Midweek Migraine Headache - thanks for NOTHING!!

Sunday 18th October 2009
Well I'm writing this nearly a week after it actually happened. But it doesn't mean that it wasn't important or, in this case, rather worrying. I hope it never happens again.

A couple of years ago, as I remember, I had a similar thing but NOTHING anywhere near as bad as THIS one was. And the thing is that it came apparently from nowhere as I thought at the time (although later I decided there WAS a lot of reason WHY I'd had it.

So I was halfway through the teaching timetable I had been given which, by now, was a very heavy 27 teaching hours a week. And what makes it all the heavier is the fact that 21 out of those 27 hours is with ONE CLASS. Saturday starts off fairly quietly with that class being finished with at lunchtime (4 lessons). But Sundays and Tuesdays start early and go on right up until 2.15pm in the afternoon (six back-to-back lessons Sunday, five back-to-backs on Tuesday). On Mondays and Wednesdays I finish with the 21-hour class at lunchtime but then have two or three lessons AFTER lunch with different groups. So every day except Saturday goes right on up to after 2pm or even 3pm.

A punishing schedule with some very long days.

Well, within reason I don't mind a heavy schedule of work so long as there is a clear idea of what I am supposed to be doing. And we have the coursebooks and the syllabus so it should be OK. So it was not this heavy workload which was a cause of my migraine. At least, not one of the top reasons.

So Saturday was a reasonable day. Without books for the students and, anyway, a new class I just used some of my own material for that day. And anyway it started late in what we call Period 3 which means 9.30am so I did that. And like last week the afternoon class didn't turn up at all so that day was done without fuss. Sunday too was completed and although it was a long day it seemed OK and I did not feel under stress though a fair amount of quick thinking and usual in-class improvisation WAS needed.

So Monday came. Did the first two lessons with the 3-hour class and was able to give them out the new coursebooks and get on with that. Lesson 1 was sparsely attended with moans that it was a bad time of day. Yeah right – can't come early, can't come in the afternoon, so when CAN you guys come then?? Had the 21-hour class between break and lunchtime which was only a 2-hour stretch like the day before. Back home for lunch still with no ill-effects.

After lunch I suppose I must have been in a hurry because I went back to the college forgetting my umbrella. This is my “sun hat” remember! Well, it didn't SEEM that hot – not compared to August heat anyway. Got into college and felt a little hot. And a headache was coming on ….

It kept coming and coming. Sitting at my desk I really couldn't get anything done. It wasn't SO bad at THAT stage but I definitely felt unwell. It reminded me of that time some months earlier when I had gone home early because I was feeling ill and the feeling had been similar to this (though it was worse the previous time).

OK, I did what I could but in the end I felt I had to go home. Was feeling rather tensed and DEFINITELY headachey. So I signed out and went. STILL of course I had no umbrella as I had forgotten it earlier. And THAT it seems was a very big mistake.

Got home. You know, when you HAVE a headache the worst thing you can do is to go out in the hot afternoon sun in a country like this. But what was I doing here? Yup, Out In Sun, No Protection, Big Headache Getting Worse.

Sat down, as I often do, with the computer to do skype and email and stuff like that. Now, as much as I like my nice new laptop, one thing I do NOT like is its VERY BRIGHT screen. Yes, are you getting it now? Bright White Screen, Man With Bad Headache, …. what do you get? Man With HUUUUGE HEADACHE.

BOY, did THAT headache build! Well, pretty soon it was no longer just a regular headache. The pain was SO intense, SOOOOO bad that I thought it a good idea to lie down.

Just for an hour or two I thought. Sometimes when I feel rough or tired it does help to lie down for a while. When I am over-tired it really IS needed and I thought this is what it was – just another tired-head lie down.

Well, the longer I lay down, the MORE the pain grew. It was centred in the top and frontal parts of my head and covered a very large area. It would not go away – just kept intensifying. I had put the laptop off of course. But soon it was SO BAD that I had to put the light off. I went in the bathroom too – maybe my head was just too hot I thought.

Put some cold water on my head and that was OK for a while. But by now I was REALLY feeling SICK. Back to bed I went in the dark and just lay there in absolute AGONY. There was NOTHING I could do to make it go away. I pressed my head and tried some kind of scalp massage – no good. WHAT IS THIS, I thought??!!

A little later with pain STILL horrific I really did feel sick. What had I eaten? Well, maybe this was food poisoning. No, it couldn't be – there was only that slightly soft and over-ripe mango I had eaten that could have caused this. And anyway, no fruit could cause food poisoning like THIS. So I went to the bathroom hoping that I could be sick which would relieve this thing a bit. But NO – even crouched over the toilet nothing would come up or felt like it was going to. So back to bed again STILL with pain.

I should take something for this, I thought. Well, I only had 'Panadol' but it was something. But I just COULDN'T get up to get it. And in any case there was NO WAY, I felt, that anything I took down would STAY down. And also, I just couldn't get myself up again – the thought of moving myself to get a glass, get water in it and take a pill, ….. well, the thought of doing ANYTHING was abandoned fast.

Would I be OK for work tomorrow? Should I phone someone now to warn them about tomorrow? WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME? WHY WAS THIS HAPPENING TODAY??

There were no answers of course. All I could do was lie there with lights out and eyes closed and not move and hope that it would pass or at least weaken. The only time it did that was earlier with the cold water on face.

Now, if I'd been able, I would have got myself a cold flannel to put on my face which probably WOULD have helped. But although my brain told me so, my body was unable to comply.

I don't know how long I was in this state. I also don't know how or when I fell asleep, but I obviously DID get to sleep. Next morning when I woke …. NO PAIN! How relieved was I!! But I really felt, on that Tuesday morning, that I had been through one HELL of an ordeal that night of Monday 12th October.

Tuesday is, as you will recall, my heaviest day of lessons. Yep, and I had to get through it feeling the after-effects of my migraine.

THAT is what I am certain it was. I have never had one before, and BOY OH BOY I NEVER EVER want to experience pain like I felt that night EVER AGAIN in my life.

So to the causes. I had NO IDEA at the time WHAT could have caused such a thing to happen. It seemed to come from nowhere.

But then I was reminded. Without going into too many details, I HAVE been under a tremendous amount of stress just lately. First of all, the difficulties of coming back here and once again being in isolation after five good weeks of holiday with people and places I wanted to be with. Secondly, again without going into any details here, I have had and STILL have family problems which seem to go on without any resolution coming quickly and with obstacles to much progress. Thirdly, the new stress of being told that there is NO CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY time allowed and the thought of staying HERE during THAT time of year and being with THESE people and in THIS country during this holiday time back in England. And lastly (though there may well be more) the stress of this new timetable of mine and the fact that I have to go over to that SAME BUILDING that I was teaching in before and see THOSE IDIOT FACES again of those moron students when I had been hoping that my lessons would be all back in the COLLEGE building.

Etc. Etc. and then it dawned on me WHY this had come to me.

You know, when we are having difficulties in life and are in stressful periods the time of suffering never comes when you think it should. Oh, it comes alright sooner or later, but at the time it hits you, it seems less appropriate and you are not sure why.

My colleague told me a story about his tooth filling. He had been to the dentist a while back for a standard filling which was OK and then had gone through some days or weeks of stress during which nothing much happened. Then, while on holiday some time later, he'd suddenly got a BIG PAIN in that filled tooth. On seeing another dentist (assuming it was the filling causing him the pain problem), he was told that there WAS no problem. But, as it turned out, it had been the STRESS that had brought on that pain …. AFTER the event! So, as I was just saying, stress can have its effects on you any time, any way, and when you might not expect it.

SO …. there you have it. My first ever migraine headache, and it comes to me here in Saudi Arabia. Yeah so THANK YOU guys for bringing THAT on!! Just ANOTHER bullet point to add to the List Of Reasons Not To Stay Here. You can KEEP your migraine!!

Now I am worried it could easily happen again. People who get such things as migraine just go on having it. Does it come with age too?

I'm not a religious man, but I pray it NEVER happens again!