Migraine

Starting a new thread so it doesn't get too long.

Had a tough time yesterday. Felt like a pinball richoceting between self-pity, rage, fear and despair. The mig roller-coaster was definitely worse than usual. "Stop the ride, I want to get off!"

I spoke to a friend about it just now, who said many good things, including:

POUR ON SELF-LOVE

SURRENDER MORE

TRUST

I especially like the first one. I get an image of pouring maple syrup on pancakes! Pour on the self-love. Do something extra nice to help you feel better. Whether it's chocolate (for me), chicken soup, a bath, a favorite afghan, daytime TV, trashy novel, good novel, crossword puzzle, flowers, gardening, making a fire in the fireplace or fire pit, whatever is something nice that you enjoy.

And the mig has already recurred today, earlier than usual again. Just like yesterday, my head was already hurting when I got up. It felt like the outside of my brain or the inside of my skull was bruised and painful, a very distinctive feeling, the same both days.
I'm starting a Medrol dose pack today. I'm also counting the hours to make sure I don't go status migrainous.

I'm seeing my mig specialist a week from Monday and will ask him about a consultation with one of the other two top specialists in the area. That's the hope I'm hanging onto at the moment, to get me through this. One day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time.

Thank you, universe, for listening.

LauraSue,

I'm sorry you are going through a rough time with your migraines. I know it is no fun. I wish there was some magic word or pill to make it all go away.

Here's some . I'll be praying for you. Hang in there.

Now that's a spiffy list, Laura Sue. I'm gonna add this one...

COLLECT GOOGOBS AND GOOGOBS O' BEARHUGS FROM MY FORUM FAMILY.

There. That's better.

quote:

Originally posted by LauraSue:
Starting a new thread so it doesn't get too long.

Had a tough time yesterday. Felt like a pinball richoceting between self-pity, rage, fear and despair. The mig roller-coaster was definitely worse than usual. "Stop the ride, I want to get off!"

I spoke to a friend about it just now, who said many good things, including:

POUR ON SELF-LOVE

SURRENDER MORE

TRUST

I especially like the first one. I get an image of pouring maple syrup on pancakes! Pour on the self-love. Do something extra nice to help you feel better. Whether it's chocolate (for me), chicken soup, a bath, a favorite afghan, daytime TV, trashy novel, good novel, crossword puzzle, flowers, gardening, making a fire in the fireplace or fire pit, whatever is something nice that you enjoy.

And the mig has already recurred today, earlier than usual again. Just like yesterday, my head was already hurting when I got up. It felt like the outside of my brain or the inside of my skull was bruised and painful, a very distinctive feeling, the same both days.
I'm starting a Medrol dose pack today. I'm also counting the hours to make sure I don't go status migrainous.

I'm seeing my mig specialist a week from Monday and will ask him about a consultation with one of the other two top specialists in the area. That's the hope I'm hanging onto at the moment, to get me through this. One day at a time, one hour at a time, one minute at a time.

Thank you, universe, for listening.

Droolie, you always make me smile! So sorry to hear about your mom. That's so awful. Even tho treatments have improved so much in the past 10-20 years, it's still no day at the beach. My thoughts and prayers and lots of hugs are with her and with you.

So my mig came back again yesterday. I've lost track but I think that's three days in a row (I have it written down in the other room, but I'm not getting up to go look.) And I resisted it with all my might. I refused to admit it and refused to take an Imitrex for two whole hours. Man, I'm not doing that again! Wow, my head hurt. I guess I needed to see just how much the Imitrex helps and just how bad I'd feel without it. OMG. I worship at the altar of Imitrex now and will never doubt it again.

And the emotional rollercoaster was fun too. NOT. It just seems like I get a migraine every day now, no matter what I do. That's not actually true, it just feels that way. I'm seeing my mig specialist a week from Monday and I'm asking for a referral for a second opinion. So I'm taking care of myself rationally. But irrationally, I'm so discouraged that I think it's easier for me emotionally if I just assume I'm going to get a mig every day for the rest of my life!! (Yes, dears, I know that's not likely and there's lots of preventives left to try. I said it was irrational and it is!) That way when I don't get one I can be pleasantly surprised.

I'm also about ready to start counting just pain-free hours in a day, rather than pain-free days. Get as much as I can done when I'm pain-free so that I can just go to bed when the pain hits until it stops. For example, yesterday I was pain free from the time I got up at 10:30am until the mig hit at 4:30pm, so that's 6 hours, right? Did I do the math right or is my daine bramage showing?! Then I was pain free from 8:30pm til I fell asleep at 12:30am, so that's another 4 hours. So I had 10 good hours yesterday! YAY!!!!!

As they say, whatever gets you through the night...or day! Anyway today I'm doing as much nothing as possible because we have theater tix tonight. It will be my first outing since um, last, um Thursday last week? Yes, that's right, I haven't been out of the house. No wait, Sat we took a quick walk to see the tulips. So if I make it to theater tonight that will be my first time out of the house since Saturday.

It is what it is. So far today 5 hours pain free. YAY!!

LauraSue my dear -

Enjoy every one of those pain-free hours to the utmost. Be like my daughter was when she was an infant with colic - she cried from 4 pm to midnight, but was completely happy the rest of the time. Your opportunity to live in the moment!

to you. I wish I could give you more. I love your comfort list - do not begrudge yourself one bit of it.

- Megs

LauraSue,

I love your list! So many great ideas to help you get through the day. I'm sorry your migraines have taken a turn for the worst. But, I'm happy to hear your appointment is coming up soon.

I hope you get to the theater tonight

I know how you feel. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed....

Thanks, Meg, Laura and Nancy!

Yes, I did make it to theater. Mig hit during first act, so took my Imitrex at intermission. Got home, grabbed an ice pack, took another Imitrex and went to bed.

Feeling better today. Completely pain free 9-12pm. Head's been hurting a little since then but not mig yet. But will be any minute. Got some stuff done this morning, so deck's are cleared for whatever my head decides to do this afternoon.

So we'll see what time today's mig hits. And how long the pain lasts afterward. Yesterday was 10 hours pain free, YAY!!!

No reason to leave the house until Wed for my weekly therapy appt. Would be nice if I got at least one mig-free day but I'm certainly not counting on it.

One week and two days to mig specialist appt and request for second opinion. Seems like everything we've tried to help has made them worse instead. Argggh.

SURRENDER MORE!

It is what it is. And there is some sort of reason for it even if I cannot see what that reason is.

TRUST that that is true.

That's all for today. Later.

Well, amazingly enough I didn't get a mig today. I'm astonished. My head was hurting slightly all afternoon, and DH and I even watched an hour of TV together.

No mig. I got a break today. Thank you universe!

LauraSue,

I'm so happy you made it to the theater! What a great way to spend a nice evening out.

Even better news, at least in my humble opinion, is that you were migraine free yesterday. I hope this is the start of a new trend for you...more days pain free! I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed for you sweetie

Hey, Laura, thanks so much for your reply. I wish I could believe this was the start of some improvement, but I've been fooled so many times before I just don't want to get my hopes up. So I'll let you get your hopes up for me, okay??!! I really appreciate it, hon.

So, no mig yesterday, but feeling TOO good today, full of energy, getting more done in an hour than I usually do in a day. This is not good because it's my prodrome pattern, so the beastie is probably going to bite any minute now.

When I was still working, I used to get so frustrated because I couldn't ever seem to get enough work done to keep up with everything. I was actually seeing a psychiatrist and working on my procrastination issues, my self-sabotage issues, stuff like that. Then every once in a while I would have a super high-energy day where I got an amazing amount done and effortlessly. I would then say if only I could have that good a day the next day I'd feel like I was making some progress. But the next day would inevitably be a low-energy, can't-concentrate, nothing accomplished kind of day.

Now it's obvious that the good days were prodrome and the bad days the next day were migraine days or postdrome. I never made the connection between headaches and energy level until I started the mig diary and read so many books on mig.

All that time I thought I was neurotic, I was just having migraines. It had nothing to do with my childhood, my issues with my father, anything. I sure could have saved a lot in therapy bills!

Well my head's starting to hurt so that's it for today.

Thanks for listening.

I'm astonished, puzzled and of course delighted, because I made it two days without a mig. That's the first time since late March. I felt like I was getting one yesterday but it never hit. Same thing today. I feel like I'm close to getting one, but so far so good.

It's possible that the daily Frova treatment is finally paying off. My menstrual hormones are certainly back to their pre-Oct pattern. The warmer drier weather certainly helps. April was a bad month because I tried to go off the Elavil (never again!). So I suppose it's possible that I'm finally going to see some improvement.

But if I get my hopes up I'll just be bitterly disappointed again. So I'm going to try very hard to just take the past two days as an unexpected gift and to back to assuming that the only question each day is not whether I'll get a mig, but when.

Okay, off to get an icepack and lie down.

That's good news that you've been monster-free for 2 days! I hope it kees this up!

Gretchen in Mississippi

Thanks, Gretchen, but no such luck. Mig hit about 4pm. So much for "cured."

I've done the first Imitrex, now I have a few minutes to post and read and stuff before I take the second one. Got to fit my life in around the migs. Got to assume they're a daily occurrence and not wait til I'm "better" to do stuff.

Doctor's appt tomorrow, mammogram, so that guarantees a recurrence tomorrow. Wed I canceled my shrink because traffic is going to be snarled up due to rallies in midtown. So I'll be coming off a two day.

okay, gotta get busy. Later.

Okay, made it through second Imitrex. Another hour quiet then I can get busy again. So pain free til 4 is 5 hours pain free so far. 8-10pm maybe, we'll see.