Fibro Feelings – Chips for Congestion
I’ve been fighting these really bad congestion headaches that I’ve been frequently getting the past few weeks. I used to use generic Flonase daily to help prevent these, but I think that is part of what sent my weight on the rise a couple years ago. Now that I’ve lost that weight, I really don’t want to go back on it gain. For some reason the headaches always get worse in the late afternoon, just in time for me to feel too badly to thoroughly deal with dinner. You may have noticed I haven’t been on Twitter and Facebook as much, because of this. That was also the reason my last post went up hours later than I normally post it.
One evening I felt so horrible all I could brace eating were some of the Kettle Chips near me. They were the Spicy Thai flavor, which is about as spicy as I can handle. After I’d been eating them for a bit I realized my head was starting to feel better and my nose wasn’t as stuffy. Then I remembered about how spicy food can relieve congestion and help with congestion headaches! I’m not sure that is the healthiest solution, but it seemed to work…at least until I started trying to cook dinner. The first step was dicing an onion, which always makes me cry. After that I felt congested all over again, so I’m not sure if the onion crying ruined the effect or the spicy effect just didn’t last that long.
I don’t think clearly at all when I have a headache, no matter what type of headache it is. I was sitting on the couch in pain, starting to talk about dinner with The Helpful Hubby when I got a phone call. It was from our Arthritis Walk, Arthritis Foundation staffer, who was checking in on me. I was nearly 30 minutes late to our dinner and wrap-up meeting! I had completely forgotten about it! I was so embarrassed, as I was sitting there in my pajamas, having not even taken as shower. The meeting was ~25 minutes from my house, so I raced to shower, get ready and leave. Somehow I made it out of the house in less than 30 minutes (a miracle for me) and got there just 30 minutes after they’d started the discussion. The adrenalin rush for the panic I had actually crushed my headache for a few hours, giving me a nice break!
What is your favorite headache fix?
The miracle chips*
*Image Credit: from www.flickr.com by quinn.anya
Posted: June 25th, 2012 under Fibro Feelings.
Tags: Headache, Pain
Comment from Sarah
Time June 28, 2012 at 1:26 am
*sorry the URL above leads to my “under construction” blog – she’ll be up and running in a few days.*
The only things that I use for headaches are Naproxen and very very cold face clothes (basically make them moderately wet then put in freezer for a bit – I always do 2 or 3 at a time so while I am using one there are others getting ready and I just rotate through them).
If my headache is crazy bad and nothing is working I will ask my best friend for a massage. Whether it is at the base of my neck (tension – most common for me), the stem of my neck (still tension) or massaging certain areas, like temples or forehead when the cause is unknown. She is great at these massages and has saved my butt quite a few times!
I do not get headaches regularly but when I do they drive me mad. I also cannot concentrate or pay attention to anything when a headache is on the loose. Takes me 30 mins to finish something that should take 5.
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