and today i have mostly been...

[steve_earwig]

You'll be needing some more cats...

That was me last night, watching a lecture on youtube. This morning I have mostly been blowing and raking leafs. Bloody trees

[steve_earwig]

...an arse Been back to the neuro-loggyist, she wants to put me on anti-anxiety meds (Zanax?) and magnesium. We shall see I guess.

Headache day 52 btw.

On the way back I soon realised yoyoII was down a headlamp. Knowing it's a weird bulb (H11) and that there's no spare (which is illegal) I drove back to town here (also illegal) in the hope of catching Goran in the shop. Strangely it was closed.

Anyway, I then went on to make the classic mistake, pulled the main instead of the dipped. "Here, this bulb looks fine." Pull out tester, bulb tests fine. Go to car and fire up lights, test connector. Nothing. Play hunt the fuse panel (it has at least 3). Find the fuse, that's fine too. Arse, I really don't fancy getting jiggy with the wiring in this car. Test all light fuses, all fine. Try lights again "hold on a goddam minute..."

Mains are HB3, dips are H11. They just look like normal H7s or whatever, but in a weird right-angled fitting you twist into the back of the light. I'm sure Goran can get them but he won't have them in stock. The trouble is we're into compulsory daytime headlamps time again here, and I have to go into Zagreb again tomorrow morning. Bumholes.

[Welly]

Hopefully you'll get yer blubs sorted today, and a couple of spares eh? so what's the deal in Croat? as soon as a bulb blows you replace it on-the-spot? or face a public flogging?

Those anti-anxiety meds could have the effect of slowing-things-down and feel a bit lethargic and difficult to get going of a morning. I guess you'll have to monitor this but if the headaches stop it might be an acceptable trade off long term.

[steve_earwig]

I suspect if I get any more lethargic I won't be able to get out of bed in the morning... The plan is to give them a try but if they make me feel like my head is stuffed with cotton wool then I guess she'll have to think of something else. The prescription is (will be, it has to be scripted by my GP here) for 0.25mg, which is as low as they go, and I'll be cutting them in half to start off with too.

Like most of Europe cars here are legally required to carry a box of spare bulbs. Police can pull you over if you've a bulb out and can make things exceedingly difficult for you if you've no spare. I'm not sure if they'll impound your vehicle or what but I don't want to give them any excuse for having fun at my expense.

Job jobbed anyway, I was meant to be going to Zagreb this morning to pick up a bottle of CO2 for the mig but just after I picked Max up the guy called to say his daughter's had to be rushed to hospital. Sounds a bit like bollocks to me, I hope it is anyway. So on the way to Max I popped into the shop where Goran works (he's afternoons this week) and they surprised me by having some, so I bought 2. Bosch, 13quid's worth (I was expecting much more tbh) and I changed it outside the cafe near him.

H11s, no fliddley clip holding them in, push in hole and turn until the clip goes ping. A bit fliddley on the RAV as the slam panel is quite wide, so it's all done by feel (goddamit, I've touched the bulb again ). It took me a few moments to work out the connector, but you just stuff the end of the key in it and pull.

I noticed this on the box

I need to carry a huge spanner and wear a hard hat to change a bulb? Or is the average white boiler suit-wearing owner now deemed incapable of such basic tasks? I suppose he is if you need to take half the car apart to change a bulb...

[Welly]

No that sign means you need to strap a fishing rod to your back, at an angle, and then stand next to a man in blue dungarees holding a very large AF Spanner and wearing a cap. But the cap must be at 90 degrees.

See it's simple when you think about it.

[steve_earwig]

Ahhh, yes, of course

Actually, it made me think of Patrick Troughton in The Omen....

[benczuk]

They prescribed me some anti-anxiety stuff for the headaches, took one look at the side effects on the box and didn't bother.

[highlander]

Mrs Highlander is unfortunately prone to various illnesses and ailments - she has fibromyalgia, and there's a list of symptoms for that as long as all four of my limbs laid end-to-end.

She is occasionally prescribed antidepressants by doctors who couldn't been bothered to read her medical file (which is huge). One thing that always struck me as odd was that in the list of side effects, they mention "depression, and suicidal tendencies"

Um. You take antidepressants for depression, and they have a chance of making you depressed to the point of wishing yourself dead. And they prescribe this at the drop of a hat on the NHS? No thanks.

[DaiRees]

Um. You take antidepressants for depression, and they have a chance of making you depressed to the point of wishing yourself dead. And they prescribe this at the drop of a hat on the NHS? No thanks.

Unfortunately, I have a little personal experience of antidepressants in my dim and distant past. The Doctor advised me that they'd take 2 weeks to kick in and they'd "make you feel worse before they make you feel better", hence the warning on the pack! I had to take a week off work on the sick, stay away from sharp objects and basically hide under the quilt and watch happy things on TV. It was a pretty grim time, that week was horrific, the following week I was back to work and back to feeling generally shyte like I had for the previous months, and then things got better. Doc advised me to keep taking them for a few months then cut down the dosage gradually to nothing which I did with no adverse effects.

I know plenty of people who have used antidepressants to varying degrees of success but there are always the nightmare stories which can be pretty scary. I wouldn't let the side effects and horror stories put me off if I needed them again.

[steve_earwig]

I've heard stories too but I was on Prozac about 20 years ago and did very well indeed on it fortunately. Still, if you read the side effects of any drug you probably wouldn't take anything at all, but they're all worst case scenarios, anything remotely possible. Did you know aspirin can cause gastrointestinal bleeding? Nasty stuff, it wouldn't get approval these days.

So I'm on 1/8th of a gram on Zanax and I feel.... exactly the same. I have a moderate headache but it's on the other side of my head to my usual one, so I don't know if it's masking it or if it's actually gone. I suspect the mere fact I have any sort of headache means it's not helped, so maybe I'll pop the other 0.000125g in a bit and see if anything strange happens.

[Doggy]

At least it's made a difference, so just maybe it's going to help.

Fingers crossed.

[steve_earwig]

Ah, I don't actually think it did. I took the other half of the pill and promptly fell asleep on the sofa (I really didn't feel up to doing much else). I woke up an hour later and the headache was much worse. Figuring it wasn't my normal headache I took 800mg aspirin and it gradually went. Now I'm not sure if I have the headache or not, if I have it's very slight. Sadly it's done that a few times, been so slight I think maybe it's gone, but it's been back again later or the next day. So I guess I'll see.

[steve_earwig]

I woke up this morning (ba-dadadadum), I got out of bed (ba-dadadadum) , I struggled to the bathroom (ba-dadadadum) with my brains exploding outa my head...

So much for that then, I tried taking a whole Xanax but it did nothing at all, so I went back to bed until 11. I found out from the neurologist that they now do Zomig that dissolves in your gob (this is migraine medicine and I reckon it's a good idea because with migraines you often throw up anything in your stomach, including any pills you've swallowed). The neurologist reckons a tension headache is a form of migraine so I popped one of them and it actually seemed to do the trick.

The problem I've had with Zomig here is I can only get 3 pills at a time on prescription, which means I'm reluctant to use them unless I'm certain it is a migraine, otherwise I just waste a pill because they have no effect on a headache. Generously, these come in boxes of 6.

I now feel like I did yesterday evening, maybe just a hint of headache.

Btw I was back at the ENT clinic yesterday who are dealing with my reflux. I showed them the stuff on the MRI about my slightly swollen sinus but they reckon it doesn't mean much. However, II explained to them about my 2 month headache and I was asked if I'd ever been tested for allergies. Err, no? Do I have problems clearing my nose? Errr, why yes, particularly when I lie in bed. I guess they're thinking a dust allergy or bed bugs, so they've written me up for Nasonex, which is some sort of anti allergy nose squirt, which they reckon might help with the headache.

So this week I am mostly taking:
Nasonex
Xanax
Zomig
Urorec (sounds like "You're a wreck" - prostate meds)
Plus over-the-counter magnesium salts (good for migraines apparently) and salt water spray to clear me hooter out.

Talk about better living through chemistry

[Doggy]

Ouch! Feel for you Steve.

The salt water spray and various other things did nothing for my sinus pain, but the over-the-counter sinus pain tablets, (can't for the life of me remember what they were called), helped quite a bit.

[benczuk]

I found diclofenac (an anti-inflamatory usually used for back and joint pain) worked best on the pain. Normal paracetamol wouldn't touch it.