Dealing With Headaches

Yes, that cricket is still in my bedroom. I’ve torn furniture apart trying to kill the bugger, but so far it has always eluded me. The last I saw of him, he shot off into a crack in the ceiling (my bedroom is the basement). I’d gone two nights without sleep because of that cricket — no, wait, three? I can’t remember; the days and nights are all the same blur — and was getting desperate.

The Last Resort

When all else fails, go ask your Mom for help. She gave me earplugs. Last night, I managed to sleep for more than ten minutes in a row. It didn’t completely drown the cricket out, but managed to muffle it so when I wasn’t woken up by it. The earplugs said they were good to drown out sounds of up to 32 decibles, so if you get a cricket headache, you need earplugs that drown out at LEAST 32 decibles.

What Is A Cricket Headache?

A cricket headache is when you get a sleep-deprivation headache because a darn cricket has got into your room, waits until you are drifting off, and then goes “CRICKET!” A “great cricket headache” is when this happens for more than two nights in a row. Although there is still not official medical consition known as The Great Cricket Headache, there should be. There is a sense of utter helplessness that doesn’t accompany the usual sleep dreprivation headache. It’s like being held hostage to a psychotic roommate who insists on playing Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” 24/7.

Perhaps there is a Great Cricket Headache in your life (maybe even Justin Timberlake — who knows?). If you don’t get enough sleep, you might as well put a bulls’ eye on your head saying “EXTREME PAIN HERE”. If you know it is a sound that keeps waking you up AND you really can’t do anythign to prevent the sound, one option is earplugs.

Getting Used To Earplugs

Since I wore earplugs for years during my Millersville University days, my body was already used to the strangeness that is earplug-wearing and I was able to get some desperately needed sleep. The first time night you use earplugs, you won’t sleep much. However, the night after that your body will be more used to the earplugs and you can finally get some sleep. Some people need only a couple of days to get used to earplugs — some two weeks. If you are prone to a lot of ear infections or know that you have an unusually shaped ear, check with a doctor BEFORE using commercially available squishable earplugs.

The earplugs are generally little foam tubes. You have to roll them in your fingers to get them as thin as possible, then quick slip them in your ear canal. This is, as you might have guessed, easier said than done. You will need time to practice with them. You might want to pull your earlobe down with one hand and do the inserting with the other (wow — I hope nobody takes that sentence and uses it out of context).

There are other kinds of over the counter earplugs, but all I’ve ever used have been the foam squishy ones. They are not only the least expensive, but morst widely available. They can be found in drugstores, department stores, most grocery chains, sporting goods stores and university bookstores.

Hope this helps. Sweet dreams.