Thus the topic for this new post: my dang head. I don't want to harp on about this or sound like a martyr. Getting the tone right in a blog is not always easy. My reason for writing about this particular topic, aside from explaining how my dang head got in the way, is to let you know more about me and also to possibly inspire others who are struggling with chronic pain and trying to figure out how to work out. Also, if anyone reads this and would like to share information with me, that would be great. Some of you already know that I have migraines. I get one almost every day. The days when I don't have them are awesome, but filled with a lot of self checks -- was that a twinge? is it coming? Luckily, my migraine will usually start up in the afternoon/early evening. Now and then I go through times when I wake up with them in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning. Other times I go through weird phases where I can't seem to break the cycle of them and I just have to go through a full migraine experience.
I try not to make a big deal out of them. It's not that I am writhing in a dark room puking up my meds on a daily basis. But even the early onset of a migraine changes me. I get tired, groggy, and crabby. Sometimes I crave carbohydrates. Sometimes I see a white flashing star at the far right corner of my visual field. Or sometimes I get vertigo. Sometimes there is no warning and no slow build, just a whomping out of nowhere. From reading so many accounts online and in Oliver Sacks's book on migraine, I know that everyone's migraine experience is different. But I also know that they suck for everyone involved.
I take Relpax (eltriptan) to stop the migraine. It usually works, but you're really only supposed to take it once or twice a week, not every day. That makes sense because triptans work by causing blood vessels to contract. That's not a good thing to do to your body on a daily basis. On a bad day, I might have to take it twice. My neurologist is concerned and has told me to try not to take so much. Riiiiight... Every day I have the decision to wait and try to get it to go away by some other means or take a Relpax. Occasionally they do go away on their own. I never know why, so it seems almost magical when it happens. Sometimes I can hold one off for a bit with Tylenol and codeine. But if I wait too long to take the Relpax, it's bad -- it might not work or it might make it worse and I'll start barfing and go through the whole migraine trauma. Sometimes the pain is so bad that I can't put my head down because the pressure of the pillow hurts. The sound of dish clank two rooms away is excruciating and even the dimmest light is piercing. I can almost hear my skin being touched by the sheets. All I can do is breathe and wait for it to be over. But I know that I am lucky with my migraines because it could be that bad or worse every time and with no medication that works or no health insurance to cover medication and visits to the doctor.
When I do take a Relpax, I can function, but I'm foggy for a few hours. So a lot of times, especially if I'm teaching, I have to hold off. It takes a lot of guesstimating -- should I wait, take it now and hope the fog will clear in time, how bad does it hurt now, do I need to cancel anything, can I drive, etc.
I've tried so many preventatives, but nothing seems to work. At the moment I am backing off of neurontin and trying to tolerate two new medications. I've tried herbal remedies and acupuncture. Now I am going to physical/craniosacral therapy every week. But the migraines keep on showing up.
Almost everything can be a trigger for me but the big ones are stress, too little/too much sleep, hormonal changes, approaching storms, certain exercises when I hold my breath or get very out of breath, red wine, and cheap or very hoppy beer. I've thought about Botox, but I seem to be so sensitive to everything that I am afraid to introduce a toxin of that extreme to my system.
I have an intuitive feeling that if I can get my weight down and my fitness up, that this will help a lot. But of course that's hard when the migraines flair up and prevent me from exercising (and make me crave donuts and toast and cookies). That is one reason why I try to do Bulldog early in the morning before I usually get a migraine (and before my stronger "oh hell no" reflex kicks in) -- and why it almost never works when I plan on working out in the evening.
Oof! Is this boring? Maybe! I've noticed that I like to read details of other migraine victims' attempts to cope. But I know this is not my usual fun post!
So, to conclude, my plan is to do my best to work around and even decrease my migraines as best I can and just keep on chugging along. This morning I made it to Bulldog despite a 3 a.m. migraine and relpax. Interestingly, I have not had another migraine episode yet today (and it's 10:30 p.m.)!
I'm grateful to Gio for continuing to work on fixing my slouch and suggesting stretches and other changes that might help. And I'm grateful to my hubster for pushing on my head when I need him to and for always being supportive (although he does run away [for real] when I barf). I'll be back at Bulldog on Friday morning. Good night for now!
1 comment:
Ugh, that sucks so much. I hope you manage to find just the right balance of Bulldog and other stuff to make them go away, or at least slacken off significantly!
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