A Slight Scare

Something a little scary happened this past week. I have been having trouble sleeping and I woke up Monday morning with a headache. It felt like my head was full of cement. I thought it might be sinuses so I went and took a hot shower. After my shower, the headache felt a little better but was still there. As I was brushing my hair, I noticed a bruise by my left temple. I know I did not hit my head because the spot where the bruise was did not hurt when I touched it. This has happened before when I was in South Carolina.

I went into the office and asked Sara if she saw a bruise. I wanted to make sure I wasn't just seeing something from bad lighting. She did see the bruise but she was convinced I had sat up in bed and hit my head. I sleep in a bunk bed so it was possible except for the fact I had slept on the couch the night before because I was having trouble sleeping. Alex was convinced it was from the emo ghost he thinks lives in my room. The room does make lots of noises at night, but I am unconvinced there is a ghost.

I was a little concerned because the bruise was on my head and I knew I had not hit it. I began to worry because the headache got worse. So what does any self respecting woman who is trying to make it on her own do? She calls her mother of course. So I did. I told her what had been going on but she didn't really have any ideas.

I went to bed that night with a terrible headache. Of course, I didn't fall alseep until 3AM. I woke up yesterday morning feeling rather well. The bruise was gone and the headache was too.

Mom called me yesterday afternoon. She had gone to a conference and had a revelation. The speaker was talking about change. He said with every change there is loss and a person goes through the grieving process. Now it is not as strong has, say, with the loss of a loved one but you do go through the process. This made sense. I had been going through some emotions that fit the grieving cycle. Mom thinks because of this I have been clenching my jaw at night. I may have been clenching it so hard I busted some blood vessels in my head and that caused the bruise. It would also explain the headache and the sleep trouble. After I thought about it, I realized my jaws had been achy in the mornings like I had been clenching them.

So this afternoon I am going to try to get a mouth guard to wear at night to see if it helps. I'll let you know if it helps.