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.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I am offended on your behalf: the gmail ad that popped up with your reply was a definition of "dissolute."

[pameladean]

*bursts out laughing*

Oh, how far I would have to go to earn that sobriquet.

Oh, wait. Don't we polyamorous types get a permanent pass in that regard; aren't we dissolute by definition?

P.

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

Eeeek. No fun! That sounds awful.

I can't tolerate aspartame either. :/

[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.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Ack! I hope it wears off soon.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

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

K.

[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.

[pameladean]

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

P.

[pameladean]

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

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

P.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

Yes, one of the reasons I post my life on my LJ. You never know when it will become important medically.

[aiglet.livejournal.com]

My docs always told me that you didn't really need all that much caffeine, and recommended that I take my painkillers with hot chocolate (which, coming from the cafeteria, was almost certainly the powdered variety, and I don't know about its caffeine content) -- they said that "soothing and warm" was probably just as if not more so than "caffeinated."

Most of the "migraine" medicines available OTC are just Tylenol with 2 cups of coffee added, sadly. :(

[casacorona.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. That's most unfortunate. There are anti-migraine medications, perhaps you should ask your doctor about them?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Apparently that's the memo gmail got.

[lcohen]

maybe i should rename my journal "dissolute by definition!"

sorry you went through this, but glad you're doing better.

*hug*

[karenkay.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry that this happened to you. I do hope that there's a kind of prep you can stand, because I do think it's important to have done.

But I also hope you don't have to do so much experimentation! And causing a migraine! Ugh.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

I was thinking today that the snow has that late winter look to it.

K. [not to mention my annual quest for snow fleas]

[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]

How's that coming? The quest, I mean.

P.

[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.

[pameladean]

Oh good! I can tell them there will be foreign sales too!

Thanks, I am much better. I hope this will be the last of it.

P.

[pameladean]

Well, absent egregious insults like colonoscopy prep or aspartame, I don't really get migraines. Also, the beta blocker, which I take for hypertension, really does dampen down the worst when I do get them. Before the prep, the last trigger was a particularly sudden drop in barometric pressure during a very stressful time. Of course, if they decide to visit more frequently I'll have to figure out something to do about them.

P.