Not Even a Little Sudafed?

To be fair, my neurosurgeon at the Mayo Clinic told me I can take whatever I want. Aspirin? Sure! Antihistamines? Yup. Gin? ...Um, okay. This would seem like good news, but with one major caveat: I can take whatever I want, but if I have a cerebral hemorrhage, all of these things will make it worse.

Oh, well in that case, pass the Benadryl and Bayer martinis! I felt like a little kid who asks, "Can I have a cookie?" Only to be told by some snide adult, "Yes, you can have a cookie, but you may not have one."

So everything was fine until I woke up last week hacking and unable to breath through my nose. My head and sinuses felt like they were filled with hot cement. I went out and bought the saline nasal spray. I really wanted the Nasonex, but when I tried to garner the pharmacist's endorsement he threw out his arms in front of him, as though trying to physically deflect liability, as soon as I said, "I have an AVM in my brain.." and flat out refused to give me advice.

Let me tell you, spraying salt water up your nose when you are sick is exactly like being sick and also spraying salt water up your nose. It just adds insult to injury. At 4 am I lost my willpower and downed an E&J brandy and Robitussin hot toddie (I am the MacGuyver of crunk juice pharmacology!) I finally stopped coughing and fell asleep, and actually lived to tell about it- a minor victory.