this is your brain on . . .

Raise your hand if you remember the commercial where someone cracks an egg into a sizzling hot frying pan, and says, "This is drugs. This is your brain on drugs. Any questions?"

I went to a neurologist a couple of weeks ago to see if anything can be done about my chronic migraines. Now that I'm in school, it doesn't seem really accommodating to have a migraine once or twice a week. My neurologist prescribed some new medications. Fortunately, (did I really say fortunately?) I had a migraine yesterday to test these medications. I'm pleased to report that they worked like a dream. Now I'm not holding my breath, partly because I just like to breathe, and partly because I'm reserving judgment for the incidence of a few more migraines to see if it really is effective more than once.

As a part of my treatment, the doctor had me submit to an MRI. One of the pre-questions she asked me was, "Are you claustrophobic?" When the answer to that was an immediate yes, valium became mandatory. I guess if you wiggle around violently in the MRI tube, slap the sides, and scream to be released, the MRI doesn't produce a very good result. So today I went in for my MRI, they administered the valium and sent me through the tube. I was a model patient, me and my valium. We laid there like we were dead.

Now let's discuss the super cool picture. I think I've discovered the problem in my brain already. Please look kind of in the center of the thing. Do you see the alien crawling into my brain? One leg is down, the other all ready boosted inside, and this creature is crawling inside my brain. I'm pretty sure that's what that is. No wonder I have migraines. There is an alien residing in my brain.

Anyway, I'm awake now. The valium has totally worn off, I swear.

This is valium. This is your brain on valium. Any questions?