There’s nothing wrong with being manipulative. Like deception, dissembling and betrayal, manipulativeness is a perfectly human behavior.

I say, invoke your inner brat!

http://janeyruthsscreenplays.blogspot.com/

2. RE: Migraines
What sort of things have you tried for relief? I’m not a medical professional or anything, mind you. I do get a lot of tension headaches and occasional migraines. My understanding is this: thinning your blood and reducing muscle swelling is key. A little bit of aspirin helps increase blood flow to your brain. Ice (or warmth) can loosen up tense muscles in your shoulders and neck. NSAIDs like ibuprofin or naproxen sodium can help to loosen muscles, too. A little bit of caffeine (a LITTLE BIT) can help with blood flow, too. (I can’t use that tactic anymore, sadly - caffeine is likely to give me an anxiety attack.)

Best wishes.

i wonder why you couldn’t comment? i have gotten a few, so maybe it was just a temporary glitch in the whole system. if you still have something to say, try again or just e-mail me on gmail. i’m oatmealgirl09 . and thanks to everyone from here who came to take a look! the philosopher is very proud of me.

Z, yes. That made sense in my head too. I am helpless to control the headaches and it’s not hot. And I’m forced to be in charge in most of my life, as odd as that sounds, and that’s not hot either.

Hmmm, that all made sense in my head.

As all have said, food can be triggers but the most important thing is to find out your individual triggers. In my case, the triggers are stress or poor sleeping positions, leaving my neck “scrunched up” along with my shoulders. For the caffeine, perhaps trying the 50% less caffeine coffee could help in giving you enough caffeine to continue on, yet not enough if that is one of your food triggers. It will take some research but seeking a headache clinic is certainly something to look into. The headache clinic was my next step after years of having 3 days each time one hit being unable to work, take care of my kids or do much of anything except drive the porcelain bus. I used to have the acupuncture right before my period because that helped keep the migraines that were coming from that, under control. I no longer have period migraines since I’m hopefully finishing up menopause (6 months, no period and counting for the 2nd time in a year and half) I stumbled on this naprapath/chiro/acupuncturist after I moved and he gave me my life back.

P.S. Ice packs help ALOT!

The philosopher is a real philosopher, although not a full-scale professor yet because he has to finish his Damn Dissertation. um… I rather hate this when other people do it, but I finally gave in and started my own blog, as much as an outlet for my writing as anything else. He thought it would be good for me. It’s at http://submissionandmetaphor.blogspot.com/ Sorry for the plug - I’m kind of embarrassed by it…

Centering techniques. Sometimes I feel liek a spanking would really really help but it’s months between visits because of the dissertation. He “canes” me with a rubber band around my upper thigh, which I’m instructed to pull out and let snap. Hurts like hell, and reverberates through the way a cane strike would, but differently because it is so thin. It clears my head, calms me down, cuts through all the mess in my brain, and of course reminds me that he owns me and is looking after me. It works sort of like the candied ginger I sometimes take when I have a migraine. The ginger seems to give a little electric shock to my brain and clears some of the fog.

Megan, yupyupyup. Beautifully said, as usual. I am incredibly blessed - the best Daddy in the world for me, the best friend, the best kids, the best dogs, the best job, the best home…sometimes it feels silly to worry about anything at all. I guess it’s what Buddha said - attachment (clinging) causes pain; I’m so happy in general that I start thinking “what if it ends???” and then I make myself miserable. I like your point about HNG too, it made me realize I’d be miserable if He said “Oh, you need more spankings? I’m right on it! Oh, more sex now! Yes, dear!” *shudder*

Richard and I talked about this a bit more last night. He was trying to figure out what had changed to make me think I was “in charge”. I realized as we talked that it’s not so much that I feel in charge as that I feel *responsible* for so much right now. It’s hard to do my demanding job with this ongoing migraine situation, hard to keep up with bills and make sure everything is running smoothly for everybody in the family. So I worry about it. That’s how I’ve felt for most of my adult life (just generally “on” - needing to track everything and take care of everything), but I haven’t felt it in the last year, since Richard has been in charge. So that set off alarms for me. Writing this out, hearing what everyone thinks, and talking about it with Richard has really helped.

Thanks, everybody.