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.

 

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.

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!!!