Heavy Artillery

I've had a problem with migraines my whole life. At least since I was about 10 or so. I don't get them like some people where they last for three days, I just get them and usually they are gone by the next day. But that doesn't mean I haven't learned a few tricks to get rid of them.

Thursday night I felt a headache coming on (personally, I blame it on Darelle Revis). Typically, the best thing for a headache is sleep, so rather than take anything, I just let it go and figured I'd feel better when I woke up. I figured wrong.

I woke up Friday morning with my head throbbing, so I knew this was no lightweight. Normally, I'd take an Excedrine to see if it would help before reaching for the big guns. But since this one lasted overnight I reached straight for the Imitrex. My insurance doesn't cover it, so it's about $7 a dose. But when I have a migraine it's so worth it. It works in about 20 minutes - about 90% of the time.

This was the other 10%. I went to work expecting it to kick in at any moment. I drank coffee - usually the caffeine helps. I drank more coffee. I drank more coffee.

Three cups of coffee and it was still lingering. But it was fading. It felt better when my mind was on something else. Around 11:00 I headed downstairs for another weapon in my headache aresenal. Mountain Dew.

By the time I finished the can of Dew I was feeling considerably better. We had our annual holiday luncheon at work, so we got a nice 2-hour lunch which gave me time to chill out for a while - which may have set me back. Unfortunately something (caffeine?) was wearing off and I could feel the headache trying to make a comeback.

Time to crush this headache's dream of ruining my day. I went back to the lunchroom and bought a Red Bull. Sweet, sweet Red Bull.

That was the knockout punch. I might have taken a dose of prescription medicine and about 400 milligrams of caffeine, but I was determined to start the weekend headache-free.