Aftermath

[pameladean]

ETA: The migraine aura I experienced is not called a scintillating scleroma, which is really a rather daunting notion, but rather a scintillating scotoma. I have corrected it below. Just in case any of you are magpies with regard to terminology.



*snarl*

Unsurprisingly, when you rehydrate yourself rather than letting the ER do it, your options are not as efficient and it takes longer. I was having shaking fits and elevated pulse rates periodically through Thursday evening. And this morning I woke up with what I did not recognize as an impending migraine. (My neck hurt and I felt a little wonky.) I don't get migraines very often, if that's even what they are. I have had two classical ones, both caused by aspartame, but that was before we even moved into this house, which is to say, before 1995.

So I had finally conquered Open office (again) so that I could print out the sample chapters and revised synopsis for the Liavek novel and send them off to my unsuspecting agent. It was a very bright sunny day here in Minneapolis, and the blind in my office that keeps the afternoon sun out fell down a few weeks ago and I haven't replaced it, so I wasn't surprised at how bright all the light seemed. But then I noticed that I couldn't quite see things in a particular part of my peripheral vision, for no apparent reason. Then the reason appeared: a little parenthesis of sparkle, that grew to a large arc, all pulsing and multicolored and glinty. I had completely forgotten about migraine auras and was seriously freaked out. Raphael poked around on the internet for me, and after disclaiming the reasonability of diagnosing people by looking up symptoms on the internet, said it sounded like a classic migraine aura, and was, in fact, called a scintillating scotoma.

Then I remembered the aspartame headaches, and not long after that the sparklies disappeared and the headache started. It's not bad as these things go -- my beta blocker tends to suppress the more exuberant manifestations, and I took some Tylenol and lay down until the sun was gone.

I plan to blame the colonoscopy prep for this.

*snarl*

At least I got the book proposal printed out.

I'll try to post something more interesting in the near future.

Comments

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I think we can file that under "experiences Pamela doesn't need to repeat." Uff da.

[pameladean]

Truly. It's a pity I didn't decide that the first time. At least now I have more ammunition to use against the insistence of doctors.

P.

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

Eeeek. No fun! That sounds awful.

I can't tolerate aspartame either. :/

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

Ouch.

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

Poor baby!

[casacorona.livejournal.com]

Oh, poor thing.

I get those -- I've learned over the years that if I slam down a bunch of caffeine when the auras start, I can head off the pain part. You might try that if it happens again, and you can remember at the time.

[pameladean]

Ow, I'm sorry you get them.

I can't have caffeine, since it shoots my heart rate up to a point that makes ER people get very nervous. It's a pity.

P.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Ack! I hope it wears off soon.

[pameladean]

Thanks! It's much better now. I wanted to post for my own recollection as much as anything else.

P.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

We heard a lot of woodpecking today between the thunderous poundings of the freeway construction.

K.

[pameladean]

Oh, that's funny, everybody doing their wood thing at once.

I really love the early, early signs of spring like that.

P.

[magentamn.livejournal.com]

Liavek novel? LIAVEK NOVEL!!

Jumping up and down going sqeeeee!

(I know it's still in the proposal stage, but tell your agent one copy is sold already.)

[17catherines.livejournal.com]

Two copies.

And I'm so sorry to hear about all your medical woes - I hope you're feeling a lot better.

love

Catherine

[pameladean]

Aw, that's nice.

Tor rejected it in, umm, let me see, 2003, I think. My agent didn't feel that the idea had gelled enough to shop it around, and then I got a contract for the present book, so I put it aside. But I'm looking forward to writing it as soon as my revisions are done. Always supposing that some publisher will want to buy it.

P.

[shalanna.livejournal.com]

Oy! I had those for a while, and the docs called them "ocular migraines." What I saw was a rotating rainbow/translucent "chain" like a Mobius strip or a zig-zag staircase that rolled around to form a circle or figure 8, way out in the peripheral vision area and then coming inward toward the center vision. Scary! Mama had these several times when she was taking cortisone for her lungs, and they said it was probably the cortisone. Lasted about 15 mins. and then the headache. We, too, found that a slamming back of diet cola made the headache only a dull ache. (I didn't realize what I'd done at first . . . I got the RC Cola out because I was panicky over what I was seeing, and then realized it was interacting.) Weird!

They told me no permanent or lasting damage is done, though. It's just a WEIRD thing. *stabbity stab*

What a day. First that wreck at the Dallas rally (the one we almost went to) that killed a police officer, and then hubby's boss's son was rushed to the ER from work around noon when he seemed to pass out (they decided he has strep throat and ALSO said that he was no longer covered under his dad's insurance, when he's supposed to be, so that was a real honker), and then tonight we got a call from a neighbor about her teenage daughter who is being bullied so badly in school that she's going to try homeschooling--and she was wondering if I could do a bit of math and English grammar/lit tutoring. Of course! But I got all angsty over the bullying thing. I wonder: when those mean girls grow up, do they ever regret what they did? Or do they forget all about it? Or do they see it completely differently as "just good fun"? This is one of those things that keeps one awake late at night. *but I digress*

It's the full moon and that eclipse. And the debris from the blown-up satellite. And possibly some kind of disturbance in the psychic continuum. What else could it be??

But anyway . . . (((feel better)))!!

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I get those ocular migraines, mostly without the ensuing pain but a few times with it. It is scary until you figure out what it is. And after that: it's worrisome to have something happening that makes your vision unreliable especially if you are in a place where you'll have to drive home. I hope yours is only a one-time thing from the colonoscopy solution.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

If I have to get a migraine, I do at least enjoy the interest of the strange visuals.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

I had migraines for two years -- they stopped when I left that job -- and I never had visuals. I just had sort of a feeling they were coming on and I'd take cafergot (caffeine and ergotamine -- apparently still prescribed, I'd've thought there'd be something new 30 years later) and then the caffeine would make me jumpy for the day, but no headache.

[faithhopetricks.livejournal.com]

Ohhhh, my god, oh, migraines, my pure sympathy. I remember the first time I saw the classic checkerboard and had the tunnel vision, in grad school -- I seriously thought I was going blind, or something. I'd rather get sucker punched in the gut than have a migraine.

[pameladean]

Oh, yes, the tunnel vision. I had that too, but by then I knew what it was. My headaches don't typically have an aura. But I really hate that feeling that your brain is kind of fizzing and that everything is really from another dimension, so that simple actions like picking up a plate are just weird. If that makes any sense.

That grad school experience must have been scary as hell.

P.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Why does no one publish an owner's manual for the human body, issued at birth? This comments thread points out exactly how common this effect is, not to mention how scary. And there seem to be a *lot* of things like this: bizarre health manifestations that you've never heard of until you know half the people you know have them. Migraine auras with or without ensuing pain, tension headaches that make you pee every ten minutes, benign positional paroxysmal vertigo, IBS, cervical dysplasia (precancerous cells) ... and those are just the ones I've experienced personally and I'm almost offensively healthy, especially compared to most people I know. Why don't I have a book where I can look all this stuff up?

[pameladean]

I know! The usual excuse I get from my medical people when I demand, "Why didn't you TELL me?" (usually about side effects of drugs; no patient information insert seems complete, ever) is something to do with the power of suggestion. But I think the manual is a great idea. It would reduce stress so much.

P.

[zwol.livejournal.com]

There is an experimental procedure called "virtual colonoscopy" where they CAT-scan you and construct 3D images of the inside of your colon from the data. I have the impression that the laxative prep for this, while still necessary, is less horrible, but I'm not finding clear statements about that online.

Also, count me in on guaranteed sales for a Liavek novel. Squee!

[pameladean]

At this point I'm really considering just waiting another year or so and seeing if they can come up with something.

I do love Liavek fans. There aren't a lot of you, but you are so fervent. 8-)

P.

[clindau.livejournal.com]

Hope you're feeling better this morning.

Can I bring you anything back from Philly? Besides pictures and stories that is....

[pameladean]

I killed my meno-jade, so I suppose asking for another cutting would really be a bad idea.

Something plant-like -- seeds? Do they have seeds at the Flower Show?

Pictures and stories are really the main thing, though.

P.

[gypsy1969.livejournal.com]

Weird, I woke up at 1 am this morning with a migraine. I made a giant ice pack and went back to bed. I woke up again at 5 with it slightly lessened and now it's mostly a bad memory.

Congrats on getting the Liavek novel out. I hope it flies because I for one will buy it up immediately. (If only I had been aware when the others came out, I've only found 3 so far. I guess I should go on e-bay and find & buy the rest.)

[pameladean]

Yeah, I just commented on your journal. I'm glad the migraine is mostly gone.

The Liavek books are tough to find. And the further on in the series they are, the fewer copies were ever printed to begin with, let alone let out into the wild. One does see them from time to time.

P.

[fledgist.livejournal.com]

You have my sympathies. I had migraines for several years in my teens, associated with puberty for some reason I've never understood. They were a lot of no fun.

[pameladean]

Hormones are a trigger for some people.

JUST what one needs at puberty, because it's SUCH an easy time otherwise.

Thanks.

P.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

Forgive the off topic post, but I just put up a picture of you and your mother (http://barondave.livejournal.com/127571.html) from the anniversary party.

On topic: For many years, my left eye went blind for about 20 minutes. It happened every few months. Didn't hurt and vision always came back. Sparkle to darkness (not quite as pulsing as yours, but not completely black). I was diagnosed with Atypical Migraine. Basically, I had a blinding headache without the headache. My vision was the opposite of yours: It blocked the middle, and I could occasionally see out the very edges. I was fine with that, all things considered.

After many years I stopped having them at all, then a few years after that I began to have migraines. Very mild ones, and infrequent, with only the hint of an aura. Aspirin usually takes care of them (sometimes more than one dose) or hitting the accupuncture spots (hard to do on oneself). I'm fine with this, all things considered.

[elisem.livejournal.com]

Belated petpetpet to the Obble, and I hope you are feeling excellent now.

[pameladean]

Aw. Thank you. I see that we were having migraines at nearly the same time. Meh to them. I am much better.

P.