Grumble, grumble, grumble...

It is now Friday afternoon (July 29, 2005) and I've had a strange few days.

I took the last of my Prednisone on Wednesday morning, and have been continuing with two (2) Verapamil daily.

I got through Wednesday in pretty good shape. No real head pain, but the steady "Pressure" feeling in my head persisted. It seems almost silly to mention this, but I did cut the back lawn and did some light weeding during the afternoon. This is, as opposed to just sitting at my desk or on the couch.

Later that day, I mentioned to my Bride, that I am sort of filled with trepidation and wondering what is coming next. I've really done nothing any different other than the Verapamil and have no real confidence that it will work any better than previous drug prescriptions. Cynical, Yes!

I awoke with a start at 3 AM Thursday, feeling the familiar sharp head pains, both full cranial and stabbing in left eye. I sat at the desk for a while in frustration... ...thinking - no more Prednisone?, slept in a bad position?, cutting the lawn?, something I ate?, weather?, too much sleep?, too little sleep?, etc...

...Nah, nah, nah, to all of these guesses. I don't know! Heck, no one seems to have any more than a guess as to what causes these attacks.

I spent the next few hours rubbing, twisting and beating my scalp, head and neck. Tried pulling firmly on hair, used tennis balls to work the spine and neck as taught in Physical Therapy. No obvious effect,except for lots of loose hairs all over me. TRIED to keep calm!

At 6:45 AM, I decided to try two (2) Excedrin Extra Strength tablets - It had been a full week since I took any of these. Within about 30 minutes I felt a little better, but that was it for the day. The head pain persisted, along with mixed hunger and nausea, tiredness to the point of feeling exhaustion, but I was unable to sleep when I tried. I sort of took it easy all day, kept busy, forcing myself to eat/snack at times.

Sort of new territory here now. I haven't quite found good words to describe the feelings of pain and discomfort, but they are different than anything I can remember. Not worse, just different. I'll try to explain by saying that my head feels like an overfilled balloon. I keep reaching for my face/head thinking it must feel puffy, but it doesn't. Eating is even stranger as I feel starved and hungry, but with a bit of nausea at the same time. I feel somewhat disoriented as I take a shower and/or move around the house and am wondering if this is related to the fact that I've been doing absolutely nothing physical.

Felt restless, and even late at night the pressure feeling continued. Slept fitfully, feeling bloated, and depressed by all of this crap. Woke up a few times feeling achy, but stayed in bed until about 5 AM Friday. Got up feeling headachy, tired, bloated... ...NOT GOOD, sums it up.

Ate breakfast despite nausea and had no problem keeping food down. Tried to ignore pain (which is mild - maybe 3 on a 1 to 10 scale) and pressure and worked on web stuff. Which brings me to now.

My guess at the moment is that I'm starting to feel the effects of not exercising. Might be some side effects from Prednisone and Verapamil causing the weird pressure feelings. I am scheduled with the Neurologist early next week and three days in a row of Physical Therapy later in the week. Hopefully some new ideas and better feelings will be forthcoming.

My one grasp at optimism at the moment, is that it could always be much worse.

I received an email a few days ago informing me that Bill C., a high school classmate, was diagnosed with Lung and Liver Cancer last week. I think of Bill's smile and sense of Humor, and forget my minor quirks pretty quickly as I wish him my best.

Let's all wish him our best!

Have a Great Weekend and have a PAINFREE Life,

- Frank