Brontoforumus

I'm working on it!

My resolution for this year is to make it through January.

well, tonight, we didn't get shot. that's a start.

Got a wicked fucking migraine around 4 o'clock yesterday afternoon; meds helped tamp it down but when I woke up it was back. Hoping that meds tamp it down again.

Now that it's the first of the year and I've got new insurance and should be covered at my primary care doctor's office again, I should be able to start going in and getting help for this stuff. Or at least refill my prescription.

First shooting of the year wasn't in America! Way to go guys, looking good so far.

This year I'm hoping to get control of the series of injuries, pains and strains that have been going on each time I try to exercise, and the stuffy sinuses I've had for the last 30 years. And maybe if everything stops hurting, get back into fencing? I miss fencing. I like swords.

I ended up in a really good place by the end of 2015, keeping to a bunch of positive habits and following through everything I set for myself to completion. Planning to keep up the pace this year.

I'd really like to finish a few half-finished stories I abandoned after hitting writer's block, it's just hard to find the time. Frocto's been helping me get around that, so, I'm optimistic I can set aside an hour or two after work every day for that.

One thing I need to work on is my financial situation, which is at a standstill so long as I'm paying for this apartment I've got. That'll probably mean I'll need to take roommates, which I am not even remotely looking forward to, but if I want to buy a car any time soon... not much choice. That is going to suck.

Really, really want to get proficient with Python this year, since my job keeps throwing more and more tasks at me that could absolutely be automated if I just knew how to program worth a dick. I really want to get good at this.

And maybe if everything stops hurting, get back into fencing? I miss fencing. I like swords.

Welcome to Co--

I've had a head cold for over a week. Today I finally went in to see the doctor. Got some cough syrup with codeine in it (and also antibiotics). Feeling better already.

I'll plan on getting in there for my other various ailments once this one clears up a little.

I should look up who the neurologist was who looked into my migraines when I was in high school, see if he's still got records he could send to my current doctors. I think most of my headaches these days are sinus headaches (since they happen mostly when the barometric pressure changes) but I figure the migraine data should help.

Thad, for a month there I was having migraines with terrifying frequency, and I started keeping a journal. As soon as I could see straight, I wrote down stuff like date, time, duration, and what I was doing before. I noticed when I told the doctor my head hurt and I saw sparkles they were just "yep that's a migraine" so I tried to assemble better info.

I had a lot of trouble with migraines in my teens, I think mostly related to stress. I got them much less frequently in my twenties.

It's hard to quantify how frequently I get migraines now because I get headaches all the time and some of them are migraines and some aren't. My sinus headaches are very similar to migraines, but usually not quite as bad, and, like I said, usually correspond to the weather.

I've also had unpredictable experiences with different meds over the past bunch of years (the most common side effect being dizziness). I tried going off albuterol recently to see if that would reduce my number of headaches; I think the results are inconclusive (I didn't have as many headaches the first couple of weeks I went off it, but then the frequency increased again) but I might ask for another kind of rescue inhaler just to see.

I've also been getting allergy shots regularly for most of a year, in the hopes that they'll help curtail my sinus problems, including headaches. I haven't really noticed a difference yet, but they said it's pretty common for it to take a year or even longer before you really build up a tolerance and start experiencing relief. (One of the upsides to unemployment is that it's never hard for me to find time to get in to get my shots; I get them weekly when possible, but since I've had intermittent head colds for the last couple of months I haven't been able to go in as frequently. You're not supposed to get the shots when you're sick.)

As for migraines, I've been on the triptan family of medications since the 1990's. Their major side effect is that they leave me really jittery. They're (usually) more effective than taking two Excedrin Migraine with a cup of coffee, but the result is generally the same: the pain goes away but I'm left with a different kind of debilitating discomfort; the rest of my day ends up being more pleasant than if I had a migraine, but not any more productive. (Usually my headaches go away by around sundown.) Early triptan-based meds I took usually came with a rebound effect where the headache came back even worse a few hours later; I stopped taking them for years because of that, but when I've taken more recent triptan meds I haven't had that side effect nearly as badly or as often. Not sure if it's the new meds or if I'm changing or what.

Anyhow, thanks for the advice; I've been meaning to keep a journal but never really got around to doing it. I probably should.