I've head some pretty formal headaches in the past, but I think I had my first real, grownup migraine this weekend. I spent the day in bed, wishing for the escape of sleep, but tossing and turning because I kept being awakened by the annoying sound of a distant neighbor using a leaf blower for what seemed like eleven hours. I pulled the covers over my head, relishing in the darkness and muffled sound, but I quickly ran out of oxygen and eventually decided to take them off my head and live. When the leaf blower finally shut off, I was so happy that I almost cried. I laid my weary head on the pillow and tried to fall asleep, but was interrupted again by the sound of grass growing outside on the lawn. When I tuned out the sound of the grass through careful meditation, my ears began throbbing with the loud clash of dust particles hitting each other mid-air. And then, to add insult to injury, I felt a piercing sensation caused by the nails-on-the-chalkboard sound of the cotton balls in the bathroom drawer sitting next to each other in a pile. Light hurt my eyes and vomit threatened to interrupt every shift of my body. Ryan brought me migraine medicine and a drink. Max brought me my giant sunglasses. I wore them in the dark bedroom while I watched Fine Living Network for seven hours straight, composing imaginary hate mail to the cotton balls for their heartless disregard all the while.
Fine living, indeed.
Do you get migraines? What do they feel like to you?
Monday, November 9, 2009
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23 comments:
Migraines suck. They just do. I get all light & sound-sensitive & curse my very body for its mere existence. Add to that the fact that my crappy insurance doesn't cover the $25-a-pill medication that will actually stop said migraines, and you've got one happy camper here. I live off Excedrin lately.
I'm so sorry you had to have one. They bite.
I had to read this one to Isaac, since he is the migraine king. He agreed with everything you said- but he wanted to add that he feels like his head is splitting in half and he feels like taking a sledge hammer and smashing it so the pain will go away. I guess that would do it. Sorry to hear that you had such a bad one!
I have never had one, and I am SOOOOO grateful. I think I would want to die.
Wow. I'd tell you what mine have felt like, but your description far surpasses anything I think I could come up with! All I can say is that mine don't just make me want to vomit ... I actually do. No fun. And I've found that if I ever feel one coming on, the sooner I take steps to quell it, the better. Like drinking lots of water (not soda), doing neck stretches, and rubbing the back of my head and taking a nap as soon as I possibly can usually makes it so they never get to the Death to Cottonballs phase.
Sounds like a migraine. Mine come with an aura (flashing lights that start in the lower left quadrant of my vision and spread until they fill the peripheries). I once threw up 27 times in 12 hours from a migraine. I had another for several days and finally got rid of it by having a shot of Imitrix at the base of my skull. No fun.
I've learned that if I take two Excedrin for Migraines (not the regular kind) with a diet coke (I know, sounds crazy) as soon as I notice the aura, I won't get the full-blown headache. Even then, however, I'm wiped out for the rest of the day.
Mine were exercised induced, so now that I don't exert myself quite so much as my former crazy self did, I only get them once every few months instead of once a week.
Best of luck.
I'm so sorry. I think your graine is worse than migraine. Mine hurt. A lot. But I'm not usually down in bed for a day and only rarely feel nauseous. Mine feel like the worst sinus headache you can imagine, combined with a highly infected toothache and severe whiplash.
Immitrex has it's own side effects for me, but they are less painful, so I go with them whenever possible.
I am so sorry. I had my first migraine when I was 12 sitting in math class. I thought I was dying. I have suffered various degrees of them ever since. I'm pretty tuned into the signs these days and can generally chase them away at the first wavy line in my eyesight with a couple of excedrin and a large dose of caffeine in whatever form it is most readily available. I also use a couple of yoga poses that sometimes help ease the pain.
I have never had a grown up migraine, and I think I am pretty grateful. Seriously it sounds horrendous. I hope you are feeling better.
Shannon and I share similar symptoms: a spot in the vision that grows until it takes up the whole eye, then piercing pain. And like Alyssa, my first migraine came at age 12 in spanish class. I always sleep a minimum of 2 hours. The pain's not so bad after that unless I sneeze or move more quickly than a turtle. Or a sloth. But since I got polarized sunglasses I have not had a migraine. Going on 4 years now. Bless you.
Imagine that except your at school in your percussion class! we are playing on trash cans that day! i get blind spots and then tunnel vision! Then the splitting head ache came! I called my mom after class to discover she wasn't home, and did not have her cell phone! Then the nauseating feeling came! I sat through an hour of science before school was out, I got home after like an hour my mom came home! I then vomited and slept for 3 hours!
That was my first migraine! Thankfully I have only had one other one! Which wasn't as bad!
When I get migraines, Val always says "Everyone has a headache!" (In true "that side" of the family compassion.)
In hopes of replacing their oversized crumbling driveway before winter, my neighbors scheduled their demolition via jackhammer to go along with my migraine!
I sympathize with every one of your details! You hit the nail on the head!
I think I have had two - and they both sucked. They felt like my brain was ripping itself apart and there was much nausea and I am pretty sure I puked once...
I feel for you
Twice a month migraines for me, pretty dependable. (Most effective birth control ever.) With the nausea and splitting pain, I also get depressed. I do. And that's common, but it took me a long time to figure out that the depression was part of the migraine. So watch out for that. Excedrine migraine will take away the pain if I catch it early, but my head is still stuffed with cotton and my heart is still sad. My good friend Emily, with PhD in bio-chemistry, is looking for a cure. So keep your fingers crossed for her.
I'm sooo sorry...for a couple reasons. First, migraines suck and secondly, it was our leaf blower! But please promise NEVER to mention it to Brian. He only works in the yard maybe twice a year. I will not, I repeat, WILL NOT give him any reason and/or excuse to avoid any future yard work!
Actually, it's kind of a freak thing that you should get your first migraine on the only day of the year Brian does yard work!
That sounds just horrific! I hope you never have to go through that again.
Lame blower-man...let's get him!!
I have never had a migraine, thank goodness, but I have to say that my q-tips have kept me awake a few times. Usually after consuming copious amounts of lsd.
Kidding.
I am so sorry. Hopefully that first migraine is also your last. But just in case it's not - go to the doctor right now and get some real drugs, the good stuff. I'm a firm believer in drugs.
Such a beautiful and very painful paragraph. I have not ever allowed myself a migraine. Doesn't sound like any fun.
I am sooo sorry. I only get a migraine when I am really stressed out...which usually occurs around our end of year school program. The symptom I hate the worst is the tunnel vision! I have to lay down and keep my eyes closed or I go crazy.
I've never had a migraine but I had a your-graine after reading this post.
Wow what an awesome visualization! Your descriptions were amazing! I really feel like I have one. I think I should go lay down now.
i've only experienced what i THINK a migrane is once in my life. and it was PLENTY.
i love the thought of you, laying in the darkened bedroom, 1 large pair of sunglasses over your eyes.
i kinda wish you would have taken a photo.
There are some things that I shouldn't be laughing my head off about - and you having a migraine is right up there at the top! Maybe it is because I can't sympathize due the the lack of graine in my life, so here I am lauging at your pain. Oh, so terrible - someday I'll be nicer!
The first migraine I ever had was in the eighth grade, during one of those standardized tests. I thought I was going blind. I was scared to death--mostly that I was going to have to tell mom and dad that they have a blind son. Which is weird.
Fortunately, I think I kind of grew out of migraines. At least it's been a long time. But they are truly awful.
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