kephalalgia

[rone]

I get headaches often, of all sorts: sinus headaches, tension headaches, hunger headaches, dehydration headaches, allergic headaches, throbbing headaches, even the rare full-blown migraine.  They occur on the temples, at the forehead, up top, behind the ears, or any combination.  They are sometimes photophobic, phonophobic, rarely both.  Sometimes i'll get a headache if i need to go take a dump.  I don't get caffeine withdrawal headaches anymore, now that i've cut back, but those were insidious.  I've had headaches for as long as i can remember, and Excedrin (or its generic analogue) has been my constant companion (Bufferin when i was a kid; Mom and Dad didn't want me on caffeine); as a result, i'm intimately acquainted with the anti-headache pressure points along the neck, face, and hands.  I hate headaches because they're, at best, distracting, and, at worst, utterly debilitating.  If i had a magical wish, i think i'd definintely banish my headaches.

Comments

When I was 8 or 9

[vardissakheli.livejournal.com]

I had terrible headaches, sometimes from sinus pressure, other times just from noise. This was before we knew about Reye's syndrome, and I grew to love aspirin (and hate acetaminophen, which made me feel feverish), but I also knew that sinus headaches would just keep coming back, especially since I get terrible bounceback from decongestants.

When I learned that headaches were caused by muscle tension, I just started working on teaching myself to relax the muscles in my face--all the time, not in response to pain. Within a couple weeks, I stopped having headaches, and I've almost never had them again. I still had pain from sinus pressure, but never throbbing or engulfing pain.

Meanwhile, my mother developed migraines in compensation.

[ronebofh.livejournal.com]

There was some definite improvement once i learned to relax my jaw muscles, which i did to combat nighttime teethgrinding.