Headaches

So I normally don't struggle with headaches too often but when I do they can get pretty annoying-harder and harder to ignore and push to the background, especially if i need to be doing academic stuff etc. Interestingly enough if I do have a headache it is made way worse by night time driving-sensitivity to light as it were. Even if I don't have a headache but am driving for long periods of time at night I will most likely end up with one before the drive is over. So I was curious about different headaches and causes etc so I figure, maybe most people don't know the different kinds either so let me oblige you:

Tension headaches
Tension headaches, the most common type, feel like a constant ache or pressure around the head, especially at the temples or back of the head and neck. Not as severe as migraines, they are not usually accompanied by nausea and vomiting, and they rarely stop someone from continuing their regular activities. Over-the-counter treatments, such as aspirin, ibuprofen, or acetaminophen (Tylenol), are usually sufficient to treat tension headaches, which experts believe may be caused by contraction of neck and scalp muscles (including in response to stress), and possibly changes in brain chemicals.

Cluster headaches
Cluster headaches, which affect men more often than women, are recurring headaches that occur in groups or cycles. The headaches appear suddenly and are characterized by severe, debilitating pain on one side of the head often accompanied by a watery eye and nasal congestion or a runny nose on the same side of the face. During an attack, sufferers are often restless and unable to get comfortable and not likely to lay down the way someone with a migraine usually does. The cause of cluster headaches is unknown, but they may have some genetic component. There is no cure, but medications can reduce the frequency and duration of attacks.

Sinus headaches
When a sinus becomes inflamed, usually through an infection, it can cause pain. It usually comes with a fever, and can—if necessary—be diagnosed by MRI or CT scan (which can both detect changes in fluid levels), or by the presence of pus viewed through a fiber-optic scope. Headaches due to sinus infection can be treated with antibiotics, as well as antihistamines or decongestants.

Rebound headaches
Overuse of painkillers for headaches can, ironically, lead to rebound headaches. Culprits include over-the-counter medications like aspirin, acetaminophen (Tylenol), or ibuprofen (Motrin, Advil), as well as prescription drugs.

"Most of the patients we see in a headache center with daily headache have medication-overuse, or rebound, headaches," says Stewart Tepper, MD, director of research at the Center for Headache and Pain at the Cleveland Clinic Neurological Institute.

"They are on a merry-go-round and they can't get off," says Dr. Tepper. "They keep taking more medicine, they keep having more headaches, and so the patient becomes more and more desperate. That's when they end up coming to headache specialists to kind of reset the whole system."

One theory is that too much medication can cause the brain to shift into an excited state, triggering more headaches. Another is that the headaches are a symptom of withdrawal as the level of medicine drops in the bloodstream.

Migraine headaches
Migraine headaches come from a neurological disorder that can run in families and are defined by certain criteria.

•At least five previous episodes of headaches
•Lasting between four hours and 72 hours
•Having at least two out of four of these features: one-sided pain, throbbing pain, moderate-to-severe pain, and pain that interferes with, is worsened by, or prohibits routine activity
•Having at least one associated feature: nausea and/or vomiting, or, if those are not present, then sensitivity to light and sound
An oncoming migraine attack may, for some, be foreshadowed by an aura, which can include visual distortions (such as wavy lines or blind spots) or numbness of a hand. It's estimated, though, that only 15% to 20% of migraineurs experience this.


So as it turns out I think I tend to get mild migraines-I never am sick or vomit by any means and they're really not THAT frequent, but if I don't treat a tension headache it can quickly grow to migraine status. Most of the time its the throbbing pain on either front side of my head and sensitivity to light is a DEFINITE yes and sometimes sound.

on that note....off to sleep this off 8)
what headaches do ya'll get?

where's: steve, cody, whit, drea, and nate?!
(I'll give you a hint-look more towards the upper left)

What is life? A frenzy.

Another week come and gone. It's getting pretty ridiculous...and I thought time on the mish went fast. Despite feeling a lil under the weather the past 24 hours it's been a good 24 hours thanks again to Code-pretty much my bright light.

So i was reading "Life's a Dream" a spanish baroque play written by Calderon. There were some really beautiful parts that just flowed. For those who arent' familiar with the play, it's about this prince who is locked up in a tower since birth because his father, the king, read in the stars that he would end up being a terrible tyrant and wanted to avoid it, and as always, his locking him up in the tower later turned him into the tyrant he was trying to avoid. Anywho, they keep taking him in and out of the tower with different drugs causing him to sleeep telling him that he's dreaming etc. so by the end he doesnt' know what's real-if he's dreaming or not. anywho, the part i liked:

Clothold says to Sigismund (the captive prince): "for even in dreams it pays to do what's right."
Sigismund: "This is true; so we must repress this savage character, this fury, this ambition, just in case we dream again. And that will happen sooner or later, for we live in such an exceptional world that living is no more than dreaming; and experience teaches me that he who lives dreams what he is until waking. The king dreams that he's king, and he lives under this deception commanding, planning, and governing; and his acclaim, which he receives on loan, is scribbled in the wind and turned to ashes by death. What grave misfortune! To think that anyone should wish to govern knowing that he will awaken in the sleep of death! The rich man dreams of more riches, which only bring him more worries; the poor man dreams that he suffers in misery and poverty; the man who improves his lot dreams; the man who toils and petitions dreams; the man who insults and offends dreams; And in this world, in short, everyone dreams what he is although no one realizes it. I dream that I'm here, weighed down by these chains, and I've dreamt that I found myself in more flattering circumstances; What is life? A frenzy. What is life? A vain hope, a shadow, a fiction. The greatest good is fleeting, for all life is a dream and even dreams are but dreams."

isnt' that good stuff?? I mean slightly emo-yes, but so good!
off to dream....or is it to live? haha now i'm all confused ;)

eurika! (not the castle)

So I figured I'd catch up on some pics from this semester so far:

So this is what I came home to when I got back from xmas break and a note and chocolates waiting in my room-yeah, I pretty much have the best bf ever.








us at the aquarium in SLC









yup, I touched that.










us at the game with our sweet seats thanks to Nate









Lefleur's favorite

lost? yep I am ;)

Well my head is still realing from tonight...wow. Mike pretty much had it dead on-impressive, my hat's off to you sir. Umm...so our lil lost party was pretty good. Steve and his roommie came over and brought chips/dip, m&ms, and Lefleur's favorite rootbeer totally legite with darma initiative labels on the bottles. I would include a pic but my computer isn't recognizing my camera's memory card which is only majorly frustrating me. But yea, I was soo happy that there were two episodes cause one hour would not have slaked my thirst. I was only annoyed with the whole having to watch yet another gut-renching sad goodbye between sawyer and juliet-i mean...why make us go through it all over again-what was the point of that?
As usual Hurley had some great liners and of course rather than answering some things we are immersed in a hundred new questions and mysteries-i tell ya 3/4 of Lost's audience is now simply watching just to get some closure. And what about the fake john actually being the smoke monster huh?! way out of left field right?!
good stuff all around. Well pics to be posted at a later date i guess...technology 8397294872398744 whitney: 1 (that time i turned off the computer, yeah...i showed it)

So it begins...

Yup, tonight eight o'clock the final season of Lost is kicking off. I'm so excited and so curious as to how they're going to explain everything and to see how magically everyone wasn't killed by a hydrogen bomb going off inches away from them otherwise this is gonna be a really short season.
The things that I really wanna know are...what the heck happened/is going on with Claire-and does her son really matter cause that psychic way back in the day was really adament about him and that she needed to raise him otherwise bad things would happen etc. The smoke monster-of course, um...what else...will kate actually end up with anyone-i'm starting to think she doesn't deserve to. what was the deal with jack's dad showing up randomly. what is the island REALLY/what's the big deal with it and who is going to live/or come back from the dead-anything is possible.
oh so good!
amas day

Rise and Shout! (takes on a whole new meaning now)

What a game...it was pretty crazy intense. Thanks to Andrea and Nate who had extra seats in the student section and little to no quams about breezing past the "security" asking for all sports passes, we had some amazing seats! So there were some pretty loud moments in the marriott center-one of which is linked above...seriously, i don't know what henderson was thinking would happen if he tried to pull that in the marriott-i mean...come on, you've just made thousands of enemies in one second. It was ridiculous how loud it got and how quickly-I began to see how mob mentality works, haha. Just pure rage in the student section. I hope he's a senior cause it will SUCK for him to come back in the Marriott center in the future-we're talking heckling up the wazoo.

Anywho, mom watched on tv and said that it was amazing how loud the crowd was at times-and to think if everyone came to every game they could all be that exciting...but never as enjoyable as beating utah 8)
The coach was driving us crazy-i think he was on the court more than some of his players-he just would not get off the court and the student section kept chanting "Give him a T" everytime he started to cry to the refs-argh, sooo theatrical, no wonder Henderson got all emotional and hot headed-look at their coach.

We came out victorious in the end and my voice is waaaay tired 8)