Headaches, headaches, headaches! As far back into childhood as I can remember, I've suffered from cluster headaches. They wake me up in the middle of the night, I wake up in the morning with them, and they come on at any time whenever they want. Seems like the least little thing triggers them, or nothing at all. Lately I think it's been allergies, as I've been sneezing quite a bit.

They'll come on for days at a time and the only thing that helps is a combination of allergy pills and a little more than the recommended amount of Ibuprofen. Tylenol does nothing. And I was warned once by the doctor not to take Ibuprofen anymore, because it was giving me problems with my stomach. Well, that's how I decided that Tylenol does nothing. I've experimented with a lot of different combinations of things and remedies. (I'm not sure if the marijuana helped, I don't remember!) I had to go back to Ibuprofen, stomach trouble or not. It's better than the headache pain. And eventually the headache goes away. What's really nice is when it occasionally goes away for a month or two, or if I'm really lucky, three. But then it always comes back again.

Quite often the pain is so bad that it makes me feel sick to my stomach (even without the Ibuprofen causing it). Sometimes it's hard to function at all. You'd think after living with it all my life that I would get used to it, but it never seems to hurt any less. I was reading once that one of the symptoms of cluster headaches is that you get ornery and grumpy. I told Mrs. that I'm glad I never get that symptom. She gave me a very strange look, like she wanted to say something but was afraid to. Hmm. I wonder why.

So here I sit again, popping pills and cursing the damn headache for the third, or is it fourth day in a row, I can't remember. I once started writing down in a notebook every time I took Ibuprofen or some other pills, because I sometimes lose track, but I gave that up. It was depressing to see the notebook fill up so fast, and then I'd forget to write it down anyway and confuse myself even more!

If you're out ATVing with me and happen to see me reach into my pocket and pull out a little old worn pill bottle, now you know what I'm doing.