Tuesday, December 13, 2005

a moment of comedic relief

Yesterday afternoon, as I mentioned, my migraine started to dramatically improve. By 6pm or so, I felt like an actual person whose brain was not about to ooze out of her ears. I was also exhausted; as if I'd just been working out for hours. I finished up outstanding projects, packed up work for home and was out of the office by 9pm. I arrived home by 9:30, chipper to be able to work on my couch in front of the tv.

I went upstairs to throw on pajamas and glanced in the mirror on the way back down. Hmmm... What's that on my face? Hives. I'd broken out in hives all over my body. They seemed to be localized on my face and arms, but I had a few random hives on my torso and legs. Itchy, disfiguring, large hives. Okay, disfiguring is an exaggeration, but they were ugly.

Except for the itchiness, they weren't bothering me all that much, so I decided to take Benadryl and call the doctor in the morning. Unfortunately, Benadyl makes me wired, so I spent the next few hours lying awake in bed and wishing the itching to stop. It got to the point that Josh threatened to put mittens on me to stop the scratching.

I finally drifted off to sleep and was awoken by a loud screeching sound coming from the downstairs hallway. It took a few minutes for me to identify the noise- the fire alarm. A few minutes later, the loud screech sounded again. The fire alarm battery. A glance at the clock- 2:17am. I considered getting up and replacing the battery, but honestly, I've had a migraine for days, I'm itchy and disfigured, and I can't sleep because I'm hyper from Benadryl. So I shook Josh awake and begged him to fix it. I know it's mean, but have some sympathy people!!!

We don't have those rectangular batteries in the house, so he unplugged it for the night and came back to bed, where I finally got a few hours of sleep before I got up at 7:30am to get to work. I still have the hives, although they are lessened in intensity. I've logged a call in to the doctor, and the nurse expressed adequate concern over the strange symptoms. We'll see what happens.

By the way, the irony is not lost on me that last week I wrote an entry about being happy no matter what, and yesterday and today all I have to write is "WAAAAHHH, I have a migraine! WAAAAHHH, I have hives!" Isn't life a kick in the pants?

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Halloweenlover,
My kids also have had a weird hive thing, following on the back of a stomach thing. The pediatrician said he has seen a lot of hives this year, and also that some viruses just have hives as a manifestation of a jacked up immune system. Anyway, hope you are feeling better soon--glad the headache is gone...
:)
Neighbor Lady

Anonymous said...

Geez, one thing after the other! I hope you're able to get everything straightened out so you can feel better!

Anonymous said...

I have used that Advil Migraine to some relief, but the best stuff was some wierd fungal tea that my girlfriend brought to me ??? What was in it? For all I know it was LSD and ground up grasshoppers, but it stopped the headache.

And that was a night "In which no Rest shall be Had".

I hope the docotr gives you some goooood Sheee-it, Man.

Running2Ks said...

Holy cow--are you allergic to some food (or med)?

I hope you feel better--totally--soon!

Anonymous said...

You can't cut a break. Ahwile back, I came home to find my fiance COVERED in those things (freaked me the hell out - welts were huge) - started off as a little one, and spread down his arms, covered his back/torso...unreal. he saw it spreading (whic sound sgross enough on its own).
Benedryl did little for the hives themselves. When I saw him, I was all, "yeah, ER" and they gave him Benedryls older, meaner brother in a shot which cleared it up. However, it did almost cause him passs out (and he aint tiny guy). To this day, we have no idea why it happened. My Thx - a spider bite rxn.

Yeah, I hope you get some relief soon cuz... GEEZ.
(oh, and I would have made the guy deal with the fire alarm too - hives or not)

Phantom Scribbler said...

I'm glad the doctor is taking you more seriously this time! Hives and a three-day-long migraine deserve a little professional sympathy, even if there's nothing they can do for you.

I hope everything clears up soon!

Maribeth said...

Geeze, you can't get a break, can you? Any ideas what made you break out in hives? Poor kid! Take care, feel better and de-itch.

Piece of Work said...

Oh, HL! What a week you are having! Hope tomorrow is a better day.

ccw said...

Poor you! You are having a rough week. I hope that you start feeling better soon.

No advice for the hives. I get them occassionally, but they always disappear overnight.

Anonymous said...

Migraines and hives and bad sleep--Oh my! You have had quite a miserable week. I hope that you feel much, much better and healthier soon! I think you have more than filled your quota of illnesses lately and you deserve a break.

The last time I had hives was last spring. A friend of mine was getting married, and for the bachelorette party we went to a Japanese steakhouse for dinner and then we went to a bar to go dancing. Well, I must have eaten or drank something at dinner that I was allergic to because by the time we got to the bar and I had danced for about 5 minutes, I felt itchy. I called my husband, who was concerned and came rushing to pick me up at about 10:30 p.m., by which time I was covered in red welts. After I got some Benadryl and was tucked in bed in my PJs, feeling less itchy, he started teasing me: "You are quite the party animal: home from the bachelorette party by 10:30 p.m. with a raging case of hives! You really know how to whoop it up! Par-tay! Woohoo!" And thus ended my big night out with the girls. I just had to laugh...and scratch.

I hope that your hives go away soon. (I know that your favorite color is red, but breaking out in red blotches all over your skin is taking it at bit far, don't you think?) Take good care of yourself...or better yet, have Josh take good care of you. You deserve some pampering!

Anonymous said...

If you have the migraines enough, it's worth going to a doc who specializes in them and getting a prescription med. I take something daily (which it doesn't sound like you need--I can dx you over the Internet! ha ha!!) but having Relpax or Imitrex or Frova (my fave) on hand is nice.

Anonymous said...

Oooh. You poor baby. I HATE hives! I hope they're all gone by the time you read this!

Unknown said...

This is so terrible!
I didn't realize Benadryl could have that effect; if I take two, I lapse into unconsciousness.
You poor thing.

Anonymous said...

Chiming in late on the migraines: get yourself an appt and see if there are some meds they'll prescribe that you can take next time. I use Amerge and find it very helpful at mostly getting rid of a bad migraine and all the way getting rid of a not-too-bad migraine. Imitrex is also good. I haven't tried, but have heard good things, about Zomig. Excedrin Migraine is just caffeine plus Advil plus aspirin - it works for minor migraines, but if you're having serious ones, you should check into meds that can handle it.

Second suggestion: get yourself some Migraine Ice. This is the greatest thing since sliced bread. It's a mentholated pad that has adhesive on the back, and you stick it to the back of your neck when you have a headache (or your forehead, if your migraine pain centers there - luckily mine is in my neck, so I can cover the pad with my hair). It's like walking around wearing an ice pack. I don't know why more docs and pharmacists don't know about this stuff - it's a fabulous help and it doesn't involve drugs (though I often take the pill as well, but the combination of the two is what's so helpful).

Kris said...

Oh, you poor thing! I hope you're feeling better. And I for one can tell that you're still happy underneath it all. :)