Author: Jen Rios

Last night, after I had dinner and I had just brushed my teeth, I started to get a headache. I NEVER get headaches and my Mom said that. I just told her that I am glad it’s not in my eye, that’s where that usually happens!

It was an ache on the right side of my head, like the crown of my head, and then it slowly went toward the back of my head behind my ear. I only have experienced headaches when I had sugar withdrawal when I first started doing the South Beach Diet.

I got transferred into bed, and once I was situated, I pressed the heel of my right hand to my right eyeball. “Never mind,” I told my Mom. The ache was FULLY inside my right eyeball!

Once I was fully covered, and my room was dark, I started to feel nauseous a little bit. I was a little bit concerned because I remember my brother would get migraines and he would throw up and I really didn’t want to do that. I was neatly tucked into my bed!

Luckily, when I awoke, I found that I did NOT throw up, so it was NOT a migraine. I really never experienced a headache as a normal symptom before, but I am now!

I told my Mom this afternoon that I am closer to having had MS for 23 years then I am from having it for 22 years. My able-bodied self is such a distant memory but right now, I am faced with the changing of the seasons. That has progressively gotten worse, but I think THIS change of season he’s kind of proving to be a little too much… Let me ‘splain ya:

Last Tuesday night, it was too cold, so I had to turn the heat on. My nose was cold and I was hiccuping! I finally fell asleep when it got warmer and then Wednesday morning, I sat up in my bed, and was trying to orient myself to being awake. I was looking down at my phone to text my Mom that I just sat up. It takes me about 30 minutes to wake up.

I sent that text and I could feel my nose was starting to run so I put my phone down and reached over to grab a roll of toilet paper. That’s on the table to my left. I thought that I was a little bit slow and grabbing the toilet paper, but what I thought was snot hit my lip! I was totally grossed out and then I got some tissue. When I wiped my lip, it wasn’t snot, it was blood!!!

When I saw that, I started freaking out a little bit and started sopping it up. I didn’t want to blow my nose because I wasn’t sure if it was done bleeding and I didn’t want to irritate it!

I woke up Thursday morning to a lessened bloody nose and on Friday I didn’t bleed at all. But what concerns me now is the fact that it is warm today:

I’m keeping the air on all night and all day tomorrow because it’s going to be a hot one and in the back of my mind, I just wonder if I’m going to have to deal with more nose bleeds when I turn the heat on for real, for real.