Dealing With Headaches

Well, the easiest hangover remedy is just not to drink alcohol. That clears that problem up pretty darn quick. But, that kind of thinking is too logical for most people on New Year’s Eve, so let’s list some hangover remedies you’ll need tomorrow morning — even though you really don’t deserve it because you were so stupid.

Don’t you hate smug teetotalars? (Evil grin).

Anyway, let’s proceed:

Prevention

If you’re determined to have a hangover the next morning, at least make the misery a little more bearable. Well, that’s the thoery at least. I have yet to see these work with anyone, but if you’re in for a penny, in for pound:

• Eat a lot of almonds before drinking
• Eat a lot of peanut butter before drinking
• Take two teaspoons of evening primrose oil before drinking. And if you can afford evening primrose oil, you should be able to afford to hire someone to have your hangover for you.
• Wear an amethyst. I always love this one. It never works, and yet go to a party and see how many drunk people are wearing amethysts.

Food Remedies

There are a whole bunch of foods that help ease the transition back to planet Earth. Of course, back in my college days when I stupid enough to drink, I tried a lot of these and none of them worked. However, I had such a low tolerance for alcohol than one four-pack could make me drunk for a week. But, who knows? Trying something makes you feel useful and can help distract you from the pounding pain behind your eyeballs. These include:

• Chicken soup
• Ginger tea or candied ginger
• The juice of one fresh lemon added to a cup of black coffee (okay, this is a new one for me)
• Raw cabbage (because, honestly, what other time are you going to eat it?)
• An apple or a bananna eaten as soon as you can become vertical.
• A teaspoon of honey every twenty minutes as soon as you realize you can move.
• Peppermint anything (except schnapps). This one though, can help ease a turbulent tummy, whether it’s a peppermint hard candy, peppermint tea or snorting peppermint essential oil.

Reassure Yourself

It could be worse. Much worse. You could wake up after a night of drinking and feel no hangover at all. That’s the sign of an alcoholic. So, having a hangover is good, in avery teeny-tiny way.

Although you shouldn’t use any website as a substitute for a real flesh and blood doctor’s diagnosis, some websites are more reliable than others for sorting out the medical facts from hearsay. For example, because of the this blog, a lot of information here is anectodotal. Blogger and commenters write about their experiences with certain treatments or medications — and what happened to us may not necessarily happen to you. I also try to link up to one of these reputable medical websites once in a while.

Here’s a good list of reputable medical websites for those with migraines or chronic headaches to get started. Enjoy:

• Mayo Clinic: Although there are certainly better medical websites out there, I haven’t found them yet. This one remains at the top of the list for me because the writing is comphrehensible, there are often helpful illustrations, the layout is user-friendly and there is a section where you can ask questions to real doctors. They also have details on some really obscure medical conditions that some other medical websites just gloss over or won;t even mention.
• WebMD: This is probably the best-known medical website, but I find it lacking in ways to Mayo Clinic’s site. However, I have noticed that the site has improved in just the last year (especially with information on depression, which many people with migraines or chronic headaches have). Keep in mind that this site is loaded with adds, including pop-up ads and may take a while to download.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Although I’m not the biggest fan of the US government, occassionally they do something right, like this helpful and ad-free website. This is geared for American readers. BIG PROBLEM: They do not have a section on migraines. But they do have good tips that migraineurs can use, such as travelling with prescription medications.
• NHS: Not to be outdone by those damn Yanks, the UK’s National Health Service has also put up a helpful website with incredibly good information on alternative therapies. Obviously meant for a UK audience, but not exclusively.
• Drugs.com: Notable for the Pill Idenitfier and a section for veterinary drugs, but mainly an easy-to read, well-organized encyclopedia of the manufactuerer’s information on just about every drug known to man or woman.

One of the biggest of Big Pharma companies, GlaxoSmithKline (nee: SmithKline Beecham) has announced on December 22 that they will stop making contributions to state-level politicians in North America. GSK makes many medications taken by migraineurs and those with chronic headaches, including Ecotrin, Imitrex, Treximet, Solpadeine and Paxil (an antidepressant sometimes used off-label for migraines).

Are They Really Serious?

Last year, GSK contributed over $375,000 to various politicians. Giving these whopping huge bribes — er, donations — is considered normal in the realm of big business and politics. However, it usually means that politicans then turn a blind eye to the big business shennanigans, such as price-gouging, pressuring doctors to conceal the results of clinical tests and paying celebrity doctors under the table to promote their products.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics, GSKs known contributions to Candian and American politicians topped $6 million. That’s peanuts for a company that rakes in billions per year.

Perhaps these politicians are getting too expensive, especially the Republicans, which lost big in the last election. GSK’s contributions were 51% for the GOP and 49% for Democrats (who like money just as much as the Republicans.) They’re used to paying for losers. (Hello, JP Garnier!)

Yes , I Do Have A Personal Grugde Against GSK

GSK has no plans to stop influencing politicians in the near future and actually admit it. They will continue to keep their Political Action Committe in full swing and will continue to hire lobbyists to pimp on their behalf. GSK has laid off a lot of workers in the past year or forced early retirement. They have to have two US headquarters (in Philadelphia and North Carolina), but finally decided that one US headquarters was enough and picked the North Carolina site. The International headquarters is in London.

No, I’m not too keen on GSK because I know too many employees that were treated shoddily by them — and too many users of their prescription drugs that were also treated in an even more shoddy fashion. The money they make is absolutely mind-boggling and is concentrated for the pockets of the top eschelon of management.

The American automakers don’t need a bailout from Congress — they should ask GSK for it.

There’s been a lot of bad news in 2008 for makers and takers of supplemental vitamins. They haven’t quite proven to be the natural cure-all as sometimes they are touted to be. For example, a study on Vitamins E and C to help with preventing prostate cancer proved the vitamins didn’t seem to change a man’s health in any way. In another study done in Copenhagen University, vitmains didn’t seem to give any benefit and were harmful in mega doses.

Migraineurs and people with chronic headaches sometimes take multi-vitamins and nutritinal supplements in the hope to leesen the intensity and frequency of head pain. Taking mega doses of magnesium is a popular alternative or complimentary migraine treatment, as well as a combination of magnesium and calicium. Some people also take mega doses of vitamin B2 in order to treat their headaches.

Does this mean you should toss out all of your multivitamins?

Not Necessarily

You do need vitamins, minerals and all of that good stuff in order to get healthy and stay healthy. You can get everything you need if (and this is a big if) you eat a varied, balanced diet full of fresh foods every day.

Odds are that you live in the real world and eat an unbalanced diet. Then, taking a multi-vitamin can be beneficial. In this way, you get just the amount that you need or nearly the amount that you need. Before you take any nutritional supplement or multi-vitamin, you should talk to your doctor. He or she may ask you to do a blood test for a complete blood cell count to be sure that your body isn’t lacking in any vitamin or mineral that may make you ill.

For example, I have iron-poor blood. My body seems to have a tremendous problem absorbing iron, even if I take it in food and multi-vitamins. So, I have to take a once-a-day little iron supplement. It helps my energy levels.

More Is Not Better

The problem with vitamins not helping to cure some problems like migraines or chronic headaches is that more of a good thing turns out to be a bad thing. Mega doses of anything is never a good idea, even if it is something natural like vitamin pills. So, vitamins aren’t bad for you, but they are if you take too much or not take them at all.

I never could have predicted it. The smell of drip coffee triggered a headache (although not a migraine). I don’t drink coffee and neither does my mother. But I do often smell it when I’m out and about. And when my Mom and Dad were married, they drank coffee every morning and evening. Most people I met in England preferred coffee to tea. Since we had company today, Mom and I dusted off the drip coffee makers and but real coffee grounds in it and set it to brew.

Holy Crap

And I almost had to leave the house. The thought of committing a grave social error kept me in the house and with the gift-bearing guests. Thank God I have the dog. I used her as an excuse to nip into the yard for a breath of fresh air. “Gotta clean up after th dog! Be right back!” Even the smell of fresh dog poo doesn’t bother my head. As soon as the door closed behind the guests, I whirled to Mom and cried, “Dump the rest of that damn coffee!!!”

Perhaps my brain has forgotten the smell of coffee and tried to forge a dead neural pathway in my atrophied brain, causing the headache.

Either that, or I’m allergic to company on Christmas morning, even really polite gift-bringing company like our guests this morning.

Strong Smells And Headaches

Really strong smells can trigger headaches and even migraines. These smells include perfume, colone, aftershave, gasoline (petrol), paint, paint thinner, nail polish remover, moth balls, bleach, cleaners, pesticides, and tobacco smoke. And, oh yeah, new shower curtains. Some really strong aromatherapy oils can give some people headaches. But I did not get any of these for Christmas. Apparently, drip coffee is now on my “trigger” list.

The strong smells make the nose wrinkle and the brows furrow and perhaps tenses up other face and neck muscles, too. That’s probably why you get a headache from strong smells. Which makes me wonder if I suddenly lost my sense of smell, would I get less headaches?

Probably not, knowing my luck. My brain would something else to send out pain signals about.

(In other words, it’s Christmas as usual in the Sherwood household).

Now, it doesn’t take a degree in rocket science to swallow a pill. Supposedly. However, there are still ways in which we can screw up swallowing a small pill. I did one of my usual blunders this morning. I somehow swallowed my verapamil so that it scratched my throat (even though I swallowed with liquid and didn’t dry swallow). It’s late afternoon and it still feels as if the verapamil is in my throat.

If anybody has any home remedies on how to deal with a pill scratching the throat that don’t invlove booze (I’m a teetotaler), I’d love to hear them.

Could The Pill Still Be In My Throat?

The fear if choking on a pill is a common one. I highly doubt any traces of the pill are in my throat. Even though most pills are round or oblong, the sort-of-hard edges can still bruise the throat. It’s easier for a spilt pill to scratch the throat than a whole one. I just have to wait a day or two for my throat to heal naturally.

Pills can dissolve in your throat instead of your stomach. That could cause a burn like heartburn. Big pills (”horse pills”) like Fosamax, Quinaglute or monster multivitamins can begin to dissolve in your esophogus as it slowly slides down. You’re welcome for the mental picture.

Dysphagia

There are some people who have trouble swallowing because they have a serious condition called dysphagia. As far as I know, I do not have this condition. I can swallow food and drink normally. Also, I don’t think there is such a thing I’ll call “selective dysphagia”, where the body can swallow anything easily EXCEPT a pill.

Pill Induced Esophogal Injury

Don’t panic. This is really rare, but cases have been documented where swallowing a pill required a trip to the emergency room. How do you know if you need to call an ambulance after taking a pill and your throat has been scratched? If you start getting any of the following symptoms:

• Chest pain
• Bad pain when swallowing food or liquids of any temperature
• Coughing up blood

In order to avoid a scratched throat, take pills with a glass of water, drink a few swallows first before taking the pill and sit up straight to help the pill slide down easier.

I’ve been thinking about medical marijuana, partially because I’ve had to write some web articles about the subject this year. Since there is such a strong fear of universal health care in America (and fears about the crumbling NHS in Great Britain), what alternatives are there for the average person? Not much — but for some instances, medical marijuana would certainly help.

Although this clip focuses on Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), medical marijuana is also known for being a very effective pain killer withut side effects (although you will get hungry and then really sleepy.) There are people with killer migraines, cluster headaches or other incredibly painful headaches that can’t afford medical care, so they have no choice but to get some relief from street weed. If our governments won’t put price caps on medicines, health insurance or Big Pharma greed, then perhaps they should just let us grow our own stuff. It would certainly keep us quieter.

I should also mention that you don’t have to smoke marijuana to get the pain-killing benefits. For example, when I lived homeless in England (and posession was legal), I would make a chai (Indian spice tea) with it when I had incredible pain. At least I could then get some sleep.

Like any other drug or herb, marijuana won’t help everyone. Some people react badly to it — even the small amounts used in medical marijuana cookies or tea.

I only started watching Countdown with Keith Olbermann this year, so I do not know what year this clip was filmed. I’m guessing 2003, but I’m probably wrong. Hmmm — 2003 I was still living homeless in England.

Obviously, this post today is just for the ladies. However, you men can read it, too — just so you know what we have to go through. Not only do women get far more migraines than men, we also get that annoying bleeding thing every month or so. This means that for a few days per month, we can have not only our periods, but a migraine as well. How to handle the meds during this time?

Obligatory Warning

I’m not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. I’m a fellow migraineur who also gets many different kinds of headaches as well as migraines. And I can’t wait to hit menopause. I’m sick and tired of being fertile. So, please don’t use this blog post in the place of your doctor’s advice.

Over the Counter Painkillers

Combining over the counter painkillers like ibuprofen and acetominphen are not recommended because this is incredibly rough on the stomach. Combining them — or even taking one two hours after the other — makes me throw up. It might not produce such a dramatic result for you, but it’s hell on the stomach.

So, if you’ve taken one kind of painkiller for the cramps and it doesn’t seem to work, don’t try another over the counter painkiller thinking it will work better.

Some Prescription Meds

Many daily preventative medications like proplanol or verapamil (prescribed off-label for migraines) can still be taken as usual and then over the counter painkilles can be used when needed.

Some extreme prescription painkillers like tramadol or Percocet can be okay when taken with one ibuprofen. However, please ask your doctor or physical therapist about this before you go popping away. (Granted, tramadol or Percocet is usually not prescribed for migraine or chronic headache pain, but very occassionally it is.)

Migraine Abortives

These are meds like triptans that are taken as soon as you realize a migraine is coming on They are also often prescribed for cluster headaches. I’ve talked to women who say they were all right taking these kinds of medicines for migraines while being on over the counter painkillers for cramps. I’ve also talked to women who never seem to get a migraine or headache during their period. But still, talk to your doctor about taking one painkiller for cramps and the triptans for migraines.

Hope this helps.

Oh, I’ve got a beauty going on right now, but at least it’s not a migraine and at least it’s not brain cancer or a worm in my brain. Not yet, anyway. But the world can’t wait for my head, so here’s yet another installment of headache and head pain news from around the web. Enjoy.

• Speaking of brain cancer, there’s an awful lot of it in McCullum Lake Village in Illinois — which just happens to be a mile outside of a Rohm and Haas chemical plant, established there since 1963. The national average for brain cancer is seven unlucky sods in 100,000. In McCullum Lake Village, it’s 14 out of 1,000 — so far. Considering that the company has 140 facilities in 27 countries, some people (including ex-employees) are just a mite concerned.
• Generic Imitrex (sumatriptan) has apparently been released in some parts of the US. (Thank you, Doc Shazam.) It’s not in my area, I can tell you that much. I’ve given up on ever taking the stuff, even though my doctor recommends it for me. Who knows? Maybe the verapamil will work out. However, Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals won’t be or isn’t putting it out, as originally announced.
• Random visual art and poetry inspired by migraine pain is over at Migrainepage.
• Telgagepant Phase III trial went well, or so reports Medical News Today and an article that appeared in The Lancet. It’s hoped that it will give all the benfits of zolmitriptan, but without the harsh side effects. The trial has 1380 human guinea pigs from Europe and America.
• In case you are wondering about drug side effects in general (whether the drug has anythign to do with head pain or not), be sure to bookmark Drugs.com.
• In sports concussion news, USAToday reports that hockey players may be underpaid — considering all of the hospitalization they need due to concussions, especially if they tick off a really big player from the other team. They got their report from a book called The Physics of Hockey.
• Perhaps the hockey players need to read How to Prevent Exercise-Induced and Exertion Migraine Headaches by RainGem. Even if they don’t get migraines and only get concussions from other ticked off players, they are sure to get some relief from the kitten bodybuilder photo.

Topamax (topimirate) was originally made to treat eileptic seizures when it was unleashed on the world in 1995, but now is most often prescribed for migraines. It’s also currently undergoing studies to see how well it works as a weight loss medication and if it can help alcoholics lose their desire for alcohol. Soon, they’ll study to see if Topamax can help win the war in Iraq.

Anyway, like any other drug (or herb), it’s loaded with side effects. Just because I’m listing them here doesn’t mean that you’re going to get any of them. I did search around to see just how many people get side effects out of all of the thousands and thousands of people prescribed Topax, but I couldn’t find any concrete numbers. All I could find was that “Many” people taking Topamax live happily ever after.

Don’t stop suddenly taking Topamax, especially if you have epilepsy. This can lead to withdrawal symptoms.

*Note: I’m not a doctor. I’ve never taken Topamax, and have no plans of ever doing so (knock on wood), so I can’t give you any first hand testimonies, recommendations or rants.*

Minor Side Effects

These include the following:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Dizziness (more so than usual)
• Feeling very tired all of the time
• Increase in urine output
• Loss of appetite
• Weight loss

More Serious Side Effects

Oh, these are fun. Happy happy. Joy joy:

• Back pain
• Kidney stones (apparently, you have to take Topamax for at least a few months before these set in. This happened to only 1.5% of adults taking Topamax, according to a 2006 study.)
• Painful urination
• Suicidal thoughts
• Psychosis
• Depression
• Fainting
• Swelling or tingling of the mouth or other parts of the body (an allergic reaction that kicks in right away)
• Birth defects
• Extreme confusion
• Loss of the ability to concentrate

Call An Ambulance Immediately Side Effect

If you get a sudden pain in one or both eyes and suddenly get vision problems, call the ambulance. This could be glaucoma. This happens very rarely — something like 23 patients out of every 800,000 (still looking for the study where I read that) — but you should know. Also, also if you’re not taking Topamax and get these symptoms, call an ambulance. If could be glaucoma or stroke.

That’s your happy thought for the day.

We all know them. You sniffle, scratch your head, yawn or pop an aspirin and they pop up helpfully informing you of what disease you now have. What really is annoying is that sometimes these people can actually be correct. But their interest in being your personal walking medical diagnostician only goes so far. They only seem to know about the most dire predictions — brain tumor, stroke, deadbeat boyfriends, flu — but they don’t seem to know about those middling illnesses that only are really annoying but otherwise not lethal.

Case In Point

My Mom is an incredibly intelligent woman who worked in pharmaceutical law for many decades. She also has two degrees in elder care law and um, something else. I guess I’d remember if what her other parallegal degree is if I wan’t wondering if I was dying from Lyme Disease.

Let me back up and explain.

Yesterday, Mom came home from Christmas shopping at Waterloo Gardens with her girlfriends. A few minutes after basking in the glow of returning home and getting adored by the dog, Mom then winced, leaned over at stared at my face. “What’s that rash?” she asked.

“WHAT rash?” I said. “I can’t have a rash. My face doesn’t itch.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. I know what this knd of rash is. It’s called a butterfly rash. I think you better go to the doctor on Monday.”

“Mom,” I said, trying really hard not to remind her that I’m 39 years old. “I just recovered from the flu. Surely, that’s going to make me swollen or funny looking in some parts of my body.”

“That may not have been the flu, dear. That could be Lyme Disease. Are you going to have any of these cookies?”

“I guess I better before I drop dead.”

What The Heck Is A Butterfly Rash?

I’ve never heard of a butterfly rash. But I do know that you need a tick to bite you in order to get Lyme Disease. I think. It’s been months since I’ve written anything about Lyme Disease. Perhaps it mutated since I last researched it. Even though the rash has now faded to half it’s brightness, I still can’t help but wonder if I have some deadly and/or expensive illness. If Mom procalimed it, it’s gotta be right.

Just in case this is my last post, have a nice life, everyone.

So, why do I write a politically-flavored post every now and then about health care reform when this blog is entitled Dealing With Headaches? It’s because dealing with trying to pay for health care is a major part of dealing with headaches. The more I’ve looked into clinical trials, perscription drugs and how Big Pharma works, the more health care reform becomes necessary.

One of the arguments against universal health care is that big business and the super-rich should be the ones to offer it, not government in any way, shape or form. Well, we’ve tried that and it doesn’t work.

Which gets me to wondering: Why is anybody still supporting the super-rich? You’ll never be super-rich. Not the way things are going, anyway.

And the poor are not poor because they are too lazy to get a job. Many homeless do have jobs and still can’t afford to get housing. You don’t get things handed to you on a silver platter when you’re destitute and have to go for welfare, the dole or medical assistance. I’ve been there. In two countries. It’s no fun. And you don’t often get to see the doctors you need or get the medication you need after jumping through all of the hoops.

And now the ranks of the poor are getting larger, even for people who have two or three jobs. We don’t want to be given everything — we want the same dealings that the rich get.

Good Lord, I’ve been ranting on and I haven’t even introduced the YouTube clip yet! This is a well put together slideshow to the background soundtrack of a song called “Mad World” (I have no idea who does it) and a bit from Metallica at the very end. Enjoy.

Cluster headaches are one of the most miserable experiences in human existence. This mostly affects adult men, but can affect women. About one to two hours after falling asleep, the torture begins. The excrutiating attacks last for minutes or hours over the course of many consecutive nights. Then, it usually disappears as mysteriously as it came, giving the victim weeks, months or even years before another episode hits. About 10 -20% of cluster headache victims do not have this period of remission and suffer chronic cluster headaches.

So, can you blame your folks for this? Are cluster headaches hereditary?

More Yes Than No

Although no one knows with 100% certainty that cluster headaches are caused by bad genes, some studies and even Clusterheadaches.com thinks that heredity plays a big factor. Certainly, migraines show a huge prediliction for being partially caused by your parents having nasty DNA.

Like migraines, cluster headaches have a tendency to have the bulk of the pain be on one side of the head. Also some migraine medications help cluster headache victims, such as the blood-pressure medication verapamil and injectable sumatriptan. And, like migraines, many victims have relatives that suffer the same condition.

Any Clinical Studies Done?

Doing a study on the a genetic cause of cluster headaches hasn’t seemed to have stirred up much interest in the medical research community. I guess not enough rich people get cluster headaches in order for Big Pharma to cough up some dough for a study.

There was a 1993 study published in Headache: A Journal of Head and Face Pain done on a pair of identical twins that had cluster headache. Both started at the same age and had what the study authors call “mini bouts” before it got worse.

In 2000, there was a study done of 220 Italian families with cluster headaches. This was also published in Headache: A Journal of Head and Face Pain. The conclusion was that there was a strong likelihood of cluster headaches being hereditary in nature, being stronger in the first generation and somewhat diluted in teh next generation. (I assume that is if you breed with a non-cluster headache person. It doesn’t say.) I’d love to include a link for this study, but everytime I click on it, my browser freaks out. The best I can do for you is an abstract.

If you’re sick to death of the holdiay season and want to think of something else before your brain explosed into tinsel, here’s a thought that came to my flu-ridden mind the other night. Hope this helps.

Just Suppose

Say you have are scheduled for excecution by the guilotine or somehow having your head chopped off. You have a migraine, probably due to stress and lack of sleep since being sentenced. You might also have a hangover, if you were granted booze for your last meal.

If this was me, I’d probably be sentenced to beheading by grammar freaks because I couldn’t spell guilotine right or used the world “irreguardless” in a blog post. I don’t know what you would be sentenced to death for, but if thinkng about your head being cut off bothers you, you can think about my head being chopped off for the purposes of this hypothetical experiment.

Anyway

I have the migraine. I put my head on the chopping block. I still have the migraine My head is cut off.

Here’s the question —

Would I still have a migraine if my head were chopped off?

Life After Beheading

There is some evidence that you if you ain’t got no body you ain’t necessarily dead. There’s the stomach-turning case of Mike The Headless Chicken. There are also anectodal reports of executions committed after the French Revolution. Bodiless heads were looking around and trying to talk some time after parting from the body. There also was a strange experiment done in 1879 after the execution of Theotime Prunier, who seemed to die instantly after the blade fell.

True, even my brain would die after thirty seconds or much less after the decapitation, but would that time be thitry seconds of migraine-free bliss?

Would I even be capable of feeling any migraine pain? Sure, I still have a brain, but you I have also been seperated from most of my central nervous system. Well, I did a bit of research on the Net to try and find the answer to this but amazingly, I couldn’t find an answer. Heck — type in “is there a god” and you’ll be covered in answers, but “would you have a headache if your head was chopped off” eliicted nada, although I did find an ad for Treximent which involves bloodless decapitation.

Now, thinking about this — don’t you feel much better? Gets you in the mood to write up those Xmas cards, doesn’t it?

A blog carnival is the fancy name for a group of links to various blogs that rotate around a particular topic. In this case, it’s life for people with chronic headaches and migraines. Today, the Headache and Migraine Blog Carnival turns one year old. (Huzzah.) I don’t recommend blowing those little party horns because they are not alot of fun when you have a headache.

Much thanks, as always, to Diana Lee from Somebody Heal Me for hosting this month’s Blog Carnival. She’s the unofficial official who started the Headache and Migraine Blog Carnival last December.

I sent several submissions to this months blog carnival and none of them made the cut, so I guess the qualifications bar has really raised. (Just a joke, folks). But, fear not, this month’s is still a good read. This month’s topic is “Maximizing Your Enjoyment of the Holiday Season.”

Here are my noteables from this month. As always, these are just my opinions and by not mentioning a particular post, it’s not a slam againt the writing in any way.

• The best title award goes to ‘Twas the Night before Nut Cakes by Parin Stormlaughter at Sparkling with Crystals. It’s a poem parody and a recipie, showing that everyone with chronic pain can benefir from a laugh and fattening food.
• Megan Oltman delivers once again with Holidays Don’t Have to Hurt Your Head. Especially if you finally realize that not having a perfect holiday is not the end of the world. You can also get rid of the stress that holidays bring by just not celebrating them. Quite honestly, what’s the point of holidays? Most people don’t even get the day off from work anymore. You can go through more work on Christmas?Yule?Whatever than you do at your job. If you can’t give up the Decmeber holidays, then read this.
• Getting the Most Out of the Holidays Despite Migraines for some reason made my browser crash. Is anyone else having problems trying to get onto My Migraine Connection? I have read things by Teri Roberts before and she is a very good writer and would love to view her latest offering.

Hope this helps. Go light on the eggnog.