Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Let me tell you, it's no fun being in pain, but as a Type A personality it seems to be my destiny. Of course, there are migraines, which I get about once a month. I had one last Saturday. It went away, fortunately, by the end of the day.

And then recently, I've been getting sinus headaches, related to the weather and allergy season.

And last week, I reinjured my trapezius muscle. I haven't been in this much daily muscular pain since I first injured it in a Jung Sim Do class about 14 years ago. I've been taking ibuprofen, using Thermacare patches and soaking in hot baths with bath salts. At night, when I go to bed, I've been putting a cold pack under my shoulder. Gradually, it's getting better, but it looks like I won't be lifting weights any time soon.

I also haven't been able to take extra work this week, because hours of typing seems to aggravate it.

Because of my chronic pain, it would be easy to just pile on pain med after pain med. But I prefer to find other ways to cope with pain that don't involve medication. If you overuse pain medication, it ceases to be effective, and then you're forced to seek out stronger and stronger stuff.

When it comes to migraine headaches, there are a number of things that can help. The best thing to do is prevent them, by taking care of yourself, making sure you get enough sleep and eat a balanced diet. It's also important to find ways to reduce your stress, such as exercise.

Since migraines seem to be primarily caused by sensory overload, when I'm hit with a migraine, I desensitize. This means turning out lights, turning off music, and sitting in a quiet room with an ice pack on my head. I've found this, plus an over-the-counter pain medication, can help.

While ibuprofen is useful for muscle pain, hot and cold packs are also great. That and, of course, being careful not to aggravate it.

There's no really good way to get rid of a sinus headache without medication, but you can use steam. I sometimes boil a pot of water on the stove, then place the pot on a table and use a towel to trap the steam over my head. That opens up the pores and then you can use some clean tap water to wash away everything that was flushed out.

When I first injured my trapezius muscle, I was on muscle relaxants for the first couple of weeks, which I took a couple times a day. That was really helpful, but of course they don't sell them over the counter.

The only time I've been on prescription pain medication was when I had a prescription for my migraines. This was when I was working for a small town newspaper, and I got migraines once a week. Using the prescription meds was like putting a Band-Aid on a gaping wound. It softened the pain but didn't correct the causes.

At the time, I was not taking good care of myself. I wasn't getting enough sleep. I was highly stressed and not getting enough exercise, and I was eating poorly. The pain meds made the pain go away when it happened but couldn't keep it from occurring.

I think, as a Type A person, the hardest thing to do is to slow down. That's often the remedy for injury or a headache. It's hard for me to do it. When I back off my usual busy schedule, I feel like I'm getting behind, which only stresses me out more.

Sometimes I can make simple adjustments. Knowing that I can't go to the gym for at least a couple weeks, I'm making sure to get in a couple long dog walks a day. Not only is it good exercise, but it's also relaxing.

It may sound sort of Zen, but I'm beginning to believe that in order to heal yourself, you must know yourself.

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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