The mystery of headaches

[mtbc]

One thing that is somewhere between interesting and frustrating about headaches is what causes them. This morning, I woke up with a headache and don't know why: it's difficult to determine. I took some paracetamol with water and, even after an hour, that hadn't much helped. Afterward, I made some black coffee and drank that with a decongestant and now feel somewhat better.

But what helped? I don't know, it could just be that time passed. Similarly, sometimes I might try drinking and eating more, etc. Maybe it helps but it's hard to know what makes my headaches come or go. Also, I can go for weeks with hardly any, then go through phases in which they're more frequent, and I have yet to spot any likely suspects. Just about the only useful means I've found to prevent them relates to hangovers: back in earlier life when I might drink more heavily, drinking a pint of water before bed would have me feeling much better the next morning.

My current optician impressed me a while ago. He had asked me about headaches and I mentioned I get some, then he went on to ask various questions about them, determining that they weren't related to my vision. I suppose it's standard training but, until he started probing their nature, it hadn't occurred to me that he'd have some ability to usefully interrogate me in diagnosing something (even negative) about them.

Fortunately, my few migraines remain symptomatic mostly in non-painful ways. I know they could be much worse and, in those of us in whom they're milder, I know they can worsen later in life; so far, I remain relatively lucky in that regard. Their main inconvenience is just that I may have to take a half-hour away from work until my occipital lobe returns to a state more conducive to reading text.

Comments

[thewayne]

Underhydration could still be a point. When you drink, alcohol dehydrates you, and your brain literally shrinks, causing it to pull on and cause tension with the dura matter surrounding it. Since you made it a point to drink a lot of water before you went to bed when you drank, that helped that situation. You might try increasing your water intake before bed and see if that helps, certainly can't hurt unless you have to get up during the night to pee. :)

[mtbc]

It's safe to say that, were I to drink any more late in the evening, I would be getting up to pee more than I already do!