Migraine

Yesterday was a fairly sucky day. I've been majorly stressing and this tends to mean that I get a bad headache. I have had headaches almost every day of my life that I can remember but usually I am able to go through and do what I need/want. However, every once in a while I just cannot function and get a migraine.

The first migraine I can remember was when I was five or six. I was on the top bunk of the bed I shared with my brother and I had a washcloth over my eyes. I could hear my brothers and my dad in the next room being very noisy, but I couldn't bring myself to move. While my headaches have been a constant in my life, migraines have come and gone. In middle school I seemed to have one every other day and often went to the hospital after all home remedies failed. I even spent a week in the hospital while they ran every test under the sun to see if they could find the cause. Nothing showed up.

I've gotten a better handle on them, but they still crop up once in a while. I have not had to go to the ER in years, but that head-caving-in feeling still comes around. If you have ever experienced one, you know what I mean.

When trying to get rid of a headache, I usually take the following steps:

• Big glass of water: dehydration is a common cause of headaches
• Soda or coffee: Caffeine (which is in many painkillers) sometimes knocks the pain out
• Breath of fresh air: Get outside
• Eat: Sometimes I forget. But seriously if I don't eat a headache soon follow. Even if it is just a spoonful of peanut butter, it might help.
• Move around:  while outside, walk around. Moving tense muscles helps.
• Take an over-the- counter: unless you are enjoying your pain. 

If those don't work and I do feel a migraine coming on I try to do:

• Lay down in a dark room: I hate sleeping a day away, but I hate headaches more
• Get a damp cool washcloth for you forehead: I don't know that this does anything, but my mom has always given me one when I have a bad headache and it makes me feel better.
• Meditation: I don't take this step seriously, but I try to use some meditation steps that have been passed on to me. I start by imagining that low light is filling up my body, starting with my toes and working my way up. And sometimes I picture cool water being poured over my brain. Basically anything to shut my brain down from obsessing about what the difference between "almost" and "not quite" or what my cat thinks when I am not home.
• Prescribed Meds: Basically my final step is to take something prescribed to me for migraines. This usually puts me in to a mini-coma and then hopefully my migraine is gone when I awake. 

Any tips out there that I am missing? 

I am feeling much better today and am looking forward to hopefully taking my little sister to the zoo.