Return of the Migraine
Thought I was over the worst of it yesterday when I posted. But that’s the most evil thing about migraine. You think it’s on the wane, but really it’s just falling back to gather its resources so that it can attack you again with redoubled fury. So obviously, when I posted yesterday, I was in the “eye of the hurricane.” And coming through the other wall is no picnic.
I suspected trouble was brewing when I got back from lunch. I sat down at my desk to begin work, and noticed the little c-shaped blank spot was back. Only reversed this time. I grabbed a Maxalt, because I knew if I could head it off, it wouldn’t be so bad. The C-shape grew and grew, and pretty soon, I could hardly see anything but this annoying, sparkling ring. At 3:30, I turned off the light in my office. That helped a little. At 3:45, I turned off the light in the hallway. That helped, but then people started coming to ask what was going on and why was I working in the dark. Including my supervisor, who asked the obvious question, “Why don’t you just go home?”
Well, let’s see. I’ve used up every bit of my leave time this year (thanks to the foot surgery), so it would be unpaid leave. I have a lot of catch up work to do in addition to the regular tasks that keep coming in each day. And I have several urgent projects on my plate that really need to be finished already. I told her I’d leave as soon as I finished making the travel reservations that I was in the middle of. And I did, too. At 4:20.
I went straight to the guest bed at Mom’s again. (Remember, it’s closer than home. And the kids are there while I am at work.) Slept from 4:30 to 7:00. Took the kids home and lay down while they bathed and got ready for bed. No story last night … my head was pounding too hard, and I was nauseated and just generally “ooky” feeling. Tucked everyone in at 9:00. (No headers off the top bunk, thank goodness.)
I couldn’t get to sleep. At 10:30, I got up and filled the tub with hot water and poured in half a box of Epsom salts. Soaked for fifteen minutes, then went back to bed. Slept for maybe an hour. Woke up again at midnight and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I ran another hot bath, and this time I poured in half a jar of BeautiControl’s Spa Minerals. Also took down my hair and submerged myself completely in the hot water. Soaked for 15 minutes, wrapped my dripping hair in a spa turban thingy, and went back to bed. This time, I managed to get to sleep for a good, long time. I was not happy when the alarm when off at 6:30 and I had to think about getting up. (Also my hair looked really odd after being twisted up in a turban all night long while it dried.)
I’m here at work. Going very slowly. I’m still shaky, and my eyes drift in and out of focus. When I sneeze or cough, it feels like my brain is being hurled against a concrete wall. I’ve eaten 8 oz. of tomato soup and 16 oz. of beef and vegetable soup in the last 24 hours. This is not the way I want to lose weight. Mainly, I just hope I can make it for a full, eight-hour day at the office today. If I can do that, I’ve accomplished something.
1 Comment
editormum, migraines, that word. I am so sorry.
Mine are decades gone but new vicious full facial sinus headaches are showing up, like tonight or rather today. Right front brain and eye.
I tried all of my tricks and nada. Pity gets an old woman nowhere, so I am up and doing things rather than trying to sleep but not being able, which drives me mad.
As a child, I used to pitiously make noise when Mom explained about the neighbor’s migraines and requested silence in the garden, please, when I was young, until the third grade in school, when I suddenly got them myself.
This was in the 50’s when it was considered a product of my female imagination and a desire for attention. As I felt it gathering, I would hope for death and not another day of migraine as they made me stay in class, hold my head up as it sank to hide my eyes from the light and sounds, sit up and participate. Actually, if someone would have just killed me back then, I would have thought them a saviour.
I pray for you and for your relief.
They, scientists, are busy working on some device which will, when touched to certain foods, tell you whether the food will trigger a migraine for you….hmmmmmmmm. I saw it online the other day.