31 August 2009

Headaches

Today has been a bad day for me, and I am amazed that I can write this at all. For most of the day I got hardly any work done, and days like this are very frustrating. Fortunately they are a rare occurrence in my life.

But they do happen. The main reason is an old injury I received a long time ago, when I was one of the survivors of a helicopter crash. Since not everyone on this unlucky chopper survived, I should be grateful, and in general I am. But sometimes I do wonder why I came out of it alive, while among those killed were two fathers of small children...

One of the injuries I had was a severe concussion, and ever since I have days ruled by massive headaches. Mostly they occur when the weather is bad, when there is a front of low pressure over Ireland. Then they appear without warning and can last for hours, in extreme cases even a whole day.

Over the years I tried various kinds of tablets and pain killers, but they are of very limited use and not able to eliminate those headaches completely.
So eventually I decided not to take anything any more, and just sit out the pain when it comes.

Last night I could barely sleep, and the headaches stayed with me all day, until late this evening. They disappeared only after darkness had fallen and the heavy rain, which was also with us all day yesterday, had stopped eventually.

I ate some fruit, made myself a pot of strong tea and smoked a pipe of Virginia tobacco. So now I am able again to sit at my desk and type words into the computer.

I don't want to bore you with my little problems, or with too many details. But I thought that I should mention my headaches at least once on this weblog, in case other people suffer from them as well. If you do, then you know now that you are not alone. It might help a little, and I know only too well how alone and isolated one can feel when it seems that someone is sticking needles into one's brain non-stop for hours.

So far I have not found any cure for it, and no real solution either. What does help me a little is resting on a sofa, in a room with reduced light (closed curtains), and listening to the radio. Complete silence makes the headaches worse, at least for me.

Well, I am glad that my tormentors have gone again once more, and I hope they will stay away for a good while. And when I reflect on today's news, I have the impression that I might not be the only one with serious headaches in Ireland.
The country is still in a deep crisis, the government is incapable of dealing with it, and we all have to pick up the bill for the politicians' follies. Plenty of reasons to have a headache any day...

The Emerald Islander

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