Take a Holiday From Headaches With Excedrin® Extra Strength, w/ $100 Amex Gift Card Giveaway & a Sweepstakes! #ad

December 2, 2013 by Mitch 1,152 Comments

Holidays are a great time of year, especially the end of year holidays! You work hard all year and then you have Thanksgiving, which most of us turn into a 4 day weekend, and then Christmas, which is almost a week and half off as many of us do not return to work until after New Years Day! And you get gifts!

We all look forward to the sights, smells, foods, beverages and merriment associated with the holiday season. However, sometimes the things we love the most about the holidays could trigger headaches. Awesome, right? But don’t forget there is massive amounts of cooking going on, the kids are on vacation and need to be entertained for longer than just the normal 2 day weekend, and gift giving can always turn into a “he or she got more than me” cry fest! My head hurts just thinking about it!

That’s why the makers of Excedrin® Extra Strength invite you to “Take a Holiday from Headaches” by following these simple steps, provided by Dr. Keri Peterson, M.D. to help avoid your triggers:

o Stick to your regular routine. Eating, sleeping and exercising as you do the rest of the year can help reduce the chances of getting a headache/migraine (courtesy of the Cleveland Clinic).

That is my struggle right there – I go to the gym every morning after I drop my son off at school. Maintaining my gym workout schedule during a 10+ day stay at home vacation is something that becomes a job unto itself. My son also stays up later, and meals are no longer on the schedule we maintain during the year. The entire apple cart is upset as the saying goes. So this is a great goal, to help to keep headaches at bay.

o Manage your time and plan ahead. Coordinate plans and responsibilities in advance with relatives and friends, compose set menus when hosting a party and try to purchase gifts early so you’re not rushing at the last minute (courtesy of the Cleveland Clinic).

My gift purchasing is mostly done before Thanksgiving. That helps relieve a lot of stress! In the early days of my marriage, my spouse would shop on December 24th. That is not pleasant! And making plans ahead of time for my active 10 year old son will certainly relieve the pressure of trying to figure out a days plans, when we usually don’t start the conversation about the day’s plans until noon!

o Stay in ventilated spaces. As you browse through the mall, watch out for those scented candles or perfume if you are sensitive to smells (courtesy of Headaches.org).

This I do anyway, but in our home we have to remember not to douse ourselves with cologne before we head to the relatives! The smell in the car from competing colognes can be instant headache inducers!

o Eat and drink in moderation. Eat, drink, and be merry, but try not to consume sweets or alcoholic beverages in excess, as they could trigger headaches (courtesy of Headaches.org).

Holiday time can also mean lots of traveling, so be sure to carry Excedrin® Extra Strength with you when you’re on the go for fast relief should a headache or migraine strike.

With all of the stress that can come with the holidays, the makers of Excedrin® are hoping to help alleviate some! Visit Facebook.com/Excedrin between now and January 1, 2014 to enter the “Take a Holiday from Headaches” sweepstakes, where you’ll be eligible for a chance to win daily prizes including gift cards to popular retailers and one lucky grand prize of $25,000 to help with shopping, travel and other holiday expenses – all of which can give anyone a headache. See official rules: https://excedrinhosweeps.icgrouplp.com/OfficialRules.aspx

It has taken me many years to learn to eat in moderation. I come form a family that when you ask how a meal was, they say, “we got a lot.” So I was raised in a home where meal success was measured by how much you ate, not how tasty the food was! The pain of a distended stomach is no longer fun at my age, so I finally learned, less is more.

Do you travel with a small size of Excedrin® Extra Strength in your bag? We have it in our day bag, we don’t wait for holiday travel to first pack that important item!

GIVEAWAY:

One lucky reader of the GayNYCDad award winning blog, will receive a $100 American Express Gift Card courtesy of Excedrin® Extra Strength!

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Extra entries:
1. Follow me on twitter www.twitter.com/gaynycdad (click above right).
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3. Retweet this info (you can use the tweet button at the bottom of the post) and leave me a comment with a link to your retweet.
4. Retweet daily and leave a comment daily that you have done this.
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You must leave a separate comment in the comments field for each entry that you make to be entered! If you are already any of these things, to enter just leave a separate comment reminding me of that! Contest ends midnight, December 22, 2013. Prizes must be claimed within 48 hours. Maximum winnings of 2 giveaways per every 90 days. See official rules for more information.

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Thanks and good-luck.

Disclosure: I am a paid Excedrin® Extra Strength Blog Ambassador. Compensation has been provided by Novartis Consumer Health, Inc., the makers of Excedrin® Extra Strength; my journey for a headache-free experience is my own!