Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Headache rubric

Since my traumatic brain injury in February, I have been suffering with headaches.  Everyday I wake up with a headache and it affects what I can and cannot do.  As the intensity of these headaches has been decreasing, I've been ranking my headaches on a scale of 1 to 10.  It's a daily question from my husband:  "Where's your headache at?"  Today I actually sat down and wrote out a rubric for my headaches.  A "rubric" is teacher language for a set of criteria on a marking scheme.  I know it's crazy or nerdy, but really it didn't take that long to come up with it.  That's the scarey part. 
Here's what I came up with for my headaches:

10 - crippling pain across entire head with shooting pain through sinuses and eyes.
Activity - bed ridden
Medication - narcotics are needed
Attitude - narcissistic desire to be in dark, quiet room
Statement - "I want to die!"
Thankfully this only lasted the first week.

9 - crippling pain across temple and some pain through sinuses
Activity - lots of tears
Medication - desire narcotics; ice pack used but does not soothe pain
Attitude - desire to be left alone to sleep
Statement - "I need a new head!"

8 - severe pain centered in certain areas of head with dizziness
Activity - sitting up
Medication - need Tylenol; ice pack treatment mostly successful
Attitude - tendency towards panic attacks
Statement - "I want this to end!"

7 - pain located in certain regions of head
Activity - walking around and some light cooking
Medication - need Tylenol; ice pack no longer necessary nor convenient
Attitude - functional but grumpy and irritable; thinking processes are slow
Statement - "I think this is the new normal."  and "I can't believe this happened to me."

6 - pain less severe; some dizziness originating from top of head
Activity - basic parenting
Medication - desires Tylenol; caffeine seems to help
Attitude - functioning but grumpy and anxious; feeling ambitious, but without energy to complete tasks
Statement - "I want my life back."

5 - sporadic pain; no dizziness; easily fatigued
Activity - basic daily tasks
Medication - take Tylenol just in case
Attitude - unrealistic expectations of what I can do; high anxiety levels
Statement - "I think I can get through this."

4 - dull pain and/or lightheaded
Activity - teaching
Medication - no Tylenol; caffeine in the form of coffee (which tastes terrible)
Attitude - doing too much
Statement - "I know I can get through this."

3 - flitting pain
Activity - baking
Medication - no medication, except coffee
Attitude - feeling energized and ambitious
Statement - "I can be normal and I will get through this."

2 - light pain
Activity - household chores
Medication - none
Attitude - no fatigue, worry or tension
Statement - "I think this is almost over."
I haven't had any level 2 headaches yet, so I'm just guessing.

1 - almost no pain
Activity - normal activities
Medication - none
Attitude - wanting and able to do normal stuff
Statement - "I have my life back."
Still praying I will realize this within the next three months.







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