Anatomy of a Migraine

It's been more than a year since I had a full-blown migraine, or I should say one that I wasn't able to head off at the pass before it got bad enough to make me wish I hadn't gotten out of bed that day.

I woke up with a headache; that's typically how they start for me.  If I'm smart and take two Tylenol right away, often times it stays a dull roar all day.  Today I was busy with work stuff, and chose to ignore the headache.  It stayed a dull roar most of the morning.  I had coffee like always, and some raspberries for breakfast.

Then WHAM, the headache went from a dull roar to a gut-clenching, soul-killing, head-throbbing, make me want to puke kind of pain that I had almost forgotten about.  It happened so fast I literally got on a conference call and bowed out immediately, saying I was ill.

I finally took the Tylenol, but it was already too late.  My migraines include a runny nose, sneezing, diarrhea, nausea, and vomiting.  Sometimes a hot shower helps, even though it's contrary to what the physiology of a migraine is.  A migraine supposedly results from dilated blood vessels; they get big and set off the pain.  And cold will shrink the blood vessels; heat will expand them.

Yet for years, a hot shower with the water directed at the back of my head has brought relief, along with breathing in eucalyptus and peppermint essential oil while in the steam.  Not so today.  I took two hot showers, with vomiting in between, and pacing the floor in between that.  I'm not one that can lay down in a dark room with a migraine - it makes the pain worse, so I have to sit up or stand up for the worst of it.  But past history has shown me that the vomiting signals the end or nearly the end.  I was finally able to lay down propped up on 4 pillows and wait it out.  With my eyes closed I could see shapes like an old fashioned kaleidoscope, all silvery and moving together.

I finally dozed off, and when I next opened my eyes, sweet relief.  I'm never more thankful for feeling normal (well, mostly normal) than after a bad migraine.  I feel shaky, out of it, still with little appetite, and a bit headachy, but compared to what it was like just a couple of hours ago, I'll take it!