Excited for a Headache

As I lay in bed feeling the rhythmic drumming of my pulse inside my head, I realize that I have woken up this morning with a headache and I'm kind of excited about it. While that likely sounds crazy to you, let me tell you why. Almost a year ago I woke up with double vision for no apparent reason. That began about an eight month journey with a low grade headache almost every day that medications wouldn’t take away. Then in late November I got a plastic film that bent the sight in my right eye six degrees towards the left. The headaches were almost instantly gone as my eyes and brain no longer struggled to make me see what was really there with no extra parts on the right side.

A few weeks ago I got new glasses. That in and of itself is nothing remarkable, it’s even commonplace. But, these particular glasses bend my vision straight. It turns out that in my struggle with double vision that my right eye has a sixth nerve palsy and is out by six degrees. So my new glasses have a three degree bend in each lens, bending towards the middle. Above and below the glasses is way out, so I avoid looking over or under my glasses. The new glasses have eliminated 90% of the headaches that started in March when the double vision came on.

It’s like the light bending experiments in physics class or like looking through a glass bottle of water and seeing an out of place image on the other side. I have also discovered that this is more common than I expected.

Several extra strength Advil, two cups of coffee and an Excedrin later I’m still feeling the pounding. I’m starting to be a little less excited now. More coffee...