#48 The moment you realize your headache is finally gone

Neil Pasricha

Head Factory is a busy place.

Seeing, swallowing, smelling, hearing, thinking, breathing — yes, it’s a 24/7 triple-shift work-around-the-clock type of place. And the foreman of Head Factory doesn’t care if you’re sleeping, working, or daydreaming, either. He’s got a job to do and you’re going to breathe, smell, and hear whether you want to or not.

Of course, with so much going on it’s no wonder the gears in Head Factory clunk up now and then. Dense throbbing in the back of your neck, piercing temples, or dull aches behind your eyes are all signs the factory is steaming and too much overtime has the gang threatening to strike.

Yes, factory problems slow us down and we reach for water, pills, and damp cloths. Sometimes sharp smells, loud noises, or too much moving makes things worse so you banish yourself to the Quiet Dark Room to work things out. Of course, when you get there you just lie uncomfortably wide awake on a hot pillow thinking of nothing other than the terrible piercing in your skull and counting the minutes in agony …

But that’s what makes it so great when you realize your headache is just suddenly … gone. It disappeared! Did it disappear? You wait for a minute and let your brain tiptoe slowly around your skull a little bit. “Is it really gone?” you ask yourself, waiting a couple minutes, not wanting to get your hopes up.

But over those minutes your thoughts clear up, striking workers stream in, and everything starts feeling

AWESOME AGAIN!

Here’s some hugs and kisses for Valentine’s Day: x o x o x o

49 thoughts to “#48 The moment you realize your headache is finally gone”

  2. that picture up to looks just like me when I have a headache!
    Man I hate them!
    Actually I remember my first headache! ( i think it was anyway!) I was probably around four-ish & I didnt know what was goin on! I then clearly remembering going to sleep on my brothers bed with his ninga turtles bedspread and waking up & it was gone!
    awesome!!

  3. I started the week with a bad headache and after suffering through the day, finally realised that my headache was gone! I felt tired and deflated from a day of suffering but the pain was gone. If we didnt have the pain, we wouldnt appreciate the lack of it…

  4. That’s why you drink cleeeeaaaan, cleeeaaar waaaterrr (water, water, water, water, water!)… ~ Sesame Street.

    Also, sucks if you get tension headaches and can’t take codeine – I feel you! ;(

    1. Drinking lots of water is always my first trick. 90% of the time I have a headache, it’s caused by dehydration and drinking a ton of water will fix it. If that doesn’t do the trick, time to turn to the meds…

        1. You have to be careful when you drink coffee, too. It can make you quite dehydrated. Wines, nuts and lactose can do this, too – especially if you have an intolerance to lactose! Blergh!

          I’ve found out so much from interviewing so many health professionals! I swear if I didn’t work in radio I wouldn’t have known anything!

    2. He said awesome at the end, no?

      “But over those minutes your thoughts clear up, striking workers stream in, and everything starts feeling

      AWESOME AGAIN!”

  9. http://youtu.be/nyhx4LJCWrM
    Given my *head’s tale*, (hardy-har), depending on what part of the brain is inflamed- sight, walk, talk, laughter and more abilties are compromised; life is zapped. I’ve been hospitalized!
    I am not a coo-coo-ka-choo walrus, but a guru of headaches here to help you…water, kelp, cabbage, cumin, curry, cinnamon, ginger and pineapple~ the key is target inflammation! For some a shot of espresso can help shrink the blood vessles. Petadolex Butterbur by AOL, specialist recommended.
    Fresh air! Thank God for a Dr. Pierre Rigaux, who has invented a device called the Cefaly. A tens for trygeminal nerve, with 3 levels…one for treating the monster, two for prevention and three for a zen relaxation! A head-ache says, “Slow down you move too fast”… When my head-ache is gone~ I am born again! I can blow bubbles. I can sing a rainbow. “I feel like dancing, wooh dancing, dance the night away!~Walking like an Egyptian!~ I can Sing in the Sunshine, I can laugh all the daaayy”,
    Headache gone= Elation! I can conquer anything! “I’m feeling groovy…nanananananana, feeling groovy”…and I hope you do too! “Now I’ll be on my way!” (skpping and whistling)…
    Happy Valentine’s Day! xoz<3

  10. oh my goodness, last night I was going to go grocery shopping with the roomies but I couldn’t because I had a bad headache and since I couldn’t stare at a screen or read or watch/listen to a movie I could only lay on my bed in the dark and then of course thinking that it sucked that the only thing I could do was think about my pain because I wasn’t tired because it wasn’t even 8 pm! But I took meds and they helped and then this morning I woke up feeling good! Such an awesome post! Funny because I usually check the awesome thing at 9pm the night before because I’m on the west coast but i didn’t because I had just fallen asleep to relieve the headache!!

  11. I don’t count but this song has rung in my ears, “I get knocked down then I get up again,” until I can get up and *I get it…all IS awesome AGAIN!*

      1. Oh yes! They’re all so very sweet as a Forrest Gump box of chocolates and so very thoughtful too! I just love them all! And when I search my heart, and search my soul, the third kiss found exactly what I was looking for…I will always love you and hit #11
        http://youtu.be/AOMyS78o5YI

  13. As someone who gets headaches often, I have to agree that this is truly awesome.

    Is it just a coincidence that this was run today? After all, it’s not a good night for, “Not now, I have a headache.” ;)

  14. Have I ever told you how much I love the way you word things?! *”You wait for a minute and let your brain tiptoe slowly around your skull a little bit. “Is it really gone?” “* BRILLIANT!

    P.S. the question starting this comment is in the negative. Long time reader, first time commenting!

    Thanks for being so AWESOME!

  15. So, when I quickly glanced at those picket signs by the workers on strike, on the one on the far right I just saw the words: “more powerful”, and I totally thought that these old-timey strikers had a sign with the old Obi-Wan quote:

    “You can’t win Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become MORE POWERFUL than you can possibly imagine.”

    Now, tell me that wouldn’t be the most awesome sign to use while you were striking in the 1930s.. people wouldn’t have any idea what you were talking about, but they would definitely immediately agree to your demands and send you back to work with triple wages and extra breaks!

    1. Heart’s is the sand, hears in the snow…oh the places we could go!!
      You find the coolest things, Magda:)

  17. Hello, At first sorry about my english. I’m a hungarian girl.
    I started my week, with a very bad headache. Today I found you, I listen to your video onTED, and after I find this blog. Now, I’m veryx happy, and excited, and I wamt to learn english to read your blog. Thaks so much everything!

    1. Your English is very good for someone who hasn’t learned it yet. Welcome to the blog! I hope you enjoy it. :)

  18. This one is so so great. Love the whole image of “head factory” which is not, incidently where they make Mr. Potato Heads. That is “Potato Head Factory”. Just to be clear.

  19. I’m very fortunate in that I rarely get a headache; it usually only happens when I’m sick, but the relief when it passes is still just as fantastic!

  20. Ironically that “behind the eyes” headache thinks we are better friends than we actually are. 2x in a week! Yay for being a college student!

  21. Reflexology works for me-Index finger and thumb of one hand pinch the skin between index finger and thumb of other hand and head-ache is gone!
    And drinking water too!

  22. Not so much when you realize your headache is gone, but when you realize the pain meds have kicked in. In my menstrual pain, it’s like the moment the vice loosens it’s grip. Some pain may still be there, but it’s not the curl up in a ball hoping to die pain anymore. It’s started to let go, and you know that within less than a half an hour, you’ll start to fell more human again.

  25. OMG headaches are the worst. The funny thing is, ist hat when they’re gone you dont realize it. Then your like YESSSSSSS!!!
    i just want to dance at that moment

  26. Three things to relieve a headache…
    1.You are a dimond, you are a perl, you are the wind that makes me twirl..
    2.Becuz you are so very nipotent to me…
    Old Valentine’s I found from my kids. (both way longer really).
    3. Universally healing things, such as love…

  27. Call me slow…I recently learned 30+% of each pump of blood goes straight to the brain from the heart, therefor, this post is VERY fitting for Valentine’s day:) <3

  28. I am one of the fortunate few who does not get headaches. I have had a few when I was younger, but its litterally been decades since I’ve had one. I sympathize with those who get them, whether rarely or as a matter or routine. May they go away quickly.

  31. For instance someone might write “if I don’t lose the weight I will not be able to keep up with my children. One of the best things about owning a smartphone, and thus an Android phone, is the ability to download healthy apps that will help me on the way to not only losing weight, but keeping healthy. Some dieters try to avoid any type of fat and believe that it will make them gain weight.

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