Thurs was MY anniversary . . .

[Nelson Bradford]

I should have said “our” anniversary and by that I am not indicating a wedding anniversary.

Stay with me please. Kick your shoes off and lean back, if you must, for I am making no effort to be brief. I have a marvelous tale to tell.

Here goes.

Because of multiple (more than one) head openings I have a marvelous scar tissue collection between my ears and have been told by a doctor that I trust that I’ll have headaches for the rest of my born days, however many they may be.

Twenty + years later I can honestly say she was right.

Many mornings one of my first thoughts is I’ve got an awful headache. Just about as strong as I can take and so I’d rush to my ever present supply of a barbiturate called Fiorinal. There have been days when I’ve taken as many as six of them. For the past 10-15 years!

I’ve said many times I always have a headache. Those strong medications only effected the level of head pain. Jokingly I’ve said these headaches would kill a normal man my age but my family has never said I’m anywhere near normal.

And then laughed.

I’ve been through multiple tests, everything from cat-scans, MRI’s etc and thankfully, I do not have anything weird nor harmful in that space where people normally have brains. However, the headaches remained. Non-stop.

Then in July we made a trip to the Diamond Headache Clinic, Chicago. Eventually the specialist said two things I’ll probably not forget in quite some time. a) I was not addicted to but rather had become dependent upon that barbiturate b) he wanted to admit me immediately to a detox unit for a 7-10 day stay.

(I’ll allow you some time to let that soak in.)

I told him I did not come prepared to stay and asked him if there was a plan B. The answer was simply to back off that medication, little by little, taking only 4 per day for 5 days, then 3 for 5 days, then 2, etc., until I was totally weaned off them.

And to return in three weeks and at that time if not completely free to be prepared to stay 3-5 days.

I am telling you here and now that those three weeks were very difficult for me. I’ve told others it was not just a physical and mental challenge but also spiritual. On some of those days it would have been so easy to reach for that prescription bottle and pop one or two of those pills. However, the Lord gave me strength, plus, I can be a very strong minded - okay, STUBBORN - man. I had set my mind on beating that “dependence” and no matter the pain I was not going to give in.

We returned in three weeks and the doctor was shocked.

Our oldest daughter said she wasn’t surprised at all. And she’s right. For they all knew that my wonderful family was praying for me. And praise HIS name, He gave me the victory.

And so, once again, Thursday was my two-month away-from-barbiturates anniversary and I am rejoicing.

You may wonder, do I still have headaches? Yes. I’ll always have headaches, but I’m controlling them with over the counter meds such as Aleve and Tylenol.

I say praise GOD and I wanted you to know.

Nelson

PS - Isn’t God good?!

[Ian Gentles]

Thanks be to God! :)
But still so sorry you suffer those headachs. :(

[Cecil Wallace]

Thanks for sharing about your situation.
And PTL, you have been able, with the support of family, and His grace, to get off the medication.

I can't say that I understand about headaches, because I rarely have one.
And I'm thankful for that. I don't know how well I would cope under the circumstances.

Love ya.

[Anne and Dwayne Hood]

Nelson, It is so sad that you live with headaches all of the time. My mother use to have them all the time. Once daddy took her to a well known clinic in North Carolina, for her to be checked. Even when she was senile, I would say, Mother, do you have a headache? I knew she would say yes? Then, I would give her two Tylenol PM's, to try to get her to sleep. But it would not last all night. She would wake up, and beat on our bedroom door, saying, "Pauline, Pauline." Pauline was one of her sisters that was a twin. On Friday night, Dwayne would get up with her, for me.
Now, don't you get senile, too. Maybe, someday, they will find a cure for you. I certainly hope so.