Tonight I have a migraine.
Well, had a migraine.
It was a whopper of a pounding headache with associated nausea and dry-heaving. The lights had to be turned off, I curled up in my bed, and I took my bedtime medication a touch early to try and take the edge off.
I want to talk about a sensitive topic:
The Accidental Overdose.
Sometimes you will hear, in the news, about overdoses that have resulted in untimely deaths. These instances are horrifying and I could not imagine the pain that their loved ones feel.
Sometimes, it can be labeled a suicide. Sometimes it is an accidental counter-indication with other substances (legal or otherwise). Sometimes it really is on purpose.
But sometimes you will hear about it when it involves someone who has been chronically ill.
It is vital to know how much medication it is safe to take. It is crucial to always be an informed patient when taking prescription medication.
On a night like tonight, though, I can understand how an accidental overdose happens.
Today I missed an afternoon dose of a medication that I take daily for all sorts of pain, so I took the extra pill (allowed by my physician) at bedtime. This migraine came up so furiously that waiting for that 20 minutes until the meds kicked in was almost unbearable... but I did it.
After an hour, however, nothing had changed. I was still dry-heaving and crying from the intense internal head pain.
I tried all methods of natural relievers (such as cold compresses and essential oils and shower steam), but nothing worked. So instead of piling on more heavy-duty medication, I opted for some good old extra strength Tylenol. It is safe to take with all of my other meds and contains no narcotic. It is a modest attempt at further pain relief, and if that didn't help, I would be shit outta luck and forced to bear several hours of this nearly unbearable pain or go to the hospital.
But as my head was pounding intensely, I felt desperate for SOMETHING to take the edge off. I couldn't see or think straight, I couldn't walk upright because of the nausea, and I felt like I was being continuously knocked over the head with an anvil (like While E. Coyote).
So I looked at that bottle of Tylenol and thought:
'How many of these will it actually take to get this pain under control?'
Then,
'How many can I safely take?'
If I had been a lot more desperate, that second question may not have ever crossed my mind.
Luckily I know me. I know my body. And I know when it's time for me to go to the emergency room... and had two of those pills not done the trick, the ER is where I would be headed.
But in true, raw, honesty - part of me wanted to take more and more and more until this damn migraine subsided.
Have you ever been in so much pain that you literally could not stand it? Even a person who hates pharmaceuticals has a breaking point. And accidental overdoses are very real risks for chronically ill patients.
So be safe and go to the ER before you get to that point. If you look at your pill bottle and want to down it just to take the edge off the pain, go into a hospital and have trained professionals get the pain under control for you. It is not worth the risk. And I am glad that that first dose really did the trick - at least enough for me to get some shut-eye.