Here Comes The Headache

I woke up this morning with what I think was a migraine.

I flirt with all kinds of different headaches, most of which seem to stem from either eyestrain or tension in my neck. This one was completely different, feeling like pressure inside my head trying to get out, rather than the squeezing-in feeling of muscle tension that I'm used to. My eyes burned and ached and were extremely sensitive to light. In hindsight, yesterday was strange because all day at work my face was extremely pink and flushed (though my temperature was an annoyingly perfect 98.6; I checked) and my eyes looked kind of bloodshot, despite having had a good night's sleep before. After work, I was characteristically achy and so I took a hot bath and enjoyed a neck massage from my longsuffering husband, and then we went to bed early. Way early, around 8:30. 

And then this.

Besides burying my head in the blankets, I also tried the homeopathic remedy of inhaling a minute amount of cayenne pepper into my nose. It seemed to help a little, clearing the swelling and stuffiness that I felt particularly on the right side of my head. Matt also made me take a couple of ibuprofen, and then I ended up sleeping for another few hours (for a grand total of about 15 hours...). 

When I woke up, I felt much better. Was it the hot pepper? The ibuprofen? The nap? I like to think it was a combination of all of the above. The sleep, in particular, I don't discount--I learned when working nights that if you have the opportunity and perceived need for a little extra sleep, take it. You never know when you might need it! Having agreed to be on call for the labor of a couple I especially hit it off with at the hospital, I can't help but wonder if I might not be in for a sleepless night soon...