"Just shoot me now!"

Migraine Awareness Month Blogging Challenge #3: "Just shoot me now!"

What's your worst Migraine trigger? Can you avoid it? How do you handle it?

This is actually an ironic title, because I can't even count how many times I have begged my husband to shoot me when I have been in the midst of a migraine.  Not surprisingly, he never has. He has told me how distressing it is, though, to hear me utter those words.

My worst migraine trigger...it's actually impossible to narrow it down to one, because my triggers aren't necessarily consistent in their severity.  So I finally focused on four, which fall into two categories: environmental triggers and food additives.

Environmental triggers:  for me the two worst environmental triggers are strobing/flashing lights and overwhelming scents.  You know how fluorescent lights start to flicker just before they stop working?  That is torturous for me.  I cannot be in a room where that is happening.  Fluorescent lights in general aren't helpful, but as soon as the flickering starts, it is over.  Overwhelming scents can be cleaning products, air fresheners, and my favorite--perfumes.  Did you ever notice that department stores tend to put their fragrance counters right at the mall entrance?  I either have to enter from the parking lot, or skirt as far along the edge of the store as I can, making my own aisle through displays and holding my breath until I am safely away from the minefield of migraine inducing scents that is the fragrance department.

Food additives:  MSG and aspartame (AKA Nutrasweet) are the biggest culprits.  My family has learned to read the label of everything we buy.  Soup, yogurt, gravy, and anything fat-free or sugar free are the biggest culprits. This does not make it easy for someone trying to follow a weight loss program who is always on the go!  We have managed to keep it under control in our house, my mother's and my in-laws, but visiting or eating out is always a challenge.  Often friends discard packaging and can't tell me what is in the food they are serving me.  Waiters and waitresses give me a blank stare when I try to explain that I have food sensitivities and I need to know what type of sweetener is used in their tea or dessert.  It's usually just easier to avoid those types of foods and eat something fresh with little sauce or seasoning.  Not much fun, but better than a migraine!

Migraine Awareness Month Blogging Challenge #2

Migraine Awareness Month #2:  Tea for Two. If you could invite someone (any living person) to your home for tea for the purpose of explaining Migraine disease to them so they would truly understand it, who would it be and why? 

This is an interesting question.  I don't know for sure who I would pick.  I guess that I can't name a specific person...I would like to sit down with a family member of a person who has recently been diagnosed with chronic migraines--a family member who isn't as understanding as my family is.  I would like to be able to educate that person about what life is like for a migraineur...and to help him/her understand how different we wish life could be.  Then I would leave and let my husband speak with that migraineur's family member so that he can give him/her the perspective of a family member who has adjusted to living with a migraineur.  Perhaps my supportive husband could give that family member hints to help make that family's life a little easier.  Not that it is ever easy, but Wayne does what he can to make it bearable.

June is Migraine Awareness Month

As part of Migraine Awareness Month, there is a blogging challenge, with prompts for various blogs.  Here is prompt #1:

Migraine Awareness Month #1: Your First for the First. Share the story of your first Migraine, what it was like, if you knew what it was, what you did, how you felt. 

Looking back, I believe I had my first migraine at the age of 15.  I was in biology class, and I was taking an exam.  As I looked at the test, it appeared as if the words were being typed onto the paper as I watched.  I didn't realize at the time that I had blind spots.  Soon after, I was stricken with severe nausea, and went to the nurse.  I began vomiting violently, and my mother was called. I recall that the nurses were speaking, and I couldn't understand what they were saying.  I assumed that I had the flu, and that I was suffering from a fever, which caused me to be confused.  The pain came soon after.  My mother had to pull the car over several times on our way home so that I could get sick.

I didn't know it was a migraine.  I never told anyone about the visual disturbances or the confusion--I was afraid someone would think I was crazy.  It wasn't until at least 10 years later that I was diagnosed with migraines that I realized what had happened that day.  It is possible that there were earlier migraines, but that is the first one that I know for sure.