Mrs. Pain: "When I have the headache on the right side, I have my husband knock me, hard, on the left side of my head."
Dr. Grumpy: "Does that help?"
Mrs. Pain: "Kind of, because when both sides are hurting, I don't notice the right side as much."
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
It's covered by the HMO, I guess
Mrs. Pain: "When I have the headache on the right side, I have my husband knock me, hard, on the left side of my head."
Dr. Grumpy: "Does that help?"
Mrs. Pain: "Kind of, because when both sides are hurting, I don't notice the right side as much."
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16 comments:
I can see why she'd find herself in your office. Yikes!
I think my ex would volunteer to administer that treatment for my left sided headaches! However, she may get carried with the treatment.
I'm curious about your tone of voice when you respond to statements like that ;)
I smile and nod.
And yet, when I asked the nurse in Amsterdam to do that, she called the cops.
*closes eyes and exhales slowly*
.............
The American Indians used to scratch their eyeballs when they had a headache. Sorta the same idea.
People really saying things like that? Wow.
Good thing you're not taking a sip of your diet soda when someone says something like that. You probably wouldn't be smiling and nodding your head but instead you'd probably be trying to catch your breath after choking.
I pull my hair sometimes. Seriously. I stop when I realize what I am doing but the migraines become unbearable and I quit being able to reason. Scares the shit out of my husband.
I don't think he would hit me though. He won't let me hit myself.
In pharmacy school we called the mechanism of action for some topical agents 'counterirritants', not unlike the menthol, or capsaicin, or cantharides used for different types of interesting ailments... . (The self-treatment limit was when it reached the vesicant stage.)
My dad always offered to cut off a toe or thumb to make us forget about a skinned knee when we were kids. ;)
Ahh, yes... the gateway mechanism. House did that on one episode, bashing his hand to distract him from the pain in his leg. Maybe that is where she got the idea?
I'm a fairly intelligent and well-reasoned person most of the time, and in college I did have a few migraines so bad I got a bit of relief from some light, rhythmic banging of my head against a wall or door. Not enough to bruise or lead to a concussion, just enough to distract me from the hideous stabbing pain behind one eyeball. Until, of course, the four Advil and two sleeping pills kicked in, at which point I believe I usually quietly collapsed and slept it off.
Using pain to mask or distract from another pain. It happens more often than you might think. Next time you accidentally slam an appendage into an immovable object, pay attention to what you're doing to relieve the pain--holding the part VERY tightly? Digging your nails into another part to distract yourself?
Even so, I really don't like the idea of her having her husband hit her, even to help. Its a bad habit to encourage...
My brother and I used to do this when we had braces on our teeth - after an adjustment when we were in agony we'd stomp on each other's feet to distract us from the pain in our mouths....
I once had a guy tell me if I didnt get the Dr on the phone "right now" for his migraine, he was gonna take a hammer and pound his head til he passed out, and if something bad happened to him, it was all MY fault!
Famous Clinic and Hosp Switchboard Operator.
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