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
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