Take two and call me in the morning.

Okay, I offer this as a "for what it's worth" kind of thing.

A week ago, I had a bad headache. One of those kind that can wake you up from a dead sleep, lingers for hours, sometimes days, and is almost impossible to get rid of with anything short of a sledgehammer to the head. It started slow in the evening, and jerked me out of sleep at about 2 in the morning. I stumbled to the kitchen on the way to get some Excedrine, though I didn't hold out much hope. On they way, I passed a box of dark chocolates from Starbucks that I'd bought, and had this impulse to eat some.

Usually, I'm very careful about what I eat when I have one of these headaches. The rule is don't eat anything that you'd mind seeing again an hour later. But for some reason, I really wanted that chocolate. (Me? Crave chocolate? Surely, I jest.) I hesitated, contemplating choco-barf, but did it anyway. Then swallowed some Excedrin and collapsed on the couch.

Strangely, about 5 minutes later, my headache started to ease. Then 15 minutes later, when the Excedrin should have kicked in, it disappeared completely. With this type of headache, complete relief is really rare for me. Usually I run through my entire arsenal (Excedrin, Advil, neti pot, warm compress, cold compress, sleep, hot shower, sinus medicine) and only get the edge taken off. But this was a complete better, not just a little better. I tried it again on Friday, and had similar results.

Dark chocolate, like red wine, may be a headache trigger for some people, though I've never had a problem with it. So, if that's you, I'd skip this tip. And I wouldn't say this is an excuse to go out and scarf a pound bar of Hershey Dark (like I need an excuse). What I've used has been one or two bite-size pieces. It's not a scientific study, peer reviewed or double-blind. But this could be information that you want to keep in your back pocket in case you have a monster headache that just won't go away. When you've maxed out on pain relievers (and maybe I'm not the only one this happens to), it's a little something extra you could try. As somebody who knows from headaches, I just thought I'd pass it along. And may you never have to use the information.