I've been having terrible headaches lately. They started three weeks ago. At first I chalked them up to allergies but allergy medication didn't help. So I figured stress and tension. Took Excedrin Tension Headache tabs. No help. Finally went to the doctor. She diagnosed tension headaches and prescribed pain medication and Valium. She said that if it didn't get better in three days to come back.

Three days later, I was back. A bit loopy from the Valium, but still with the same terrible headaches. She sent me for a cat scan of my head. The good news is that I have a brain and it is fine. The bad news is that I don't have a tumor or aneurysm that can be easily cut out and suddenly made better.

So, she diagnosed cluster headaches. These are strange beasts that no one knows what causes them and they can last from a few weeks to six months at a time. The best treatment is pain medication and pure oxygen whenever they start to come on. They can run in cycles and occur every few months, once or twice a year, or they can even disappear for years or maybe even never come back.

Shot term treatment also includes prednisone, which if you have ever had it, you'll know it can make you a tad moody. Ok, it can make you a raving maniac.

So, take my awful headaches, the fact that I have to carry oxygen around with me, even to work, raving maniac inducing medication and you can sort of imagine the mood I've been in. Just read my last poem for a gimps on of my lighter moods that have been generated by all this. Yesterday was even worse. I was so incredibly moody and nasty that if satan himself had stood in my way I would have easily kicked his ass back to the lowest level of hell, but not until I'd ripped his arms off and beat his head in with them.

Ok. Time to go. Oxygen isn't helping. I'll try to take some more drugs and lay down.