Botox plus Daith Piercing

Wow, it’s been a month since I last wrote to you. Where has the time flown? A lot has happened, so let’s get right to it.

In my last entry, I wrote about my Daith Piercing. I got it to help deal with my chronic headache. While I tried to stay realistic and hope for the best and pray that it would help with my headaches, unfortunately, they persist. On the surface, the jewelry in my ear is not helping. However, I like it so it will stay.

It’s not my first piercing, and likely, it won’t be my last. I’m thinking of a stud in my earlobe and maybe even conch piercings. As I write this, I’m chuckling, as I realize the modifications I am thinking about all revolve around my ears. Interesting.

But back to the singular goal I am working on. That is getting rid of the 24×7 headache I’ve suffered with for the past two-and-a-half years. It’s chronic and never ending. Some days, well let’s say, I put up an excellent front to stay in touch with life. Inside, I ache.

What next?

I’ve spoken with headache sufferers over the years, and as bad as theirs are, none seem to share my experience. Yes, they can go on for days at a time, but eventually, they get relief, even if it is short-lived. Me — no such luck. I’m concluding that I will always live with this condition, a direct result of hitting my head and suffering a concussion in July 2016.

However, while I may have to deal with this for the rest of my life, I am determined to live up to my personal motto. The motto is:

“Anything is possible, nothing is impossible, it’s all in the attitude.”

Check out my ‘About Me’ section on my website where I go into depth on this.

To live up to my motto, I will deal with it as I always have in other aspects of my life. “Never give up, never surrender.”

Botox treatment

Getting back to my Daith Piercing, I decided that I needed to give the headache a one-two punch. My neurologist has been suggesting a series of Botox injections to deal with my problem. I’ve been resisting, but I’ve been told that they limit my options for treatment. I know that Botox is a poison which if used carefully and in a medically supervised situations can be a benefit. Seeing how the piercing was not having an immediate effect, I went for it.

Ten days after the Daith Piercing, I had the Botox treatment. It involves 32 injections all over my forehead, scalp, neck, and shoulders. Thirty-two injections seem worse than it was. From my experience, most were only a minor sting. A couple I could really feel and were borderline painful. I determined to see it through.

The idea was, if I could break the constant cycle, give myself even an hours relief, I could do it again and then again, stretching each duration to something longer than an hour. Over time, I could extend these periods of relief to days or weeks.

Thank you to https://americanmigrainefoundation.org/understanding-migraine/botox-for-migraine/ for helping me proceed.

Findings so far

You ask, “It’s been two weeks. Did I accomplish my goal?”

I’m sorry to report, no, at least not yet. For the first couple of days, the headache seemed to bounce around my head, looking for a place to land, only to be stymied by the Botox. It complained by elevating the intensity of the headache. The jury is still out on this one, but before the piercing, I averaged a 1-2 level on the pain scale and now, it’s a 4-5 with spikes in the 6-7 range.

How is this possible? It beats the shit out of me, but I’m determined to kick this in the ass. In the meantime, I have to remain patient. I have support, and I’m told that I am a patient person by those that love me. Yet, I never thought of myself. Am I really a patient person? It seems hard to imagine. Whatever.

Next?

I have another treatment scheduled in two months, with two more every three months after that. There are no quick fixes, as I learned along the way. Stay patient and keep plugging is all I can do.

In the meantime, what I need to do is get back to writing. My book sales are getting erratic, and I don’t like that. In the past month, I’ve only written drafts of two chapters in my next book.

The desire is there, yet the distractions often overwhelm me. Yep, there are many distractions. My website host is struggling with slow performance, and issues with their database engines, which translates to slow responsiveness. I’m crossing my fingers hoping even this post goes out okay. It may not, and I will have to deal with that too. The holidays are upon us, and there are other distractions within my world I won’t even mention.

I’ve got to get dealing with all of this. Like I said in the beginning.

“Anything is possible, nothing is impossible, it’s all in the attitude.”

Have a great day and a better tomorrow.