Migraine Momma
Thursday, April 17, 2014
Social Anxiety
I was always a social person – all through High
School, College, throughout my career, which included living in two other
countries. I always looked forward to
spending time with other people whether it be a one-on-one get together or a
large social gathering such as a party or weekend outing. That’s why it seems so strange to have to
come to grips with my new situation. I
hate to say I have “social anxiety” because in my heart I still look forward to
going out and being with other people. However,
I have this constant fear of what the situation is going to be like. Will there be lots of people and therefore
possibly too much noise? Will there be
music playing (even if just in the background)?
Will it be hard to concentrate with too many things going on at the same
time? Will there be lots of bright
lights? Will there be lots of windows
allowing in sunlight? Will anyone be
wearing perfume? Will the people I’m with understand if I need to leave early
or put on sunglasses or do something else that is out of the ordinary? When I’m at home I can control my
environment. When I’m out in the elements
it’s out of my control and I feel defenseless to my migraines. However, I refuse to cower to my migraines so
I will push forward & continue to try and venture out.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
The Witching Hour of Migraines
Have you ever heard of the witching hour in relation
to babies? It’s usually between 5pm and
their bedtime or just the evening in general.
It’s when babies are fussy and you try everything to make them
happy.
Well, I have a witching hour of migraines! When I worked FT I always went to the gym during my lunch hour around 11am and ate right afterwards. Once my migraines turned chronic, I noticed that I always started to feel bad sometime between 11am and 1pm. At first, I thought it was due to my workout or something I ate or something I didn’t eat. Now I generally have pain all the time no matter the time of day, but they still tend to get worse between 11am and 1pm. So, I’ve termed it my witching hour. I do everything to try and make my migraines happy – I drink extra water, stop any activity that I think may be aggravating them, drink a caffeinated beverage, eat something warm and soothing. If you’ve ever suffered from migraines, you know how it is – you’re constantly wondering what could be causing the pain. Is it something you did, something you didn’t do? The questioning can drive you insane alone. There really is no answer. I’ve had chronic migraines for about 2 years now and no matter what I do, my witching hour is still about 11am-1pm. Some days I sail right through and for those days I’m always grateful. But for those other days when the witching hour persists – no matter the fact I know the outcome, I try everything in my power to keep the extra pain at bay.
Well, I have a witching hour of migraines! When I worked FT I always went to the gym during my lunch hour around 11am and ate right afterwards. Once my migraines turned chronic, I noticed that I always started to feel bad sometime between 11am and 1pm. At first, I thought it was due to my workout or something I ate or something I didn’t eat. Now I generally have pain all the time no matter the time of day, but they still tend to get worse between 11am and 1pm. So, I’ve termed it my witching hour. I do everything to try and make my migraines happy – I drink extra water, stop any activity that I think may be aggravating them, drink a caffeinated beverage, eat something warm and soothing. If you’ve ever suffered from migraines, you know how it is – you’re constantly wondering what could be causing the pain. Is it something you did, something you didn’t do? The questioning can drive you insane alone. There really is no answer. I’ve had chronic migraines for about 2 years now and no matter what I do, my witching hour is still about 11am-1pm. Some days I sail right through and for those days I’m always grateful. But for those other days when the witching hour persists – no matter the fact I know the outcome, I try everything in my power to keep the extra pain at bay.
Wednesday, March 19, 2014
Getting Reacquainted with Pain
On day 12 after my first Botox treatment I went
virtually pain free for three glorious days.
It wasn’t until the third day that I truly realized – “Wow, I feel
great!” I just went about my days and was
happy with everything I could do without having to rest, medicate, shut the
blinds, etc. Then, on day 15 I went
back to what had become my normal state of being. However, it seemed to hit me like a ton of
bricks – as if I’d forgotten how to live with chronic pain. It was shocking to me how quickly I seemed to
forget how to handle even just a moderate amount of pain. I remember that morning I woke up and the
sunlight hit my face as soon as I entered the living room. I scrambled to shut the curtains and get to
the coffee maker. All day I just kept
waiting to feel better. I never got
super sick, but had a moderate steady level of pain all day. That’s how I have lived each day for the past
2 ½ years with the exception of a few glorious months while pregnant. Even though I had been in that state many
times before, I just couldn’t understand it.
I have had good and bad days since having the Botox, but somehow no
matter how many good days/moments I have, that pain when it returns to its
normal levels is shocking to my system.
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Let There Be Light
I’m on my third day in a row of a very low pain
level. And to be honest, I’m not really
in pain, I just still mark it on my scale of 1-10 because I’ve still had some sensitivities
and issues. However, in the big scheme
of things I have felt great for the last 3 days. I haven’t had to take any meds, lay down or
use ice. Last night, I even caught
myself saying, “It’s dark in here, we need to turn on some lights!” That’s a VERY rare statement for me as I am normally
the one turning off all the lights.
Today I was able to open some blinds and even sit outside. I still wore sunglasses while outside, but I
wasn’t squinting behind those sunglasses.
I can’t even begin to describe the elation I feel
for how well I’m feeling. Unless you’ve
been in pain for as long as I have been and tried the number of medicines,
treatments, supplements, etc. I’m just not sure one can truly understand. I didn’t sleep well at all last night and
woke up early unable to go back to sleep.
Normally by noon I would have been medicating or having to lie
down. It’s 8pm and I’m still going
strong. Of course I’m tired and have
that kind of hungover feeling when you just haven’t gotten enough sleep, but I’ll
take that ANY day over having chronic migraines!
I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch,
but today it’s been two weeks exactly since I had my first Botox
treatment. I’m hoping this reprieve from
pain is not short lived and I can begin to enjoy my life fully again. I have so many things I want to do…but that’s
another blog post. For now – Let there
be light!!!
Tuesday, February 25, 2014
Today's the Day!
So today is the day that everything could change…or
stay the same. I’m getting my first
treatment of Botox for my chronic migraines.
It’s possible that it will take a couple of rounds of Botox before I
notice any difference. (Botox can only
be given every 3 months) I always prefer
to err on the side of optimism though. I
don’t want to put all my eggs in one basket, but I’m hopefully optimistic that
I’m soon going to be on the road to some kind of recovery from the chronic daily
pain that has marred my life for the past few years.
In just one hour from now I will be sitting in front
of my Doctor allowing him to inject me 31 times with a needle all over my
forehead, head and neck in the hopes that this “celebrity drug” is the answer I
needed. A few years ago I abhorred any
type of shot. When I first started
having to go to my Doctor for an emergency shot of meds to help with my
migraine pain, my husband always went with me and held my hand. Now after all the numerous
injections/procedures I’ve had – countless blood draws, near daily IV
treatments for 3 weeks to help with migraines, a c-section to deliver my son, I
know I can do this! Ideally, I’d have my
husband with me to hold my hand through the pain, but he’s going to watch our
son. Having our son at home, on his
schedule in a comfortable setting will give me peace of mind. I know this is going to hurt, but I truly
believe in mind over matter! I don’t
meditate or anything like that, but I’m hoping as long as I go into this with
positive thoughts I can get through it.
I CAN do this!
Monday, February 24, 2014
To Botox or Not to Botox
About a year after I was diagnosed with migraines,
my husband and I decided we wanted to try and treat my migraines as naturally
as possible. I started seeing one of the
only Naturopaths in my city and followed every recommendation she suggested –
from taking Vitamin D (apparently I’m deficient)to yeast pills to restore my
gut to completely abstaining from corn and dairy (a special food allergy test
showed I was allergic). Even once I
started at the Headache Clinic we tried to treat it as naturally as possible as
the Doctors were aware I was anti-medicines.
I started taking high doses of magnesium and tried almost every
supplement that’s ever been known to help migraines. Finally, the one thing that took away my
migraines completely (although temporarily) was being pregnant! About 5 months into my pregnancy, my
migraines disappeared. It was a magical
time! Unfortunately, they came back 3
days after my son was born. After that,
I was willing to try any medicine they’d give me just to get rid of the
pain. Several pills and attempts later,
I’m still in chronic migraine mode. So
now my Doctors have suggested Botox. If
someone had asked me two years ago about Botox, I would have said NO WAY. I don’t like the idea of a bunch of chemicals
being pushed into my body without long term studies being done about the
effects. However, I’m in pain every day
and some days it’s unbearable. I want to
be a good wife, I want to be a good Mom, I want to be a good ME! I figured it’s worth a shot – 31 shots to be
exact!
Saturday, February 22, 2014
Waiting To Feel Good
I’m sure a lot of people can sympathize with this
feeling whether it’s while struggling with a cold or also a chronic pain
condition. Frequently I feel like I’m in
a holding pattern – circling the activity I want to do – just waiting to feel
better so I can actually do it.
Activities such as cleaning house, cooking dinner, grocery shopping, or
going to the gym are generally “tasks” for most of the population. When you don’t feel good though, it becomes a
mountainous task. Today I put on my yoga
pants at 10am. It’s 1pm now and as I
walked into the bedroom to put on my socks & shoes I decided to blog
instead of putting them on. I wipe my
eyes, rub my head, take a deep breath – think good thoughts. Some days I can push through, but when every
day you have to push through just to get any kind of task completed it can
begin to feel overwhelming. I may or may
not end up at the gym today, time will tell.
Some days are better than others.
Let’s hope this is going to end up being one of the better ones.
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