Rain in the winter makes me unsettled, especially a LOT of rain with thunder but no lightning in what should be a frozen mid winter. Though there has to be lightning somewhere as the lightning actually creates the thunder. However yesterday and last night we had lots of rain, dense fog and some thunder but no lightening of the skies. In an ordinary climate rain in the winter would be normal but here we are trained to expect ice and snow, not a couple of days of warm rain. 
However it is water in the ground and that is a good thing. It is unusually warm and wet for January. But this will change in a few days of course. Hopefully before any buds appear on the trees. This has happened before too.
Victoria is here, which is good as yesterday I was suffering from one of my infrequent ice pick headaches. Some people call them the ice pick migraine. Otherwise known, by me before I knew what they were, as The Bad Head. I have always had headaches and this is a nastiest headache of them all. It happens maybe once or twice a year. It just keeps jabbing and jabbing for seconds at a time, every few minutes, sometimes four or five hits within a minute, at random intervals for a day and sometime two or three days and one cannot help but cringe every time the ice pick hits. There is no warning. The pain is so strong that sometimes it makes your knees go. It is very hard to keep ones face calm.
I only mention this as I only recently found out what this headache is, up until now I simply never mentioned them to anyone because I did not want to sound pathetic, but yesterday was particularly bad, the random ice pick jabbing at my head all day long. Cringing and ducking away from the pain before I can stop myself. By the end of the day I felt sick with it all. And if you get them as well, I am here to say you are not alone and there is nothing you can do but wait until bed time then lay your head down. A still head seems to cope with the Bad Head better. It is a primary headache, in that it is not a symptom of anything else. The pain is the whole thing.
And it is still knifing into me at irregular this morning.
I have read them described as harmless which makes me want to give the author of that sentence a fast jab to the head with my metaphorical pick axe.
Now that I know what this is called, and know that other people get them as well, I don’t feel so bad somehow. The pain is still untenable but it is not threatening to kill me now. It has a name and company. Isn’t that just human nature.
You know I do not want messages of sympathy – I am only telling you this in case one of you has the same headaches and you might like company! Or at least know that you are not alone. And yes I know misery likes company. Tomorrow will be better.
It may begin to lessen today. But resting does not help, it is just an endurance test. So, after we have finished all the chores Victoria and I are going to gather everything necessary to make this years soap.
I hope you have a lovely day,
Love celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
77 responses to “Ice Pick Head Ache”
MIss C,
I have to admit to having a bit of winter blues lately. Like a crash from a sugar high, January feels heavy and dark and so I delve into the archives of your blog for photos and adventures of the past so I can feel surrounded by the animals and the farmy and feel somewhat held together by the force that is your way. Thank you for that gift.
I suffer migraines as well. Misunderstood derailments that make me feel fragile and old beyond my years. An ailment mostly of women I think. I hope you feel better my friend.
I’ve always suffered from headaches. Fortunately the really nasty, can’t move your eyeballs, want to throw up ones have mostly faded away since menopause. Now I get them from a hinky neck disc and arthritis impinging on the nerves in my neck but they are bearable. Mostly they just slowly wear you down. I absolutely hate rain in the winter. There’s such a fine line between wet and slippery. Our road was black ice this morning, no walk for me and the dogs and the warmth has melted the snow to a solid mass so the deep freeze coming in tonight will make it all ice, sigh. Luckily we have several trash cans full of wood ash to spread for us and the horses to walk on (and the silly donkey to roll in).
Friends have had horrible headaches, but i haven’t had many since adulthood. Some servere headaches are warnings of aneurysms; i think it is best to see doctors; but i know the field of headaches is so complicated. i empathize greatly with those who don’t feel well; please all get better, love, esther
I had the ice pick HA too, for a week in 2005 or so. I had never had them before or since but there was a part of me fascinated to experience something I have a known/treated yet never had one. The other part of me was ready to die from pain.
I’ve had migraines since I was pre-teen. All my sisters have had them, my mother had them, her mother had them – and so do my daughter and granddaughter. Wow – it’s just a lovely thing to pass along. Mine are mostly triggered by stress (which can be managed), certain foods and additives (which can be avoided) and weather changes (which I can’t do a thing about). The biggest food triggers for me are alcohol (darn it, although that seems to be settling down a bit as I age and thank gord scotch never gave me a problem) and sulphites. You wouldn’t believe where you’ll find sulphites – so I read every label!
You know you’ve got a bad one when your eyelashes hurt – and about the only thing that works (slowly) for me is a dark, quiet room. And please don’t poke your head in and ask “how are you doing?”, because that just starts the process all over again.
It is true that a sudden sharp stab can be an aneurysm, but from what I’ve read it is a stab that doesn’t stop and doesn’t come and go.
I’ve been struggling the last few days with migraines because of the nasty weather. Winter is usually my best season, but right now the weather is all over so not good.
Hope your head settles down soon!
Chris S in Canada
I know – no sympathy – but if you are interested I can send you what is known as the pain-kiiling technique – I cured my doctor’s migraine with it and use it for all sorts of things. Just a sequence of five or six questions… XXX
Oh that sounds like a wonderful thing to know! I would love to hear about that – I’m thinking that even if it helps me get through one day with little or no pain it would be awesome! Are you able to share?
Chris S in Canada
Of course….
It can be used for any pain, and if after going through the sequence five or six times, the pain is still there, this means you need to see a doctor and get it treated….
I wrote about how to do it in a blog in January 2013, called the Challenge of Meditation… it’s easy to find. If you can’t find my blog – just Google Valerie Davies on Meditation and it should come up … do hope you find it helpful .. would love to know….
The trick is to shut your eyes, and describe the pain Exactly, as though the person you’re talking to is blind… which is why I think you could get someone to read the questions over the phone, and you could answer them…. it takes real concentration, but sometimes when I’ve done it for myself, I just drift into deep sleep after going through the questions a few times….love Valerie in New Zealand
Oh that’s great, thank you. When I get home from choir tonight, I’ll find your blog post and give it a try. My head is settling a bit today, probably means we are coming to the end of the weather change. If it stays one “kind” of weather for a couple of days, it is a relief. Then of course, it will change and we start again.
Looking forward to trying your method. I’ll let you know what kind of results I get.
Chris S in Canada
[…] good for a photographer. Ah well, today is Day Three of the IcePick Headache Bad Head so I am sure you will forgive me the camera shake. I feel so sorry for people who deal with pain on […]
Thankfully I haven’t had one of those headaches! Sending sympathy anyway Miss 😃