Let There Be Light #NMAM #NMAMBC

To say I'm light sensitive would be a huge understatement. The sun is my enemy, my nemesis, the harsh unavoidable environmental hurdle I have to cope with each and every day.

I do get that the sun is such a vital part of sustaining life on this planet. We need it for food and nutrients and, well, life. I'm glad the sun exists and all, but boy does it cause my head some big trouble.

These are the things I do to lessen the impact the sun has on my head:
 - Wear dark sunglasses and hats
 - Use room darkening curtains
 - Avoid doing anything that puts me in direct sunlight for extended periods of time.

But the sun is only part of the problem. My light sensitivity frequently involves indoor offenders like the TV, computer screen and plain old-fashioned lights. Lessening their impact is a little easier. I've done things like:
 - Put low wattage light bulbs in all our fixtures
 - Lowered the level of brightness on the TV and computer screens
 - Design the lights to be mostly ambient
 - And sometimes just escape under a blanket to avoid the light all together

National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com.

Migraine Theme Song #NMAM #NMAMBC

When I think of a theme song, I think of something upbeat and positive, something inspiring and hopeful, yet rooted in truth. Perhaps because of all the Ally McBeal I watched back in the day. 

Trying to find a theme song for migraines has been a lot of fun. I considered some Bijork, Madonna, Beatles and Brian Adams but none were quite right. I ended up choosing the first song that came to mind when I started thinking about it: George Harrison's "Got My Mind Set On You." 

Some of you may remember this late '80s hit by the former Beatle. As much as I love the song, the video is just as much a part of why I chose this as my migraine theme song. Take a look at this great video while keeping in mind that "you" is perhaps the migraines.

I've always thought this was a fun video and a fun song. I love the crazy set with all the dancing props and pets. And when I watched it in the context of migraines I felt like it really hit the nail on the head. I often feel like my head is like that set where things are kinda crazy and don't make sense. The often repeated lyrics about "IT" taking a whole lot of spending money and precious time to get it right - well I think we can all attest to how much time and money it takes to try to manage our migraines.

Best of all, it makes me smile. It's a positive and hopeful, catchy and fun.

What do you think - does it fit?

"National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com."

Comfort or Something Close #NMAM #NMAMBC

Comfort is hard to come by these days, especially when having a migraine. But it is in these times of pain when seeking comfort is never more important. Even though true comfort may not be achieved, doing whatever I can to mitigate it certainly does make a difference.

The comfort measure I turn to time and time again is retreating to a migraine friendly space. This includes:
- room darkening curtain
- my basket of meds
- pillows and blankets on comfy furniture
- Netflix at low volume and dimmed on TV
- room temperature water
- looking at my cute pet bunny doing his bunny activities

This migraine friendly space I've created is all about blocking out the things that make the pain worse, creating all kinds of soft support for my body so it can relax as much as possible and, of course, distracting myself with light-hearted shows. This combination has worked quite well over the years. Honestly I can't imagine doing anything else during my rough days.

"National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com."

Summer Fun? #NMAM #NMAMBC

If you're anything like me the long, bright, hot, humid days of summer present all kinds of challenges when all you want to do is have some fun. The very nature of these activities (BBQ, beach/pool day, picnic, outdoor patio, concert/festival, vacation, etc.) make managing my pain extremely difficult - well impossible.

The problem is really two fold. First, all that hot sun and humid air changes the pressure in my head, which jump starts a migraine. Couple that with being out in the bright sunlight, which causes enough strain in my eyes to really galvanize that migraine. Second, doing these things disrupts the routines I have in place making it difficult to maintain the delicate balance that help optimize my comfort. For example, keeping hydrated, eating the right kind of foods, taking all my vitamins/medications at the right time and moderating my activity level all become nearly impossible.

Like everyone else, I still want to have some fun over the summer. I want to socialize with my friends and family, but these days all plans for fun are coupled with varied levels of anxiety. I worry about having a really bad migraine before I go that prevents me from participating at all. I worry about getting a migraine during and what my escape plan will be. I worry about ruining a good time my husband or others might be having. I worry that I'll be judged by my brain fog or muted affect - after all I don't look sick (sarcasm).

Being well prepared for any summer activity helps me to mitigate the inevitable anxiety.
-resting beforehand
-taking a bottle of water with me
-wearing a hat and dark sunglasses
-planning for recovery time afterward

After moving closer to family and friends last summer, I found that these things I used to do were no longer going to be enough. These days our plans often involve many more people than when we lived far from home. This summer I'm going to add some new strategies. There are some activities that just no longer sound like any fun such as going to outdoor concerts or shows. Fortunately my husband doesn't enjoy these kinds of activities so we just won't do them. Other activities still sound like fun but I know I can only handle them for shorter periods of time, such as BBQs or picnics. There is no reason we can't go and have fun but I will need to be able to get out of the sun and we need communicate that I can't participate in something like this for extended periods of time. (plus I'll need to eat in advance and have food available after because BBQs are not designed for vegetarians like myself).

Hopefully by the end of this summer I'll be able to better manage summer fun. What are your strategies?

"National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com."

Trigger Trouble #NMAM #NMAMBC

Identifying, managing and avoiding triggers are supposed to be a big part of managing and avoiding migraines. Sounds easy enough, right?

Well, not always. I've spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out what my triggers are in hopes that I can cut down on the severity and frequency of my migraines. Through this process I learned that my biggest trigger is living. The very fact that I'm alive in this world is enough of a reason for my head to whirl out of control and take me down.

Either everything can trigger my migraines, or nothing triggers my migraines. Honestly, I am not sure which it is. Any strong smells, sounds, bright lights, too much movement, not enough movement, anything that puts pressure on my head or neck, not enough sleep, too much sleep, too much activity, reading too long, having long conversations, bending down too much, basically life is one big trigger. And it is impossible to avoid.

I am attempting to manage it though. The idea is to practice moderation and pacing. It is this practice that is the real challenge. Life speeds up and slows down. Things happen that you can't plan for. That's life. Even under the best of circumstances this practice is a challenge to my natural tendencies and habits. Add in any kind of change and all sense of pacing and moderation go out the window.

As much as I wish I could impart some wisdom as to how it's done, I'm not exactly the post child for a balanced migrainista - at least not yet. The biggest thing I'm doing right, at this time, is keeping at it with the hope that one day I'll get the hang of it.

"National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com."

Magic Understanding Tea #NMAM #NMAMBC

If I were to invite someone to join me for a magical blend of tea that made them capable of understanding what it's like to live with chronic migraines...well, who would it be? At first I was trying to decide which family member I most wish could understand, but then I got to thinking bigger. I wondered who had the most power to impact the lives of all of us living with chronic debilitating migraines. 

Who indeed. 

Honestly, I don't know who that would be. As I sat tossing around various ideas in my head I began to feel overwhelmed. Time to stop over thinking this and just pick someone in my life. 

I decided to invite my mother-in-law to tea. Like many family member she doesn't really know much about migraines but really wants to be helpful. She is always trying to solve the problem for me. She wants me to try all kinds of things that I've already tried. I know it all comes from a place of love but she wants me to try all these things again with the people other people tell her about. She always says, "it doesn't hurt to try." 

The nature of her position as my mother-in-law makes it difficult to do anything but agree with her once the conversation reaches that point. I guess I want her to understand chronic migraines more than anyone else in my life because her misunderstanding produces the most stress for me. She is a big part of our life and I would love it if she could be on the same page regarding my migraines. 

"National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com."

My First Migraine #NMAM #NMAMBC

This year I've decided to participate in the Migraine Awareness Month, Blogging Challenge. Meaning, each day this month I'll be posting according to the prompts. The challenge is a bit daunting as June promises to be a busy month and one during which I won't have the comfort of my usual routine. But here it goes.

Today I'm going to share the story of the first migraine I remember having. I say the first one I remember because I was quite young when I started having migraines (some 25 years ago) so I can't be certain this was my first. It was just the first one I remember and likely the first really horrible one.

I was 8 or 9 years old and hadn't felt well throughout the school day. By the time I got home, I was in so much pain I drew the shades in my bedroom, crawled into bed, pulled the covers over my head and tried to keep as still as possible. The pain so intense nothing I did helped. I remember being so overwhelmed with pain that it didn't take long for fear to set in. I remember thinking something must be wrong, this kind of pain can't be normal.

Between the pain the fear and the tears I just wanted my mom. But since she was at work I made the command decision to crawl down the hall to the closest phone, which happened to be in her bedroom. I pulled the phone off the nightstand and dialed her work number. At the time she was a county social worker and I had to go through the receptionist to reach her. I did my best to pull myself together and hide the fact that I was crying as I asked to speak with her.

Fortunately my mom was very familiar with migraines having been raised by a mother who suffered from them. She was able to recognize that I was having a migraine - not dying as I thought. She told me what was going on and said that she would be home as soon as she could. I stayed there on the floor of her bedroom with the phone until she got home and carried me back to bed.

All these years and countless migraines later the fear still creeps up when I'm having super bad pain. Obviously I know what's happening and know that I'm going to be okay but that pain...ufta!

"National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com."