buter's BABY blog

... well, if they don't make it worse, at the very least they don't make it all better either. My loyal following will recall that I've had headaches off-n-on since about March this year, and that the headache when it comes will last for days, and nothing seems to relieve it. Painkilling medication doesn't actually "kill" the pain, just makes it so that though you can feel it, it's not ruling your life.

I could review the painkillers I've been taking in terms of their headache removability:
1. aspirin, pretty commonly regarded as "good for what ails ya" but in fact it's only really good for hangovers or dehydration headaches. Not for my special kind. But at least it didn't make it worse ...

2. paracetamol, always recommended as a first choice after aspirin, but didn't have a huge impact on the headache either.

3. ibuprofen, well this was not too bad. The neurologist recommended taking it as soon as the headache started and it seemed to reduce its severity - but then I'd have to take another dose or combine with another drug for full functionality so it's not awesome - but a good standby and very cheap.

4. "nurofen tension headache" - this is ibuprofen lysine. The pharmacist (whom I asked for advice, as you're meant to) said "oh, well it works better than normal nurofen because it's targeted specifically for the tension headache." Funnily enough the package next to it, " Migraine pain" was the same dosage and same everything except "targeted specifically for the migraine headache". She knew nothing, so I researched it a little bit and it's meant to act faster than straight ibuprofen. It was ok, acting faster is fine but the net effect was the same as the regular stuff. And it's twice as expensive as homebrand ibuprofen which brings its rating down to

5. prodeine forte (a strong paracetamol/codeine blend also marketed as panadeine forte) - wow, now we're getting into the strong stuff. Its main side effect is incredible wooziness, though it's also very effective at helping you ignore the pain. In fact you can ignore just about anything! So I would recommend taking it if the pain is stopping you sleeping, but that's about it. And then the sleep you do get when you have taken one, is pretty weird (you'll notice the same effect with codral night time tablets) so it gets

6. tramadol ( Zydol, or Tramal) - or as I like to call them, "tiny little capsules of joy". These were the most effective, least side-effective of all the drugs I tried. They work reasonably fast, you can combine them with nurofen, and they don't cause any weird drowsiness or hallucinations. So two thumbs up and from me.

Unfortunately as you'd probably gathered from the title of the post, in the end though the drugs weren't solving the problem, only addressing the symptom. I'd been to see my GP a couple of times, with no conclusive diagnosis, a neurologist who said it *might* be a migraine brought about from muscle tension, and I'd had CT and MRI scans which showed nothing abnormal. So despite being reassured that there wasn't anything wrong, and being about $600 poorer for the knowledge, in fact I still didn't know anything at all. (Relax, this story has a happy ending - I went to medicare and got nearly $400 back so I'm only $200 poorer after all.)

So this week when I had a debilitating headache on Tuesday, I went to a physio recommended to me by a good friend. The physio poked me in my neck and said "does it hurt here?". When I recovered from the intense pain of said poking, she informed me that the headache was probably referred from tension in my neck and that my neck shouldn't actually feel like a solid lump of bone but should feel like the soft tissue which it in fact is. When I told her I'd been renovating and this so far involved repainting our house, she said "well there's your problem" and told me to stop painting for a few weeks. (what a pity!)

So here I am, two physio treatments later and drug free and loving it. I'm going back for more treatments quite possibly for the next couple of months as there are neck, shoulder and back muscle issues that she has yet to deal with. But in general ... I'd say it's a good outcome! And for the physio!