea in which your stomach feels wavy. I popped 2 Tylonals and waited, but nothing happened. At 2:30 am, I phoned work and called out sick for Wednesday and then decided to run to the Emergency Room. I got dressed and was ready to go, but decided to lie down for just a minute and do some deep breathing before I left. By some miracle, I managed to fall asleep and slept through the night until 9:00 the next morning. When I woke, I felt fine!!!
The next day, I phoned my doctor and set up an appointment. Prior to the appointment, I also spoke to the Nurse Practicioner at work. I informed both of them that my mother used to get horrific headaches (possibly migraines) and that my maternal grandfather got them in his younger days. They said a family history certainly predisposes me to them. However, both the doctor and Nurse Practicioner told me that a major headache like the one I described is a serious concern and the next time it occurs, I needed to go to the ER and undergo a CAT-scan. Naturally, this got me worried. Anytime, a doctor or nurse wants to get a picture of your brain, it means they're worried about something showing up. Sure enough, both of them said that a horrific headache could sometimes be a sign of a serious neurlogical problem: ruptured blood vessel or what not. Naturally, this got me worried. It reminded me of something Nate Fisher solemnly said on an episode of Six Feet Under: "We're all just ticking timebombs."
I make it through the weekend fine. Jake and I went on a fraternity retreat to the mountains in West Virginia with 9 of our friends. On Monday, I go to work for my 3PM-11PM shift. At around 5PM, I begin to feel a headache coming on. However, this headache feels like the tension headaches I've typically gotten every 2 weeks or so since I was 15 that Tylonal wipes out. At 6PM, I take some Tylonal anticipating it would go away. Well it didn't. However, it didn't get any worse and I was able to continue my shift. However, around 11PM, the Tylonal began to wear off and the pain began to get worse and worse and began to feel similar to what I felt the previous Tuesday (throbbing pain in the front of my head). At this point, I made the decision to head to the Emergency Room near my house.
This was the first adult visit I've had to the ER. First off, I think the name is misleading. From my knowledge, an "emergency" is something that requires immediate attention. Anybody who works in the mental health field knows this. At the ER, anything that is not life-threatening requires a long ass wait. I deluded myself into thinking that since it was midnight, it wouldn't be too crowded and the wait wouldn't be long. Well, at least I was right about the first part.
I sat for two and a half hours in the waiting room trying to block out the infomercial on television. As the time went on, I felt the pain get worse and the mild nausea kicked in. When they finally called me into a hospital bed, I continued waiting for another 30 minutes for the doctor. The doctor arrives. She seemed nice and had a pleasant bedside manner. She asked me about my symptoms and had me undergo a basic neurlogical test which showed nothing abnormal. She said that she wanted to run a CAT-scan to rule out anything serious (the whole point of my visit) and then authorized the nurse to give me an injection of a pain-killing medication. At this point, I should note that Jake was an absolute doll throughout the entire experience. Unfortunately, he moved to the graveyard shift at his new job so he couldn't physically be with me as he was already at work when this was going on. However, he kept me company on the cellphone and his verbal support was absolutely beautiful. I mention this because the doctor asked me if I was driving myself. I informed her I was. She said that she would give me a non-narcotic pain medication so that I would be guarenteed the ability to drive home. Although I understood and agreed with her judgement call, I was hoping to get something stronger. After all, if I have to spend the entire night at the ER, at least let me get an opiate buzz going!!! The nurse enters and injects me with a pain medication. I expected it to hit me automatically, until I reminded myself it was an intra-muscular injection, not an intravenous one. For the next half an hour, both my head was throbbing in pain, and my upper arm was sore from the injection site!!!
30 minutes later, I was feeling much better!!! The non-narcotic pain medicine worked and my arm no longer felt sore. I even felt a slight buzz!!! I managed to get some sleep for a little while. I was glad I did as it took 3 hours from the time I saw the doctor to get to the CAT-scan. At 6AM, an aide comes to my room and says "picture time." He wheels me to the radiology department. The radiology tech has me lie down in the machine and takes the picture. Three measly minutes! I waited three hours to sit in a machine for 3 measly minutes. At this point, I feel my anxiety rise. The test has been completed. All I'm waiting for is the doctor to tell me what it showed. I wait another 2 hours, contemplating what might be. The pain was long gone, and subconsciously I felt it was nothing more than a major headache, but I was still apprehensive about the possibility I was deluding myself.
At 8AM (8 fucking hours since I walked in the hospital door), the doctor comes in and says the CAT-scan showed nothing abnormal. Mazel tov!!! She said that my headaches could be caused by a number of factors and encouraged me to keep a diary about what I eat and do before any of them occur. She prescribes me Florinal (a narcotic specifically designed for severe headaches) and says that this should treat the pain. Lastly, she says that if they continue to occur frequently, see a neurologist. At this point, I felt a lot of relief. The CAT-scan said that all was well and I had pain medication for any future headaches. However, I have a feeling that like my mother, I am going to be dealing with severe headaches for the rest of my life. It's not a pleasant feeling to go from healthy to recognizing a probable chronic health problem.