How bizzare is it?

My friend, Gilbert, told me last week... the day after my last migraine... that his Sister also gets these headaches. "Have you tried snorting some Cayenne Pepper?" he asked. I looked at him like he was full of crap, and he then continued to explain to me that this "bizzare" treatment helps her. She gets some onto a toothpick and snorts the powdered pepper right up her nose, and he said her migraine goes away soon thereafter. Sounds like an impossiblity to me, but I keep this in the back of my head.

Yesterday rolls around and I get my migraine. I'm so freakin' angry that I'm going to have to miss A&P's wedding that I take the first of my 6-pill / 6 hr. migraine regimen and go home, where I end up near tears. WHAM! The cayenne pepper thing comes to mind, and I actually HAVE some in my kitchen! It's a miracle! I don't cook afterall... but apparently I have most of the necessary spices to do so. I have no toothpicks, Q-tips won't work, and my impaired vision... due to my pre-migraine aura isn't helping matters any. I think back to some movies I've seen... people I've heard talking... and it hit me that cocaine users have used their pinky nails to snort the drug out of. AH HA! I reach my finger into the spice jar and scoop some up w/ my fingernail... then I shrug my shoulders (Desperate time calls for desperate measures) and I snort this pepper powder up my nose.

Well, um, let me just say... IT BURNS! My nose began to feel like it was on fire, which caused me to blink my eyes... then after a while my throat started to burn too. Is that the whole post nasal drip thing? Anyway... this then led to heartburn. At this point I'm lying in bed, starting to feel a little of the migraine pain starting, woozy from my meds, and burning from the pepper! Oh my, what have I done? Will this help? Is it one of those... this pain will take your mind off of that pain things? Despite feeling ill, angry, frustrated, and disappointed... this caused a slight giggle at the silliness of what I was trying in order to stop the migraine!

The burning lasted for an hr. and a half to 2 hrs., then it disappeared completely. I'm still unsure whether it helped my migraine to remain relatively minor, or if it would have been a minor one regardless. So... I will try this snorting thing again next time and see what happens (as far as my head goes). If it helps even a little bit, I'll do it! And if Gilbert completely made it up, I'm going to have to kick his ass.