The Perfect Storm

It's been a rough week. Lucky Steve got to witness his first Julie "migraine meltdown" on Tuesday night. I actually hadn't been feeling too great the past couple of weeks. My allergies have been back with a vengeance and I've felt lots of fluid in my sinuses, ears and head in general.

Couple that with some crazy heat (and no air conditioning to escape to) last weekend, and then a very muggy and quick rise in the barometric pressure just prior to a cool marine layer moving into the area - yes folks - it was the perfect storm...migraine storm that is!

By Tuesday night, I was laid out flat on my back, in the dark (or as dark as I could make my bedroom at 7 pm on a summer night) - with a crazy cocktail of Advil, aspirin, and finally - a Relpax (rx migraine med) in my belly and a cold washcloth on my forehead. Poor Steve came home with his takeout bag of teriyaki chicken and I nearly vomited on the kitchen floor from the smell of it...

Laying on the cool linoleum of the bathroom floor, I had to wonder WHY??? I have not had a wicked migraine attack like this in nearly two years! There is no rhyme or reason to the brutality. As I bawled like a baby (which - unless you've had a true migraine, you can't understand...) Steve madly googled for an urgent care clinic...and of course, there is no such thing nearby. I laid on the floor and wondered if I would be visiting the ER at our nearby community hospital. I remembered my last visit there when I was 22 yrs old. That time my mom took me - I was exhausted and had a nasty case of strep throat. It looked like it was my destiny to visit them again Tuesday. I went to the ER twice in Denver with migraines. As a migraine sufferer, you gotta love the morphine, but hate the way they treat you when you show up at the ER with a migraine (like you're a morphine junkie basically...)

So instead of going to the ER (which I probably should have done) I called the 24-hour Nurseline - which was a HUGE joke and drained any energy that I had left at that point. It took the first 20 minutes of the conversation just to convince "Cathy" the nurse that I was NOT pregnant. She seemed quite convinced (based on the information I gave her) that this was a distinct possibility and the tone of her voice implied that I was quite an idiot for not considering it myself. While under other circumstances I would have wanted to reach through the phone and punch Cathy in the face. I didn't have the energy to argue with her. I agreed to go see a doctor within 18 hours (if I lived that long) and hung up. By that time the Relpax started to kick in and I went to bed - and the bathroom. Turns out (just to add insult to injury) I had also contracted a stomach virus of some sort. Lovely.

Wednesday I woke up with a mild headache and stomach issues, and got myself in to a doctor. Not my regular doctor (she's out on maternity leave) so they sent me to the old man doctor in the suite next door. After the mandatory pregnancy test (which was negative - SHOCKER) he basically told me I had a migraine and a stomach virus...oh, and my blood pressure was high - so try to avoid salty foods and lose some weight... Nice, thanks. I can't imagine WHY my blood pressure would be high after all this...AAAARRRRGGGHH. By late Wednesday afternoon, my headache was full blown again. Ugh. Another Relpax and early to bed.

Good news. I was better Thursday (but still had remnants of a headache) - and then voila! Today? NO HEADACHE for the first time since Tuesday. Thank you Universe.

P.S. - If this was some sort of test, please tell me I passed and won't have to repeat it!