7 Quick Takes Friday: Mostly About My Head Edition

Oooh, an hour and a half left of Friday.  I can still make it under the wire for 7 Quick Takes.  (More here.)

1. I woke up this morning with a KILLER headache.  I've never gotten migraines but based on the symptoms I think this was one.  Normally 200mg of ibuprofen can knock my (infrequent, mild) headaches out; it takes 400mg for a really bad one.  That didn't even dull this one, and my head hurt so much I actually felt nauseated.  I ended up calling Bryan to come home from work.  He was here from 11am-3pm.  I napped, and felt somewhat better when I got up, so I sent Bryan back to work.

2. We went to my sister's house to kill time for the rest of the day, and it was she who prescribed my headache cure: caffeine (in the form of an iced cappuccino from Tim Horton's, since I hate real coffee) and a handful of almonds, since Branwen's mother-in-law says they help her headaches.  I like almonds and B had them, so I figured it couldn't hurt.  An hour later my headache was gone, hooray.

3. Of course I know that caffeine helps headaches, but I hadn't tried it until that point because of the whole nursing thing.  I am mad-sensitive to caffeine and so are both my children.  Drinking the iced capp this afternoon meant that Blaise did not finally fall asleep, strung-out and crazy, until about two hours past his normal bedtime.  But honestly, it was preferable to me having a headache all those hours.

4. Have I ever talked about how I used to get headaches constantly?  My mother-in-law does too, and when I joined the family I remember her saying, "You're the only person I know who gets headaches like I do" and offering to share her AC&C (aspirin, caffeine, and codeine) with me.  (You can buy AC&C over the counter in Canada, and my parents and in-laws live right across the border.)  Not long after that, I heard about many headaches being caused by dehydration and started downing more water on a regular basis, plus adding extra if I felt a headache coming on.  It worked so well that I have become a devotee of water-as-headache-medicine.  Still haven't converted my mother-in-law, though.

5. I Tweeted about this yesterday, but I'll put it here for posterity's sake too.  (I'm fully expecting to have my blog published as a best-selling book someday.  Aren't you?)  On Sunday Blaise was six months old (I blogged about that here) and yesterday morning he had his six-month checkup.  He is 28.5 inches tall, has a 18.5-inch head, and weighs a whopping 22lbs, 8oz.  Since he started out at 7lbs, 11oz that means he has gained 14lbs, 13oz, an average rate of 1.3oz per day.  But here is the part that blows my mind: since all the calories for every single one of those pounds has gone through my body, shouldn't I weigh less than I do?  Maybe I need to stop baking cookies quite so often, or something. 

6. I'm thinking the reality is that it's fine for me to bake cookies; what I really need to do is have the self-control to keep from eating a half-dozen in one (every) sitting.  There's a novel idea.

7. But if you are looking for a good cookie recipe, I recommend this one from Martha Stewart: Citrus Cornmeal Shortbread.  Crisp-tender, crumbly, with a nice crunch of cornmeal and the perfect hint of citrus.  Just as good made with lemon zest instead of orange.  I like to double it.  (The zest, that is.  Actually, I like to double the recipe too.)  The perfect cookie to have with tea, in my opinion.

Comments

[Veronica]

Wow! Congratulations on going from frequent headaches to infrequent headaches! Bravo! I get frequent migraines, and caffeine is always necessary, which sucks, because they often strike at about 10 PM (only if I have to work early the next morning, of course). But I figure, I would have been awake with the migraine anyway, so why not be awake pain-free?

Thanks for the great recipe! I look forward to trying it, and they sound like a lovely tea companion!

[Tracy]

glad you feel better. sometimes all that helps my headache is sleep. but first I usually try aleve and caffeine!

for once I'm not even tempted by the thought of cookies. I'm so full, that I'm never going to eat again. ever.

[Brandon]

Stop posting about Iced Capps, you're making me want to drive to Michigan and get one.

[Sarah in Ottawa]

Mmm...Tim Hortons. I am glad that they are finally taking off in the US (though I know they've been in MI forever). They are such a vital part of life in Canada, such a meeting spot for members of communities. I spent many an hour with friends there during high school...

Glad to hear that you are feeling better. Also - that's an amazing rate of growth for Blaise. Teddy (one day younger) started at 8lbs, 4 oz (on his due date) and is now just under 18 lbs. He's only getting expressed b-milk, too. How strong your arms must be getting!

[Sonetka]

Oh my lord, Blaise is a little moose, isn't he? (This is a high compliment, of course :)). He's a handsome little guy, too. And I am very thankful to know of a fellow coffee-hater besides my husband; nobody else gets it, especially here in Utah, where being a non-Mormon makes drinking coffee a sort of Establishment-defying mark of hipness.

BTW do you know what happened to JenEx? I miss her blog.

[Sarah @ This Heavenly Life]

Wonderful headache advice! I had an awful headache yesterday and I couldn't imagine what had made it so bad, but then I remembered that I'd accidentally put my contacts in the opposite eyes. That'll do it :) I'm still going to down some water though, just to be sure that headache is knocked out for good.

And I'm impressed that you could stop at a half-dozen cookies ;)

[colleen]

What great milk you have!!! I love me a chubby baby :)

[Sparki]

If you want to avoid caffeine while nursing, you can try my doctor's trick -- one ibuprofen and one acetaminophen, taken together. For some reason, the combination works better on my really bad headaches, over just one or the other.

(I can't take aspirin as I am very anemic, and aspirin causes me to bruise very easily. Like, even a child tapping me on the arm can cause a bruise.)

[Swistle]

I love Excedrin (acetaminophen, caffeine, and aspirin), but now I am REALLY WISHING for AC&C. That sounds delish!

Six cookies per sitting IS self-control. WONDERFUL self-control.

[buy fioricet]

I can't imagine that are people who experienced headaches badly. I mean, i had a headache sometimes but it only comes when i am over fatigue in work. I think better treatment for headaches is important especially for those people who experienced it.