We are camping this coming weekend -yay! I finished my summer class this past weekend and I got an A. I’m so happy I get almost six weeks until fall classes.

Not much else exciting on the homefront and that’s probably a good thing!

• Improve my diet.  This means eating my fruits & vegetables, cooking at home with recipes and fresh ingredients.  Reduce or eliminate sodas (sugared and diet) and eliminate dependence on caffeine.
• Exercise on a regular schedule.  We’ve been walking a couple nights a week but I need to follow this up with some Wii Fit time or general Yoga stretching before work in the morning.
• Get rid of the junk around me.  I need to take all the crap we have packed away in the house and donate it to a resale shop or recycle it if it’s really junk.  Collecting “stuff” I think adds to suck up positive energy.
• Finish school.  I still have two years left of school and I am still on track for graduation.  I don’t expect myself to stop going but it is one of my goals that I need to keep on the radar.

Losing weight and eliminating the dependence on hypertension medications is the higher-level goal for the diet and exercise.  Eliminating the junk will help with finishing projects and keeping myself motivated to improve my surroundings.  School is just one of those things that I think I’ll forever be attending.  I mean that in a manner of even after I get my master’s degree, I want to go back and teach.

Luckily I haven’t had too many incidents at work with the migraines.  It’s hard to manage work flow and a consistent software development schedule when you keep getting distracted from the pain.  It’s been that irritating “I’m here to annoy you but I won’t kill you” pain.  It’s almost like I’d want one big ass headache a week instead of these little headaches.

Senseless rambling is also a sign of irritation, from what I know about myself.  :)

We’re keeping busy on the social calendar this weekend.  Tomorrow night we’re meeting our friend Marie for dinner.  We haven’t seen her in months and I miss talking with her almost every day on IM.  Friday we’re off to my parents’ house for dinner and a bonfire out back.  Saturday it’s our turn to host and Tazz’s family is coming over.  Sunday is my homework day.  Actually, tomorrow my current client is closed so I’m taking the day off for cleaning and homework.  I had the opportunity to come into the office to work on other tasks, but I need the time off.

Storms coming in tonight and I think I’m turning into my mom.  I can tell the barometer from how much my head hurts.  I wonder if mercury will come shooting out my ears when the storm hits?!

It looks like there is some new evidence that magnetic pulses can help correct short-circuits that make migraines occur in some people.  A second type of stimulation being tested it pulsing the occipital nerve with an implant during the onset of a migraine.  Interesting study - would be worth trying out.

http://www.livescience.com/health/616876.html

Found on LiveScience.com.

Is My Eye Red?

Originally uploaded by Astralbodies

My first try at a comic strip. Thanks MigraineChick for the idea

My stomach has been pretty wonky since I was 19.  I started taking Pepcid when it first came out on the market and it helped for a while.  It eventually stopped working and I had to make my way up to proton pump inhibitors.  Nexium seems to be “the one” that just works.  Unfortunately, my new employer/insurance doesn’t cover the purple pill.  Protonix just came out with a generic but it’s not the best.  So, the GERD and hiatal hernia have been ruining my life.  Drinking hot tea helps calm it down but ultimately my weight (which is going down) and drinking soda are the primary factors. 

I’m babbling.  My point is, it’s a fine line you have to walk/balance on to keep your family from being numb.  I think we too easily forget we can suck it up for a while, if we’re actively trying to prevent accessing migraine triggers, bad foods for our heads and stomachs, etc.  Part of me says screw off, if you don’t like it then you can kiss my ass.  The other part of me says that it’s hard enough for me going through it and I should use my external help wisely.

Part of the other issue that I’ve discussed before is both the migraines and GERD are internal things.  A little red light doesn’t start blinking on your forehead to confirm you’re ill.  (Although, I think sometimes we see blinking lights as an aura.)  You know people, even your close friends, do think you’re either overreacting or acting in general if you get symptoms frequently.

Do I show the pain, or just mask it with a smile?

The weather systems have been playing hell with my migraines, too.  I’ve been using abortive drugs more than normal and I think it’s been killing my stomach too.  Sigh, woe is me.  I’m not to a point where I even want to consider going back onto antiseizure medications, but if my stomach is getting nailed, I bet my liver isn’t liking it.  My doctor is finally getting me off of beta blockers by decreasing the dose.  I forgot to refill the lower dose and today I’m going through, for a lack of a better term, withdrawal.  My heart rate is usually pretty low, around 60bpm, with the beta blocker and with it being higher I feel weird.  Stupid me for forgetting to get the pills earlier.

In any case, school will be over in a little over a month.  Tazz and I are going to be driving out to Niagara Falls in August and camping in July and September.  I’m hoping the mosquitos aren’t horrible in July!!

After the heating and cooling guy stopped by to replace the dead fan in our air conditioner, it hit me pretty bad.  I took some Excedrin only to realize that it was a little too late.  I couldn’t find any Ibuprofen either - a 500 count bottle doesn’t last long in this house.

After we ate dinner and watched a little tv, I told Tazz I needed to crawl into bed and sleep for a while.  An hour later, I feel like complete shit and am trying to work myself out of the hangover.  I’m hoping a little bit of fresh sourdough bread and chai tea will brighten my mood.

Tazz and I also went camping two weeks ago and it was a lot of fun.  The weather was decent and the headaches kept themselves to a minimum.  We’ve already planned another weekend trip in July and September, camping in local areas.  I found that being away from technology and being active kept my mind off of the headaches.  Sometimes I wonder if they’re self-induced anyway!

I started this post early this morning and am now finishing it up before I leave from work.  Since I left during lunch to take a walk around downtown, I’ve had a wicked headache.  Caffeine, Ibuprofen, and now Naproxen isn’t even touching it.  I’m thankful that I’m leaving work soon because this one is kicking my ass right now.