headaches and cold
Most of last week I was having really bad headaches. Now I always have sinus headaches to one degree or another but these headaches felt different. I think I narrowed down the reason for them to it being related to dry air. Yes, dry air.
I've heard other people complain that dry air would give them headaches but it'd never happened to me before but after having horrendous headaches last Tuesday through Thursday I went to Wal-mart and picked up a $25 humidifier. It's a cute thing with a water tank that holds something like 3 or 4 liters of water and uses heat to create the mist. It also has this little cup in which you can put smelly stuff to scent the mist. I'm using eucalyptus. Anyway, this seems to be working well. Last night I woke up 4 times with a headache and each time I leaned out of bed, over the humidifier, and breathed in the steam directly for several minutes and the headache went away. It's like magic!
The negative part of all this is that I really can't use my heat at night when I'm in bed. That's what really kills me headache-wise. All that dry air blasting out at me. So I turn off the heat just before going to bed. Last night it was 62f in the house at midnight when I shut off the heat--I'm cheap and keep the house on the cool side in Winter. Outside it was windy and 34 at midnight but apparently it dropped quite a bit overnight and was 19f by the time I woke up at 7am. At that point it was 50f in the house. Even for me that's a bit nippy! Brrrr. I turned on the heat and by the time I jumped in the shower 20 minutes later it was a not-so-balmy 52f. When I left for work it was up to 55f which is where I left it for the day. I'll move it up to 64f when I get home.
It's only supposed to get to 37f here today with low 20s overnight so I suspect tomorrow morning will be very like today but as long as that humidifier keeps the headaches at bay I'll be happy with the situation. I've got a down comforter on my bed so I'm toasty warm as long as I'm in bed. It's just the getting out of bed in the morning that is a challenge! LOL
I've heard other people complain that dry air would give them headaches but it'd never happened to me before but after having horrendous headaches last Tuesday through Thursday I went to Wal-mart and picked up a $25 humidifier. It's a cute thing with a water tank that holds something like 3 or 4 liters of water and uses heat to create the mist. It also has this little cup in which you can put smelly stuff to scent the mist. I'm using eucalyptus. Anyway, this seems to be working well. Last night I woke up 4 times with a headache and each time I leaned out of bed, over the humidifier, and breathed in the steam directly for several minutes and the headache went away. It's like magic!
The negative part of all this is that I really can't use my heat at night when I'm in bed. That's what really kills me headache-wise. All that dry air blasting out at me. So I turn off the heat just before going to bed. Last night it was 62f in the house at midnight when I shut off the heat--I'm cheap and keep the house on the cool side in Winter. Outside it was windy and 34 at midnight but apparently it dropped quite a bit overnight and was 19f by the time I woke up at 7am. At that point it was 50f in the house. Even for me that's a bit nippy! Brrrr. I turned on the heat and by the time I jumped in the shower 20 minutes later it was a not-so-balmy 52f. When I left for work it was up to 55f which is where I left it for the day. I'll move it up to 64f when I get home.
It's only supposed to get to 37f here today with low 20s overnight so I suspect tomorrow morning will be very like today but as long as that humidifier keeps the headaches at bay I'll be happy with the situation. I've got a down comforter on my bed so I'm toasty warm as long as I'm in bed. It's just the getting out of bed in the morning that is a challenge! LOL
Comments
Just a suggestion.
It is pouring right now which is good.
I'm so much looking forward to Spring I can tell.
Remember back in the day of pot belly stoves and fireplaces? Everyone had a pot of water sitting there. It all makes sense to me now. *shrugs*