House Head of Pain

OH EM GEE. i have had the worse headache ever. wellllll.....there was that time i quit coffee and had wicked caffeine withdrawls, but that went away when i took an aspirin or drank a small coffee. this time nothing helped, so i saw my doctor yesterday. tim went with me as the supportive husband, but also, i think, to satisfy his curiosity about my "hippie" doctor. he wasn't disappointed, from the meditation tapes for sale in the waiting room to some of the questions my dr. was asking (searching for a cause) to the accupuncture treatment and my dr's sensitivity to my grief at the passing of my sweet janola rat.

but, he's a good dr, and as per his suggestion i made an appointment with my dentist for today. the dentist was so different. utilizing the latest technology they took a panoramic x-ray picture of my teeth and maxillary sinuses. the dentist took one look and happily reported that what i had was a sinus infection which was easily treated with antibiotics.

it seemed to stump him (at first) and my doctor that i would have sinus trouble without having a cold first or some sort of allergic reaction. but after a bit of internet research (i love google) tim and i think that this is what happened: my half marathon obviously stressed my body's infrastructure, including my immune system (i remember reading how endurance sports and basically over-exerting yourself will do this). everyone (yes, even you) has "bad" bacteria living all over the place, even in your sinuses. but a normal, healthy immune system keeps them in check. ok-the third piece is the pool. yup, apparently the chlorine in the pool most likely aggravated the linings of my sinuses, causing who-knows-what to take place and enabling the bacteria to take advantage of my weakened immune system and have a party in my left maxillary sinus. case closed.

ha! i feel like angela lansbury in "murder she wrote." now is the time when everyone is happy even though someone died. die, buggies, die!