By David Futrelle
A quick little update post.
First off, GIANT THANKS to everyone who’s donated during this fund drive! I can’t do this blog without you, and I appreciate everything you all do to help, whether your donations are large or small or if you contribute to the blog in some other way.
If you can’t donated yet, please do! Pledges are running behind what I need to cover costs, and every little (or big) bit helps!
I’m going to extend the pledge drive for at least a few more days, and will have another update soon. THANKS!
Second, sorry that posts have been light over the past couple of days!
As some of you know, I have problems with chronic migraines that can interfere rather severely with my productivity. Right now I’m in a difficult spot, trying (on the advice of a neurologist) to break a vicious cycle of rebound headaches by more or less going cold turkey on my regular migraine meds and all other painkillers, which means I basically have to deal with my headaches raw for now in hopes of fewer headaches in the future. Hopefully this process won’t take more than a few more days, but until it’s over posts will be light.
I’ve also fallen behind on emails, but please keep on sending tips!
Thanks for understanding. Thanks for everything!
Uuf! I for one don’t have a problem with you slowposting if you’re dealing with that. Hope you don’t suffer too much!
Feel better soon, David.
Oh god that sounds beyond awful. My sympathies.
That sounds like the worst thing ever??? I hope it works and you have less pain in the future. In the meantime, no one will begrudge you for taking some time off as you live through the pain like a badass.
I hope you feel better soon (even though I’m sure it’ll feel like it’s taking forever).
You take it easy. Migraines are rough!
Aw jeez, it sounds like you’re having an awful time. We’ll keep the site warmed up for you, David!
Take care, David. I hope you feel better soon and that neurologist finds a solution quickly.
Sorry to hear what you’re going through. I get chronic migraines so I can sympathize. My doctor told me to cut down the caffeine. That helped reduce the amount of migraines I was getting. Not sure if it would help in your case.
Ouch, that sounds awful. Hope the suggestion pays off. Get well soon.
Awww, I hope you feel better very soon!
Ug migraines are evil. Both my parents had had to deal with them throughout their lives. My mom is still on massive meds for them. I hope all the best for you!
Thanks everyone, and my solidarity to everyone else with migraines! Thankfully my migraines, while still awful, generally aren’t as severe as they were in my younger days, which is good because those were unfuckingbearable.
And Diego, yeah I’m also trying to ease off the caffeine though I probably won’t go completely cold turkey on that.
I hope this works out for you, David!
If I wasn’t broke ass poor this summer, it would have been more. Maybe next quarter I can do better. You deserve to be paid for the service you provide here.
Re: quitting caffeine
Speaking as a person who (very gratefully) does not suffer from migraines, do be careful in quitting caffeine, particularly cold turkey.
I was a many-cups-of-coffee per day caffeine addict about 12 years ago, and I would occasionally drink caffeinated sodas.
I quit cold turkey and I had the worst headache I’ve ever had in my life for 2 days with no let-up. It was so severe that to this day, I do not ever let my caffeine consumption go over a cup or two of coffee per day, for fear of ever living through that again.
Quitting smoking was not as painful. I don’t even suffer from headaches often, let alone migraines, and I would hate for anyone to suffer even more.
I hope you feel better soon, David. Take care of yourself.
@David Futrelle
Yeah I know the struggle. Not saying lay it off completely but do watch your intake. Not everybody has the luxury of being able to function without coffee.
Best of luck!
I’m lucky in the migraine department. I have only had thee classic migraines–to me it felt like I was being hit in the right temple with a ball peen hammer in time with my heartbeat. But most of mine have been mostly visual effects. Once I got a bad case of double vision and since that is a symptom of a stroke and I was well into my 60s, I went to the hospital, where I realized it was just another type of migraine. Usually, for me, spot in the center of my vision gets all squiggly and blurred. The spot grows until I can only see the very edges. Then the center clears out and the ring of squiggly continues to expand, becoming thinner and thinner until the entire visual field is clear again. The whole thing takes roughy 30-45 minutes. At the same time I get some mild photophobia and a sort of sick feeling in my head that isn’t quite pain but is not pleasant. While that isn’t fun, it is nothing like what classic migraine sufferers have to deal with. You all h ave my deepest sympathies.
Our National Security Disaster In Chief is screwing up again:
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2017/07/trump-hotels-hit-by-3rd-card-breach-in-2-years/
Naturally, this now means the credit cards of many federal employees, Cabinet members, and Russian oligarchs will have been compromised, probably winding up in the hands of more Russian oligarchs, given who’s financing most cybercrime these days. Anyone want to lay odds that the malware was planted by someone who was there to meet Trump in connection with the campaign last year?
I had a migraine once, and it was pretty bad. I can’t imagine what it must be like to endure them on a regular basis. My best to David, and anyone else who has to deal with this problem.
Feel better, David!
@Otrame – I’ve had optical migraines too. They’re scary. The first time I had one, I was convinced I was having a stroke and nearly called 911. It started as a bright blind spot in the center of my vision that gradually expanded, till it was like looking at the world through shattered glass. Then the center spot cleared, but the shimmery ring persisted for about 45 minutes. Luckily they’re painless, but they’re really freaky. And annoying – you can’t do anything until they pass.
David, sorry to hear you’re going through this. Hope you feel better soon. You deserve the best.
I’ve had the optical variety twice. A zigzag arc that starts small and expands left, up, and down. It doesn’t interfere much with anything — slightly when it’s still small and centered in the visual field, and then not at all once the center clears. No other symptoms, and not correlated so far as I can tell with any circumstance except, maybe, sleep deprivation. The two occurrences were nearly a decade apart, so for me, it seems, it’s super-rare and might manage to ever happen five or six more times.
God, that sounds awful. Hope you get better soon.
In the mean time, have some preemptive brain bleach in the form of a kitten cam:
http://explore.org/live-cams/player/kitten-rescue-cam