My headache remedies

I've been a migraine sufferer for about 15 years. I have been through the phases of taking regular painkillers, prescription medication, identifying triggers, and taking preventative medication for the first few years. Bio-feedback was something that was suggested to me but I never tried it. I also did massages and acupuncture. After a point, I decided to ditch all medication and alternative treatments and learn how to live with and manage my headaches through lifestyle changes.

What type of migraines do I get?

Mine last for several days and involve heavy head and pain all over my head, visual aura and light sensitivity, neck pain and stiffness, occasional upset stomach and sometimes nausea. I also get what I call "frog eyes" where my eyes start to bulge and change shape a bit. On the cognitive side, I usually can continue to function well for important tasks that require my concentration. However, it's the simple decision-making that I struggle with - should we eat now or later? Should I go for a walk or rest? Things like that. It's hard to explain, but if an important work assignment or activity is going on, I can think through it 100% and work the same as I do without a migraine. It's the seemingly unimportant decision-making that screws me up. My aura consists of visual disturbances but I don't see blind spots or flashes of light. During the prodromal phase (the hours or day before the migraine starts), I feel unusually energetic or excited, along with a feeling of hygge.

What is the origin of my migraines?

Well, firstly, mine are genetic. My dad and many relatives on his side of the family are migraine sufferers. I watched my dad deal with them for decades. He treated his headaches by powering through with medication, both preventative and during a headache. He doesn't focus on food triggers which he finds too restrictive to be helpful. Both of these are things I am trying not to do.  I am trying not to take medication and to pay a lot of attention to what I eat. I do have to power through mine as well, though. There's a special kind of endurance that can only be attributed to migraine sufferers. Secondly, the onset of my migraines about 15 years ago happened during the first winter I spent in the US, in Texas. It could have been a combination of the change in food and the weather that brought it on.

What are my triggers?

Here is a list of all my triggers:
1. Food: cheese, red wine, avocados, lentils
2. Weather changes: a couple of days before the weather changes from sunny to cloudy, rainy or cold is usually my trigger point. Pressure changes in the weather might be the cause of this.
3. Stress release: I used to go through years of Saturday morning headaches since this was my stress release point. I also get triggered when any stressful event is eased up.
4. Sleep changes: sleeping more or less amounts than usual.
5. Stress: Goes with point #3, but this is too vague of a reason to be useful.
6. Menstrual migraines: these are easy because I know a cause and an end date for them and that I just need to power through the days in between.
7. Bright lights and strong smells: Ugh. Perfumes and bleach are both my nemeses. Malls aren't a place I ever want to go to.  Enough said.
8. Sometimes dehydration or forgetting to drink enough water during a hot day.

How do I treat my headaches?

Here is my step-by-step plan of dealing with chronic migraines.  These are steps I follow at the onset of a headache.

Step 1. Identify the trigger: Was it a food item? Weather change or other? Once I've done this, I can stop stressing about the question "Why did I get a headache?" and the dismayed feeling that comes along with it.

Step 2. Take some time in a quiet, dark room to recharge. Dim the lights in my home wherever possible.

Step 3. If it's early on in the headache, I sometimes take an Ibuprofen. I do this if I feel that the headache is going to be done and I can move on with my life. But I've tried to avoid pain medication as well.

Step 4. Warm water foot soak. I sometimes use epsom salts or a couple of drops of lavender oil in the bath. I occasionally do the foot soak with a cold pack on the back of my neck at the same time.

Step 5. Hot steamy shower to relax shoulders and neck and get moisture flowing through my sinuses.

Step 6. Yoga, especially for headaches. Alternate nostril breathing and neck stretches. Positions with head down. Improving overall circulation. Cat cow pose. I like to follow Yoga with Adriene's headache videos. Pranayama and shavasana.

Step 7. Rest but don't sleep too much.

Step 8. Drink lots of water for hydration

Step 9. Hot tea. I like to boil water with cumin seeds, ginger, pepper and turmeric, strain and drink. This clears out sinuses and nasal passages. I also inhale the steam of this tea while the spices are in the boiling water

Step 10. Some *weird* remedies, like garlic. I peel a clove of garlic, and chop it up into small pieces. Then I swallow them like pills with water.

Step 11: If it's possible to have caffeine, I drink a cup of coffee. This is only possible for me in the mornings though, due to my current sleep situation with my toddler.

Step 12: I "heal" myself or ask for healing through Reiki. This works for me. The way I do it for myself is to rub my hands together, then place my hands on the part of my body that is hurting. I visualize the pain draining out of my body and vanishing deep into the ground or far out into space. I also do this by walking on grass barefoot (grounding) or hugging trees and visualizing the negative energy leaving my body, and positive healing coming in. It's strange, but my hands are very receptive to this and I can feel warmth right away either from the trees or once I place my (mostly left) hand on an area I am trying to heal. This method has elements of Reiki, visualization, nurturing of self, and the law of attraction in it.


Rinse and repeat steps as needed.

What do I do to prevent migraines?

1. Eat a diet that avoids all triggers. I've even gone dairy-free and I think it helps.
2. Try to regulate stresses and take care of my general well being.
3. Daily yoga
4. Exercise with walks
5. Journaling and gratitude logs
6. Sunlight and Vitamin D
7. Pretend that the headache doesn't exist!
8. Drink coffee in the morning
9. Avoid harsh lights and smells
10. Drink lots of water
11. Listen to shoegaze! Such a perfect genre for migraine sufferers. Ha, you thought I wouldn't sneak that in somehow?!

What music may help?

Whatever you like, but for me it's something like this:

Slomo - by Slowdive


Give me your love, it's a curious love
Give me your heart, it's a curious thing
Our lady of the shipwreck is
Running thru the storm
Her skirts blown back, hands to the fore

My love and I go
It's a curious woe
Like dreamers at dawn
Awake but not yet
You give me your heart
It's a curious thing
Give me your love
It's a curious love

Transmission - what it means today

The word "transmission" could spark different thoughts in each of us. To me, it signifies transmission of electromagnetic waves from transmitter to receiver like in a radio or television, or Tx and Rx of packets from sender to receiver, also known as source to destination, in networks.

Today is the 18th of May and is significant to me because it is my grandfather's birthday. He was a big source of transmission of knowledge, life lessons and values to me. It is also the anniversary of Ian Curtis of Joy Division's passing, which brings the song "Transmission" to the forefront.

Transmission, as we are painfully aware of in today's world, refers to transmission of the virus from person to person, or community spread, the thing that the whole world is working on to combat. Transmission also brings to mind motor vehicle transmission to me, something my grandfather was passionate about. We happen to be working on getting one of our old cars operational again this week in time for a drive for my husband's birthday. It's another one of those examples of how everything in life is intertwined and related.

As for me, I am going to listen to Transmission by Joy Division on full blast, to try to drown out some of the voices of dissent for the world's lockdown, and focus on work today. I'm going to work on transmission of telemetry data. I hope to restart my yoga and go for a drive in honor of my grandfather. I am not going to stress about when I do it, but I know I will get to it soon. I suppose with this, I'll hit all modes of transmission this week.

About the lockdown, I still believe it was the right thing to do and for the most part was implemented well. I even believe it should continue until the testing and tracing is in place. I agree with how our governor Gavin Newsom has handled the crisis so far. My stressors are for the people that complain about it, and are not worrying about containing the virus. The ones that will go out without any precautions and put hundreds of others in harm's way. I shake my head at people's view of "freedom". It is almost as if people are fighting for their freedom to go out and get infected. They complain about not being able to buy clothes, not being able to eat at restaurants, and claim to want to support local businesses but are actually just bored. All of a sudden, mental health is becoming important to those who dismissed it before. They organize protests and petitions to protect our kids' mental health by doing drive by car parades, and give them the prom and graduation experience they deserve...aren't there other ways of taking care of our teenagers' and all of our mental health, that do not involve large gatherings?

At the core of all this, many are are realizing that their choice of place to live and their choice of profession is not compatible with the pandemic. They rant against the lockdowns, thinking that if only the lockdown is lifted they could have their old lives again. They regret shunning those "office jobs" in place of pursuing a freelance job. Their small businesses are sadly not sustainable during this time, and they are turning back to IT or office jobs that they don't enjoy. They are mad at "techies" for having those jobs...never mind that the tech industry is what is enabling the world to work from home, and remain connected through it all, even giving those very same people a platform to rant on. Besides, many "techies" put in decades of study and work to build these products, and often live in VHCOL areas with its own set of financial worries. Who is to say if this is temporary and those small businesses can thrive again, leading to a happy set of people? Who knows where the corporate world is headed? We don't even know how temporary or permanent these changes are going to be.

Many people think they are the only group who are wronged and want to "open up the economy". Sure, allowing people to shop, attend religious services, have social gatherings and eat at restaurants during a pandemic will definitely restore incomes to pre-pandemic levels. Not. How about we acknowledge that all of our professions are important? That we need small businesses, freelance jobs, the tech industry, construction, artists, retail, the service industry, as well as several more, to remain a fully functioning society? Besides, within every industry, there is such a broad range of people in it.

The feelings are real but the current state of affairs is just so unfortunate. I don't think that those who seem to be "less affected" are really privileged or spared from all this, to be honest. All of us worked towards and made choices that have landed us in perhaps differing circumstances. But even as well situated as a person may appear, they may still be affected by the virus or the pandemic in devastating ways. My hope is that everyone focuses on how we can actually contain the virus, and get from one day to the next as a society.

For today though, please listen to this song below very, very loud. Thank you!

Transmission - Joy Division

Radio, live transmission
Radio, live transmission
Listen to the silence, let it ring on
Eyes, dark grey lenses, frightened of the Sun

We would have a fine time living in the night
Left to blind destruction, waiting for our sight
We would go on as though nothing was wrong
Hide from these days, we remained all alone

Staying in the same place, just staying out the time
Touching from a distance, further all the time

Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio
Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance to the radio

Oh hey, it's May

I just realized that I hadn't posted at all this month. We are almost at mid-May. The past few weeks haven't been great, to be honest. We started working on getting our toddler to sleep through the night. With this neither my husband nor me have been sleeping well. He takes on night duty but gives the baby to me very early in the morning. I sleep pretty late by the time the house work is done and other kid is in bed. So in all, I don't get much sleep. Add in sleep deprivation for my husband in the day, and I am carrying an extra load there too.

Why are we still doing it? The only benefit we found is that toddler seems to be sleeping decently. He also doesn't need to be fed at night which is a big deal to me. My nursing cycle seems to have adjusted to this more or less. He also hasn't been complaining if my husband goes to him at night instead of me. So in all, maybe this is the best we can get with our kids being poor sleepers? I know, its the parents' fault and all that. But I guess this may be the best we can hope to achieve.

So that leaves us with some recovery to do. We are wondering what our nanny's return to work may look like, and when to safely do so in order for all parties to be comfortable with it. There's no good answer, and we've explored all the laws and benefits we may apply for as well. The short answer is that we need childcare at some point, so we can focus on our work and our health, but need to determine when we are willing to open ourselves up and her to that risk of resuming work. It all comes down to achieving that delicate balance between health, convenience and finances.

Mother's Day was nice. I got flowers from husband and daughter, and a little craft that she did. She sang me a song, we had ice cream together and played with the kids in the garden. Husband made a nice brunch of eggs, salad, toast and a dinner of thai curry chicken and rice. It was very special indeed.

Work awaits me, and I still have this big problem and question mark surrounding it on how I will take my career forward and whether I will be able to do so.

While I started off saying it hasn't been great, it has actually been quite alright. I haven't managed to do my daily yoga, which is why I might be feeling "off". We definitely had some good moments in there, including family walks, good weather, a few nights of good sleep in between and catching up with friends over the phone or video.

In other news, we had been enjoying Kraftwerk these past few days. My toddler got hooked to it, after I happened to play it one day. After a few days of listening to them on loop, we were sad to learn the news about Florian Schneider. I came across it in a post about Bowie, who was apparently good friends with them. We listened to Bowie's V-2 Schneider that evening to pay a tribute to both artists. Radioactivity is my toddler's current fave, and Autobahn seemed to be Bowie's. Such a mark some of these artists make on us. I first heard Kraftwerk at a magic show near my home in India when I was a teenager, where the magician did his thing to The Robot!

Gosh, now that I read these lyrics again, it is as if they were talking about Covid-19 here!

Radioactivity by Kraftwerk

Stop radioactivity
Is in the air for you and me
Stop radioactivity
Discovered by Madame Curie

Chain reaction and mutation
Contaminated population
Stop radioactivity
Is in the air for you and me

Radioactivity
Radioactivity