48 hours of pain

OMG I haven't felt pain like the past 2 days in years.  And I've never had a headache like this.

It started on Monday, I felt weak and tired and on the verge of fainting or collapsing at work so I left at 3:30.  I came home and lay down for an hour or so, and when I got up just around five, my head was positively throbbing.  I'm talking 8 or 9 out of 10.  I took a Maxalt right away and thought I'd be fine as it usually works within an hour or so.... Right?

Wrong...  I couldn't eat dinner.  I couldn't even think about food.  Hubby fended for himself with some soup.  I had Gatorade and arrowroot cookies. I went back to bed around 8:30 and the pain was so bad I was bawling.  Not "there's tears in my eyes" but "I can't control the tears streaming down my cheeks" pain.  And I didn't want to cry because it doesn't help, usually just makes it worse.

I was up and down all night.  Changing ice packs every two hours.  A gravol to settle my stomache.  And more Maxalt at 3 am.  My head didn't hurt in the front above my eyes or in back around the spine it hurt ALL OVER!  An overinflated balloon on the verge of exploding.  Well by 7 am when my alarm went off I knew there would be no way I could go into work. So I called the HR department and left my boss a voicemail and changed my voicemail and crawled, almost literally, back to bed after calling hubby to say I would be staying home.

I don't know if I slept.  I remember getting a fresh ice pack a couple of times before 11:30 when I called hubby to stop off at Walmart on his way home from work.  I needed another ice pack to add to the rotation and more Gatorade.   I wasn't eating anything so I was at least trying to stay hydrated.  Hubby came home and we threw the now third in our collection of ice packs into the freezer.  I grabbed a movie and an ice pack and snuggled into our bed and half watched, half dozed through Memoirs of a Geisha.  I didn't care if I watched or slept.  It was just on to distract my mind from the incessant pain.

My mum called, or I called her, I can't remember, about going to aquabics - that'd be a no.  She told me to go back to bed and call her in a while. I took a third Maxalt in 24 hours (the maximum recommended) and lay down again until hubby came to bed around 8.  I got up realizing I was kinda hungry.... Hmmm.... what to eat?   Back to arrowroot cookies and more Gatorade.  It is the only thing I could imagine stomaching.  I called my mum and we discussed whether or not I should go to emerg for some iv drugs.  I didn't want to go anywhere.  Especially with our hospital on high screening for H1N1.  I didn't want anyone else's germs.  So back to bed with a fresh ice pack I went.

When I got up this morning, now 37 hours from the onset of my headache, it still raged.  I had to have a shower.  I nearly passed out doing so, but after a few minutes I felt level headed enough to make a decision not to drive to work.  I called my sister in law and caught her as she headed out the door.  We luckily live 6 blocks away from each other and work for the same law firm.  She picked me up and off to work I went.  I arranged with hubby to pick me up at noon; I knew I'd never make the full day with all the pain.

People who haven't experienced chronic pain don't understand what you're dealing with when you tell them you've had a headache for 2 days straight.  Not, oh gee, my head's aching either.  I'm talking my head is going to explode if anyone whispers too loudly or if there's a blink of light in the room.  People at work are nice enough, but they just can't comprehend the effort it took me to not just stay in bed again today.  I went in and did what was important and necessary.  I feel very responsible for my duties at work and I'm not trying to shriek them.  Hubby collected me at noon and I came home, had some toast!! (not just arrowroot cookies) and crashed for another hour or so.

By the time supper rolled around I felt alright enough to have some chicken noodle soup and boiled some pasta for hubby.  My head has finally eased to about a 2 / 10 and I can actually say that I feel marginally better.  But after the last 48 hours, any less pain is a vast improvement.