Friday 25 May 2012

A ding-dong at the drugstore

Those of you who know me, know that I have a life-long problem with severe headaches and migraines. I have tried loads of things. Various preventatives, pain-killers, homoeopathic remedies (yes, I have been that desperate) and even a bizarre experience with a Chinese herbalist.*
Currently, I'm on pregabalin, which is technically an anti-convulsant and generally used in the treatment of epilepsy.


The thing is, pregabalin works by affecting the brain's electrical impulses and thereby has the serendipitous side-effect of helping to prevent and ease head-related pain.
Which is a good thing.
Of course, nothing I take is ever 100% effective, but it has dramatically reduced the amount of incidents I have had, and their severity.
Which is also a good thing. Especially since the HR department at work were taking a rather dim view of things.
A few days ago, me and Julie were walking into town, passing a small chemist (drugstore). It's not part of a large chain company, so it's sometimes limited in what it does and does not have in stock. Bearing that in mind, Julie thought to question me on the subject. Considering she was about to mention an unfamiliar medical term, it was with very unfortunate timing that Julie suddenly had an attack of The Rambles...


Count yourselves lucky - she could have said "Pregaba-labba-doo!"

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*Quite some years ago, before I met Julie, there was a family get-together in Southend-On-Sea. Everyone and his dog were invited. At the time, there was a core group of four of us that did most things together; me, my sister, my best mate and his friend, who was dating my sister. As I was unattached and my mate would have been left out, I asked if it would be OK if he came as my "+1".
Oh boy. 
The gossip and misunderstandings from that simple choice took years to die down.
That's beside the point though.
The family, over the years, has spread over a large part of England. Me, I was living in a small town called Thame, which is a little less than 90 miles away from Southend. The plan was that our little group would make our separate ways to Southend and then get together for a wander around.
We were in a shopping centre when we saw a Chinese herbalist. At that point, I was willing to try anything to kill the headaches up to, and possibly including, trepanning. We went inside and this woman started to take my details. When it got to my address, she suddenly became rather excited.


     "Thame? You know Thame?
     "Er... yes - I live there. Wh..?"
     "You know Piece of Cake?"
     "...yes...?"


It turns out that this Chinese herbalist in Southend visits, every now and then, a small town in the middle of nowhere, with the sole intention of giving talks on how to decorate cakes. And then yours truly wanders into her shop looking for a headache cure.
Don't you just LOVE coincidence?

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