Add me to that club. My appendix burst around 4 am one night. I thought I passed a kidney stone (I've done that as well). However, later that morning I had a high fever and it was the day before Thanksgiving so I went to the doctor to get checked (hopefully to avoid being sick over the long Thanksgiving weekend) and found out my appendix had burst and I had an infection. I went straight to the hospital and was in surgery within 2 hours. Glad to get it taken care of (the doctor said if I had gone back home to bed I would be dead within 24 hours) but it sure spoiled my Thanksgiving that year!



>What's weird to me is that in Italian and French migraine = headache. To a sufferer like me - thankfully not too frequent - that's like calling acute appendicitis a stomach upset. Considering that appendicitis almost killed me - I'm in the know.
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>>>I had a girlfriend years ago who was subject to migraines. Believe me, I am eternally thankful that I've never had one. Like everyone, I've had the odd bad headeache, but due to being around her, I know the difference.
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>>Well, at least you experienced the second-worst thing - being around somebody who has a migraine <g>
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>>>>That's my understanding too - something in the skins anyway - causes a histamine reaction that is a migraine trigger. (I think it is the same part of red wine that is good for your heart ) I do know I can drink it now with meals without noticing ill effect. ( as long as I avoid bread )
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>>>>But food triggers in migraine are tricky. Not the same for all people and seem to change for people over time. My wife swears hers are subject to barometric changes. A lot of correlation is anectodal since even the world class experts in migraine ( Dr. Kunkel, my doctor here at Cleveland Clinic for example) don't know much about migraines or even what they are. Fortunately, with the new triptan drugs you can actually eliminate the pain part. I have mine under control with diet and exercise and seldom need triptans now but it is nice to know they are there. Since migraines are generally preceded by all kinds of symptoms - vision weirdness, nausea, burning sensations in other nerves etc - it was pretty bad knowing that meant two or three days of the kind of pain that made heroin sound pretty good Now it is just a signal it is time to take a triptan.
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>>>>My wife and I both have had them all our lives and are amused by people who say "Oh, yes, I get terrible headaches. Sometimes I have to take 2 aspirin ! " With a real migraine you can take enough codeine that they could amputate your foot without your noticing and still feel unbearable headache pain.
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>>>>( fun fact : tincture of cannabis was sold for years as a prophylactic against migraine. )
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>>>>>I was under the impression that the tannin in red wine is a migraine trigger. No?
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>>>>>>>Charles, what about red wine? There is increasingly *very* good evidence that you'll live longer if you drink it.
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>>>>>>I used to think I had some kind of histamine reaction to red wine because it often seemed to trigger migraines ( the bullet with my name on it ) but I have come to realize it is wheat or gluten that is the culprit ( good French bread often went with good red wine ) So now I enjoy it with dinner often, albeit more when I travel than at home. My idea of eating well is pretty much Catalonia, Provence, Tuscany, Western Turkey. All of that involves wine with dinner ( or whatever is local for anisette ) But I really do drink it for the taste,not the buzz.
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>>>>>>Of course in college - when buzz was all important - since I didn't like beer I drank red wine ( jug - the wine of which the critics said "I don't see how they can make a profit on this stuff at $1.00 a gallon" ) or sometimes of the 'sparkling' variety ( some demon had unleashed something called Ripple on the world ) Bad bad hangovers. But as I said, that was the sixties so non liquid alternatives soon became available and I didn't drink for consciousness altering again for thirty years.