This week has mostly been characterised by a severe migraine, probably hormonally-triggered*, which started on Monday and was still reminding me of its existence on Friday afternoon. On Tuesday I attempted to function semi-normally with the aid of various drugs and Tiger Balm but – in retrospect – this was a mistake. The commute home was rather wobbly, to say the least. After forty odd years I should have learned that migraines do not care that I have things to do, and that they cannot be defeated by pretending they aren’t there like annoying people and housework.
By Wednesday morning I couldn’t move and spent the morning in bed under a pile of cats and in the hopes of being able to open my eyes without the light poking me in them every time I tried to see anything. By Thursday a tentative ceasefire was in place as long as I didn’t try and do anything silly, like move too fast.
Migraines, for those of you that don’t have them (you lucky things, you) are most definitely not headaches. You can do your very best to avoid them – my known triggers are lengthy exposure to fluorescent lights (including the ones in the meeting rooms at work), red wine, cheap dark chocolate, Gordon’s Pink Gin and strong cheese. Other triggers may be stress, hormones, tiredness or – you know – just existing so you can never guarantee that one won’t sneak up on you while your guard is down. They are characterised by fun things like severe throbbing pain, possibly on one side of your head only, nausea, visual disturbances, light sensitivity and laughing in the face of basic over-the-counter painkillers.
Sometimes, with ocular or retinal migraines, you get all the fun stuff but not the pain. If I’m awake I usually get about half an hour’s warning before the pain sets in, which – if I’m at home – allows me to take evasive action or try to head it off at the pass. However, if the migraine lands while I’m asleep and wakes me with pain it’s too late for that – this is apparently unusual, but no one bothered to tell my migraines that.
I spent a while seeing the Migraine Clinic, who suggested things like eating yoghurt or a banana before bed in case it was low blood sugar; prescribed fun drugs (one of which – a nasal spray based on ergotamine – had a lengthy list of side effects which included ‘death’), but who in the end weren’t very helpful. A nurse suggested coming off the pill, which may have incurred side effects like children which were not on the agenda at the time.
Over time they have reduced in frequency if not in severity (also they have increased in duration) so I have learned to live with them, to be careful with triggers and to keep in hefty stocks of anything that works. Yellow Syndol used to be the best, as it relaxed you so much that you slept through the worst of it. Now my mum and dad keep me stocked up with a French over-the-counter drug which is the relevant ingredient from yellow Syndol, as we discovered last year – but I can’t take it and work…..
I keep seeing an internet tip that either suggests a bag of frozen peas on the neck at the same time as putting your feet in hot water, or it may be hot water on your neck and your feet in a bag of peas, I can’t remember, but when the migraine toad hops into your head that’s just one too many things to try and manage.
*Now, I’m the first to admit that I have no proper idea how HRT works (magic, I think) but if this migraine is a result of all my hormones being replaced I think we may need to be worried….. no one needs a repeat of my teen years, I can tell you that without any fear of contradiction.
Things making me happy this week
- These daffodils opening for St David’s Day
- A gorgeous 20k walk in the frosty, misty forest on Saturday morning
- Coffee with Jill and Miriam on Sunday afternoon
- New curly haircut after the…
- ….baby cuddles with the twins (pre-haircut – typically it wasn’t looking quite as mad this afternoon despite being washed and left to its own devices)
- Deciding to frog the Hydrangea blanket I was making and turn it into a hexie cardigan instead, and turn the hexie cardigan I was making into something else. I know I’ll wear the Hydrangea colours!
- Many tiny granny squares completed
- Friday was the ninth anniversary of Ted and Bailey coming to live with us, or rather deigning to allow us to serve them as our feline overlords.
- The new series of Bergerac
This week, I hope, will be less painful and more productive….today I am off for a much shorter walk with Sue and the Bella-dog and I can foresee a nap…
Kirsty x
What I’ve been reading:
The Holly King – Mark Stay (I keep reading this series in the hope it will improve, but suspect after reading his ‘worked in publishing for EVER’ bio that he may not have got a contract on the strength of his writing, and certainly not on his dialogue. This is actually the better of his series, too. This is not saying a lot.)
Thud! – Terry Pratchett (Audible)
The Grand Illusion – Syd Moore
The Man in Black – Elly Griffiths
The Raging Storm – Ann Cleeves
What Kirsty did next 