I think my neck is trying to kill me.

For three of the past four days, I have woken in the early hours with a headache that emanates from my neck, rises through the back of my head and over the crown, descending into my forehead, where it comes to rest behind my right eye.  And there it stays for hours, impervious to any pain killer that I can throw at it. These things render me incapacitated with pain and sickness.  They make me utterly miserable.

Today’s was partly my own fault, but I’d like to place most of the blame on the tanker driver who exploded his load of propane on the M56 yesterday afternoon.  Having spent a couple of days relaxing in north Wales, we were in the car on the way back from a day of beautiful sunshine on the beach when the traffic report came on: M56 closed for several hours due to some twat exploding.  My stress levels started rising immediatley; I’d wanted to be home for no later than 8pm so I could pick up Otto from Mum and Dad’s, let him and Rocky have a few handbags before settling down to an early night.  As it was, I didn’t see the point in setting off on the two and half hour journey because the diversion routes would be so congested that it just wouldn’t be worth it with a stressy Tina and equally stressy Rocky.

Serena kept me calm on my journey, she knew the motorway was closed and planned an alternative route through Cheshire, where we were joined by many others following the same diversion.  The time ticked on, the light faded and the burning in my neck grew.  By the time I deposited Otto in my dining room, it was gone 11pm and I hadn’t had my pill.  

It’s still early days in my adventure with Sertraline, but I’ve found that they make me quite drowsy, so I’ve been taking them in the evenings.  It’s quite nice, the way I drift off to sleep for a few hours before waking at about 4am and I’ve not suffered any of the other potential side effects warned about in the patient information leaflet.  Last night’s lesson, however, was do not take just before bedtime because today, in addition to my customary, vomit-inducing headache, I just couldn’t wake up.  The stress and duration of my journey, the diplomatic intervention between Messers Hissy Claws and Gummy Snarling, the late night and chemically-induced neurotransmitter overload was just too much for me.

Poor, wrecked me.

The thing that I’ve found about these headaches is that, if I lie in a position that’s most uncomfortable for every other part of my body, i.e. flat on my back with no pillow, they don’t hurt as much. It’s just that the lack of sleep and back ache makes you feel and look like the undead.

I think the answer might be a neck massage, with prolonged, firm pressure applied to the anterior aspect.  I can imagine all the stress and tension escaping from everywhere, permanently.  Once the medication takes full effect, though, and with a little extra help, these days will be a long and distant memory.
Mac n cheese

In other news, I had a Marks and Spencer macaroni cheese for my dinner this evening and it was delicious. It was a remnant from recent trips to the hospital where I was visiting my dad as he was being treated for pneumonia.  With the introduction of Marks and Spencer Simply Food outlets to most hospitals, being sick or visiting the sick has never had so many upsides.