As those of you who also read kelloggs2066‘s Live Journal know, I was suffering from a migraine this morning and into the afternoon.
“Migraine” comes from the greek word “hemikrania.” Literally, “half of the head.” Yup. Half my head was throbbing, right behind my left eye. It wouldn’t be so bad, except I had WORK to do.
I took a nap, hoping that this was stemming from lack of sleep. I woke up and it was worse. Fortunately, Sandra had gone shopping and gotten me some Diet Vanilla Pepsi. Caffeine is GREAT headache medicine, provided you’re not already addicted to the stuff. I kicked my Diet Pepsi habit a couple of months ago, and have only had to medicate a headache with it once or twice since then.
Well, today I had to imbibe something like 24 ounces of the stuff to get the half of my head I needed for cartooning back from the threshold of pain. And I got some good cartooning done… right up until 5 minutes ago, when I got the shakes so bad I started screwing lines up.
*sigh*
The good news is that I only botched a couple of lines (I know when to stop trying to touch pen to paper), and they were finishing background lines. That, and the strip they go in is a real watershed strip for me — I used an anatomy textbook in order to do some VERY detailed artwork. See, I needed to draw Elf “naked”… tune in on December 13th!
Now I’m going to go to the gym and hope that some exercise will burn the rest of this stuff out of my system.
–Howard
Migraines are terrible. You’re lucky you respond well enough to caffeine that you can keep working through one. The very idea boggles my mind. Rest up and feel better!
See, the only times I have headaches is a side effect from my caffeine withdrawl. So caffeine is really a great thing to stop those headaches.
Glad you’re feeling better!
Howard exorcised his migrane demon with an application of Pepsi potion. Unfortunately it fled to the nearest host which was me. Fortunately we still had plenty of Pepsi. Hopefully it has now fled the house entirely.
I find I get migraines when I’ve been burning the candle at both ends…then I have a day when I feel WHOOP-DI-DOOO! and everything is great…then next day my vision goes, first the centre then spreading outwards in a horseshoe shape, jazzy flashing pyrotechnics that eventually travel beyond vision’s periphery to be replaced by a sickening headache.
I find paracetamol (just the one tablet) and sleep a cure. Can’t drive with the visual effects but can manage with a headache.
Diet Pepsi? that’s mortification of the digestion!
Sorry to hear you suffer but looking forward to seeing more of Elf…. she must be traumatised from the events prior to her being “dorothied” surely?
I may be wrong, but I thought caffeine was strictly a no-no with the Mormons. (At least I’ve had mormon friends who wouldn’t touch the stuff.)
Strictly a no-no? No.
The “Word of Wisdom” (the revelation concerning diet found in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, Section 89) states, in verse 9: “And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly.”
The 19th-century Saints to whom this revelation was originally given understood this clearly to mean “coffee and tea,” and that clarification has been made officially in the 20th century. You might THINK that the commandment is specifically telling us to eschew caffeine, or maybe the whole triumvirate of methylxanthine alkaloids (caffeine, theobromine, and theophylline), but it is still specifically proscribing coffee and tea (black tea, not, for instance, mint tea, or orange-peel tea).
That said, caffeine is a powerful drug, and its casual use by millions is almost CERTAINLY causing health problems. Most mormons do eschew caffeine altogether. But most mormons will ALSO take the medications that are indicated for the symptoms they’re experiencing, including Excedrin for migraines (which has caffeine) or Nyquil for nasty colds (which is about 10% alchohol by volume).
The Word of Wisdom supports this behavior, encouraging the prudent and thankful use of “every herb in the season thereof” (verse 11).
So… I used to drink a lot of diet vanilla pepsi, but I quit because I felt it was prudent to do so. And now I’m drinking a little bit for my headaches because I feel it’s prudent to do THAT.
–Howard
Re: Strictly a no-no? No.
Interesting. I’d always wondered WHERE the no caffeine rule came from because I didn’t think they knew what specifically made coffee so darn good.
I have a love/hate relationship with the stuff. If I drink a little, I start wanting more and more, and so a soda a day turns into two which turns into three and suddenly I can’t sleep well anymore.
Then I spend a weekend of headachy grumpiness to get it out of my system. Then I’m golden again until I again give in and say “Hey, a soda couldn’t hurt, huh?”
Re: Strictly a no-no? No.
My bestest friend in the whole wide world (who isn’t my wife) does the same kind of thing with Dr. Pepper.
Re: Strictly a no-no? No.
“That said, caffeine is a powerful drug, and its casual use by millions is almost CERTAINLY causing health problems.”
I’d agree with that. Many of my fellow college students drink stupidly large amounts of caffine and frankly their weird and creepy behaviour with regard to the stuff.
Also, it makes me more aggressive, which is something I most emphatically do NOT need.
*Blink* For some reason, I first read that as: “California was strictly a no-no with the Mormons.”
…
No, that’s just me. I’m Mormon, but my proscription of CA has little if anything to do with that. 😉
As a native Californian, I understand perfectly.
Glad to hear her reconstruction is progressing well. 🙂
Ouch. Yeah, I’ve had a total of 2 migraines before. The first time I started with a dot in my left eye, and spread out from there into full tunnel vision. That went away, but an hour later a full fledged migraine headache hit. After that I went to the doctor and he prescribed something for migraines. No idea what it is, I’ve since lost the bottle. Second time I took one as soon as I saw that distortion dot in my vision on my left eye (Almost a year after the first one.) It never took full effect, and I haven’t had one since. This was at least 10 years ago.
Hmm, I just realized something. I used to be mildly dependant on Motrin because of major back pains. I also used to get somewhat frequent headaches. That has changed though. I don’t think I’ve had a full out headache in the past 1-2 years (Or longer, but I can’t remember that far back) that wasn’t due to caffeine withdrawal (And those are typically mild) or Nutrasweet. I’ve been drinking more caffeine in that time than ever before. My back seems to feel better than ever even without the Motrin… It may be partially due to the recently added 500mg vitamin C tablets in my diet as well, or the fact that I’m getting out and hiking for a bit once each week. Another factor may be that 6 years ago I switched off the Diet Coke (the only thing my parents ever bought) and onto real Coke. I can’t take Nutrasweet anymore after drinking it solidly for the 5-6 years I was still living there. Even gum with it gives me a headache.
I’d make a comment about how I’m glad I don’t have any chemical sensitivities, like those mentioned here, but I’m afraid I’ll develop some if I do. 😉
Still, green tea is far better for you than either coffee or black tea – and I’d recommend going for that over a cappuccino.
(Of course, being a former coffee addict, I’d say that).
Heh. I find this whole caffeine discusiion ironic in light of my having posted “the top ten reasons I love caffeine” on my LJ, probably mere minutes before you posted this…