Headache catalog

I’m participating in the Slice of Life Challenge
hosted by Two Writing Teachers

The kind that means I’m hungry, accompanied by lightheadedness

The kind that means I drank too much, ones I finally learned to avoid long ago

The kind I got each time I was pregnant, a mixture of caffeine withdrawal and estrogen depletion

The kind I got back when I had a diseased uterus, seemingly caused by random squirts of all the wrong hormones at all the wrong times and exhaustion

The kind I got back when I had a husband, icepick to the temple and a cord of iron hardening down my whole back, that has stopped for good in some kind of somatic miracle

The kind that means I forgot to drink water, all day or maybe for two days, and I can feel my brain raisin-ing

The kind I get from a weird twist of the neck when I wash my hair, one that I feel pulling a nerve from my tongue all the way down toward my toes, like a tweak of the brain stem

The noisy kind that gets quieter if I shut my eyes

The kind that means I cried last night, with eyes so puffed it seems lucky I can see, the kind I wash away with fruit juice or water or coffee and journaling and usually a note of apology

8 thoughts on “Headache catalog

  1. A few days ago I had a “throb behind the left eye meaning spring break was near” and it hasn’t returned since! Thanks for sharing 🙂

  2. A catalog of headaches strikes me as not only useful but wise. “The kind I got back when I had a husband…” tells a story with no spoilers. I appreciate the ways we get to learn about you through these sharp, specific descriptions.

  3. How reflective and thoughtful. I can relate to the kind where your brain was “raisin-ing.” I wish you days ahead with very few headaches to catalog.

  4. You convey in vivid tones the discomfort and pain of headaches. So many different types and for different reasons. You are an expert on yours. I hope this one rapidly goes away.

  5. Who knew that headaches could be the source of inspiration or that, when you really think about it, as you did here, there are sooooo many sources of headaches! Thanks for the description and for sharing!

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