The Patient Speaks!

Here We Go Again

Rich — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 22:28:28 +0000

Here we go again, folks. The latest attempt to “address misuse of painkillers” is here. As I was watching cable’s Fox News Channel the other night, the following appeared on the crawl at the bottom of the screen: “FDA asks 16 drug companies to attend meeting March 3 and articulate plans to address misuse of [...]

Rich — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 18:20:58 +0000

Migraine headache is my life With me more than even my wife Between my ears, residence taken Steadily there whenever I waken For thirty years, agony & pain Three decades of annoyance & bane Doctors here, doctors there Attempting for the pain to pare A med for this, herb for that Basically served to make me fat Side-effects in my body run Life became not too [...]

You’re giving me a headache! continued…

Rich — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:43:32 +0000

The news anchor, when involved in a deep discussion with their target, uh, “guest” who is just getting to the meat of their answer “Quickly, I’m up against a hard break” and cuts the interviewee off while continuing for what seems hours with the anchor’s views. Or even “Hi, tonight we have Grand Poobah [...]

Good News, Bad News?

Rich — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:42:24 +0000

Many of us in the migraine community have been fighting for years to have our condition taken seriously. When I began my headache odyssey, I was told by a doctor that many in the medical community viewed migraines as a “little girl’s” problem and that men must buck up, soldier through and never, ever [...]

You’re giving me a headache!

Rich — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 16:24:41 +0000

It’s that time of the year again when with weather changes and various obligations make my head really, REALLY hurt. Below, in no particular order, are just a few of the things that trigger massive migraine attacks for me. And yes, I am being facetious on a few. OK, perhaps all of them. This will [...]

August 15, 2007

Rich — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 01:57:30 +0000

Made a huge mistake today. I opened the mail. No bills thankfully, but something far worse. It was a “notice” from my health insurance carrier that the terms are, once again, changing. Between wife’s policy and my own, this seems to be a common thing. In the insurance companies quest to drive down costs, a [...]

August 1, 2007

Rich — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 01:54:17 +0000

Here’s a headline that immediately caught my eye: USA Today Wednesday July 25, 2007 Communication now part of the cure – “Movement has begun to help doctors listen and patients understand” by Erin Donaghue. My first thought was “well, duh”. I mean, doesn’t everyone who sees the doctor communicate with him or her? In a [...]

My Headache Life

Rich — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 01:37:41 +0000

Just when I’m thinking my “headache life” has been fairly good for the past couple of weeks, I decided to clean my desk and came upon newspaper articles I had clipped and that dark cloud reappeared. Not a “pain” cloud, but an “annoyance” one. Examples: November 03, 2006 Wall Street Journal Front page, column #1 [...]

June 11, 2006

Rich — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 01:34:58 +0000

Thought I’d give you all a good belly laugh as sometimes that’s the best way to perk up and forget your troubles and pain for at least a moment or two. There will be no comments about pain or preaching about your responsibility in this article. Just good, clean laughter. The following story is absolutely [...]

June 4, 2006

Rich — Mon, 05 Jun 2006 01:32:29 +0000

So there I was, riding the Piccadilly branch of the London Undergound when I spotted a short article in the METRO newspaper entitled “Tune In”. The first sentence is what caught my eye: “Listening to music can reduce chronic pain and depression by up to 25 percent, according to new research”. It goes on to [...]