is there a doctor in the house?

[Ness]

I'm tempted...  but I'm not much of a story writer.

Currently I'm on the edge of reporting season at school, so I'm not going to have a lot of time for the next few weeks, sadly...  just when I really don't need to be racing off to doctors appointments and chasing down specialists!

[witch]

We're in the 2nd to last week of the 2nd semester, students are running round like crazed chooks and every crisis becomes our crisis!

I know what you mean about lack of time. In the next week I have to sit a Java exam on Wednesday, do the entire annual stats analysis for my boss before next Friday, so she can have them for a team meeting :/ and prepare a class on Project Management for 2nd year degree students for a job interview next Friday. AAARRRGGGHHH!!!! Not to mention that about 5 of 8 staff are swanning off the the other end of the country all next week for a frigging conference.

But I'm still on MATY. 

[Baddmark]

Pescado has a non-invasive treatment for head bumps, you should ask him to sort you out.

[Vesca]

The waiting is very hard, I know.  I discovered several breast lumps when I was in my early 20's and had to undergo the ole' mammogram and just waiting for the results to come back was worse than the test itself.  Your mind is very powerful and can really bring you down.

My thoughts are with you, Ness, and we all hope to hear good news from you very soon.

[laeshanin]

Pescado has a non-invasive treatment for head bumps, you should ask him to sort you out.

Hmmm, that would be the "lop it off if it ain't doing any good" form of non-invasive procedure, perhaps? It's certainly the most effective cure-all I could ever think of. Why bother with research when this spankingly excellent solution has been sitting here before us all this time? 

Keep well, ness. 

[ZephyrZodiac]

Pescado has a non-invasive treatment for head bumps, you should ask him to sort you out.

Hmmm, that would be the "lop it off if it ain't doing any good" form of non-invasive procedure, perhaps? It's certainly the most effective cure-all I could ever think of. Why bother with research when this spankingly excellent solution has been sitting here before us all this time? 

Well, Pescado's method would certainly solve the population explosion problem!  No doubt it will be standard medical practice once we reach "Standing Room Only"!

Keep smiling, Ness, it may all turn out far less serious than you fear.

[Ness]

I'm hoping...  7am here, appointment at 3:45pm...  and I've taken the day off work!

partly because I didn't want to face telling people why I couldn't stay for the usual staff meeting, partly because I woke up with a massive headache...  again...  partly because I'd be so stressed and nervous that I wouldn't be able to teach properly...

Oh well, really must organise work for the kids at school...  and then...  I don't know...  bum around the house in my pjs, take some painkillers and amuse myself with the sims all day...  sounds like a plan to me!

[laeshanin]

And a damn fine one if I might say so. There's nothing like a numb arse and wrist ache to start the day off well. 

[Wolfee]

 

I really do think what you have is nothing. You might be suffering from Migraines though. My sister gets them as well as some of my coworkers and from what I've been told the pain is excruciating. It lasts for days and they must stay in a darken room until it goes away

So please stop worrying! .Relax and sleep in late you lucky dog.

[Ness]

*snort*

teachers don't get to sleep late when they take a day off...  We must slave away on the computer preparing work for our classes to complete in our absence!  And then hope that your classes are actually given a decent teacher who will insist they do it...  unlike the one that is usually given to one of my classes who tells them to just do a little bit of it, so they do around 2 questions and don't complete it for homework, and I have to repeat the lesson the next day anyway!  *grumble*

As for the biopsy - eep!  Way to freak a woman out in the morning!  A quick google reveals that I have only two of the symptooms, and I really am far too young for that to be a real possibility - like less than half the mean onset age!

[laeshanin]

*snort*

teachers don't get to sleep late when they take a day off...  We must slave away on the computer preparing work for our classes to complete in our absence!  And then hope that your classes are actually given a decent teacher who will insist they do it...  unlike the one that is usually given to one of my classes who tells them to just do a little bit of it, so they do around 2 questions and don't complete it for homework, and I have to repeat the lesson the next day anyway!  *grumble*

Poor you. I have several teacher friends who are always up to their eye teeth in class prep/marking or some other crap. Can't you just procrastinate today until you've had the appointment?

[cwieberdink]

Ness, as one who has had odd headaches and many brain scans for most of her life, I sure can empathize with you.  I hope you are well.  We'll be waiting to hear!

Chris

[Ness]

I teach maths...  so on a bad day, my instructions will consist of Page number, exercise, questions - examples and instructions are in the text!  So that's already been done - mainly just get kids to go and revise stuff we've been working on if it's that bad...

I'm finished with marking for the year, just need to get reports done...  I may do a little on it when the pain killers kick in (they are sitting in front of me with the rest of my breakfast, but I haven't taken them yet), but most of the stuff I need is at work so I can't do too much anyway.

They'll get over it if they are late!

Thanksm Chris...  will certainly update after the appointment, even if it's just to rant and rave that my GP is out of ideas and is sending me to another specialist.

[Wolfee]

I agree Ness you are much too young for that. I"m sorry I mentioned it you definately don't have that, but I do think it's probably migraines. being a teacher( my sister a teacher too) managing all those kids certainly can bring those on. Ask my sister, lol.

I can empathize with you too. Several years ago I started developing weird symtoms for which I had to under go several tests for including a brain scan, It turned out to be nothing serious and I'm fine now. Brain scans aren't too bad so don't worry. If you have to have a MRI make sure they give you a Valium first, that sure helped me, I slept through it.

[Ness]

well...

I've now seen the pictures of my brain... I do have one!

anyway... my GP has described this thing in my head as "unusual" - doesn't think it's causing the headaches as there are symptoms I would have if it were that I don't - so of course, now I'm going to start imagining them. The surrounding brain tissue doesn't act as though it's bothered by it at all (not a tumour!)... so we are looking at probably nothing, and going to see a neurologist.

But I would have been sent to the neurologist even if the CAT scan were clear...

Ness

[witch]

That must be a big relief after a very long weekend. Not out of the woods yet but the undergrowth is thinning. 

[gali]

Very very glad to hear that the area is clean!!! That's the most important!

Don't be afraid of neurology - they will make you an EEG (Electro-Encephalo-Graphy) - it's electrodes all over your head, measuring the impulses. I have done it a couple of times, because I've got some "tick" in my right eye. All the checks were OK.

I have a theory, but no one of the doctors accept it: sitting a long time in front of the computer, and mainly playing games - cause headaches, and epileptic seizures; it's written in each manual of each game.
 
I know, that when one of the symptoms begin, I have to leave the computer, lie down, close eyes, and relax. After some time the "tick" goes off.

[DrBeast]

Neurology was one of my most hated subjects (it still is!). I still don't have a firm grasp and probably never will, as my research is veering me more and more away from clinical practice. Glad to hear the good news ness! Hope the neurologist will clear things regarding that "unusual" finding of the GP. But just to be on the safe side, repeat the exams with another doctor sometimes later.

[ZephyrZodiac]

I have a theory, but no one of the doctors accept it: sitting a long time in front of the computer, and mainly playing games - cause headaches, and epileptic seizures; it's written in each manual of each game.
 
I know, that when one of the symptoms begin, I have to leave the computer, lie down, close eyes, and relax. After some time the "tick" goes off.

I tend to agree with you, Gali - I have a similar problem.. I used to suffer from really bad migraines when I was young, and although I rarely get a full-blown one now, if I stay at the PC for too long I often get the visual disturbances that accompany them - like a censor blur dancing in my eyeball!  I have to lie down for a while and take painkillers or anti-migraine tablets if I have any, and it eventually goes away, but it may be something similar that you are suffering from, ness.   If so, uncomfortable, yes, dangerous, no.

[witch]

I get really dizzy and nauseous when I spend too long in front of the computer, especially when tired. Arthritis in neck and shoulders means I really feel a long session, my job involves computing also.

I didn't write the above to whinge but to make a plug for good ergonomics. I've made a real effort in the last couple of years to make sure I have a good chair, the light is right, good airflow, the monitor at the right height for me and so on. I have a mouse like a gearstick at work - brilliant, the hand sits much more naturally that way. I've changed the size of the font, just the slightly larger system one, so I don't have to peer up close. It is really surprising the difference this can make to the computing experience.

I tutor & fix PCs in peoples' homes. I'm often surprised by the ghastly angles they have their monitors on, high up and caty-cornered for example. No room for mouse movement because they have this dinky little desk, or there's a sliding bit where their arms stick out like baby birds' wings when they use the mouse. Weird.

Anyway, doesn' hurt to reasses your setup from time to time.

[Vesca]

Too much computer-playing is hard on the body - back, shoulders, eyes, brain - all those things that can get stressed and give you massive headaches.  I am a migraine-headache sufferer and have to be very careful about how long I spend on the computer.  My body will tell me when enough is enough cause I will start to get "that headache" and it won't go away with anything I take unless it's an anti-migraine pill.

[IgnorantBliss]

I have a theory, but no one of the doctors accept it: sitting a long time in front of the computer, and mainly playing games - cause headaches, and epileptic seizures; it's written in each manual of each game.
 

Playing computer games will only cause epileptic seizures to those who are prone to it. Most people will never get a seizure no matter how much time they spend in front of their monitor. Usually it has to do with what's called photosensitive epilepsy, where a light flickering at a certain rate will cause a seizure for those rare people who have it. Those warnings on the video games are for these rare cases.

But sitting in front of the computer can certainly cause head aches, as any static work will do.

An EEG is not routinely used to examine head ache problems, at least not where I live, not even at a neurologist's appointment. Only if there is suspicion of epileptic seizures.

[witch]

...Usually it has to do with what's called photosensitive epilepsy, where a light flickering at a certain rate will cause a seizure for those rare people who have it...

One of my co-workers cannot use a monitor at a low refresh rate, she says she can see the flickers, she gets migraines. If I set the monitor at 85htz or more, she is fine. I believe her because she's told me a couple of monitors were bad and sure enough, the refresh rates were too low. Most of the staff are still on CRT screens, the students get the LCDs.

[ZephyrZodiac]

Yes, I've had less eye disturbances since I got a new flat-screen.   (Not stopped altogether, though.)

[baratron]

I can't use CRTs any more. I can sit in front of one for up to half an hour before I feel sick & giddy. But I can sit in front of the laptop or the external LCD screen we've got for hours & hours & hours.

Some of it is to do with closeness to the eyes. I'm significantly more long-sighted than most people. I need to sit far back from a monitor to be able to focus properly. At the moment, I'm typing in 10 point Verdana on a screen that is 1.5m away from me, and because I'm tired, occasionally leaning backwards to get further away. I have the font on the computer set small enough that most of my short-sighted friends can't read it at the normal distance they sit at.