Motherhood and headaches

As most of us know, as much as we'd like to think we can handle everything, sometimes we just can't. I've had migraines for years now, and that started long before I had my daughter. Now I do have migraine medication which luckily just takes care of the pain without any kind of loopy side effects allowing me to do what I need to do as a mom. But there are also times when I just get a nagging headache that won't go away. Even though you take the medicine, sometimes the annoyance of it just lingering can be a distraction.

So what is there for us to do? We can't always just go into the bedroom and shut the door and let the world go away for a while. Sometimes all you need is an ice pack to keep on your head for a while but how can you do that while you are cooking dinner or playing with your children? I have some neat advice!

Have you ever seen those pain sprays advertised on TV or the brochures displayed in your doctor's office or at the pharmacy counter? Many people use those for joint and back pain because the soothing menthol in the spray helps to keep the area nice and cool. So why can't you use that cooling spray on say your forehead or the nape of your neck? Some of these products come in different forms such as sprays and gel rubs, and sometimes one form may be a little stronger than another. I tend to like the stronger sprays because the amount of menthol is higher and it stays cooler longer. Now I don't recommend trying to spray it on your forehead because you might accidentally spray it in your eye or it may drip down into your eye. So what I do instead is to get a cotton pad like I would use to clean my face and spray it on that. Spray a couple of sprays on the cotton pad then wipe it across the areas you feel it will help the most, for example, across the forehead, on your temples, and even down the side of your neck. When the muscles in your neck and upper back tighten they can put strain on your head and help create those annoying tension headaches.

Many times now when I realize I'm getting a headache that isn't bad enough to require migraine medication but I don't want to keep taking acetaminophen or ibuprofen, I go and get the pain spray out of the medicine cabinet and it helps so much! That cooling sensation just stays on your forehead and helps the pain to go away, allowing you to do the things you want or need to do. Sometimes you may need to reapply it and other times you might not. Either way, I'd rather have to use some pain spray once in a while then to keep taking too much medication.