Way Worse Than Usual
First off, since my accident, my headache’s all the time. As my doctors say, the goal is to keep my baseline headache pain low. Also to prevent as many full on migraine days as possible.
Weather?
Yesterday was the first of two days of rain and a cooler front coming in. I have tracked my headaches versus the weather for a long time and have just come to one conclusion. That is that my headaches worsen anytime the barometric pressure makes a drastic change. It doesn’t matter if it’s a drastic up or drastic down, it makes my headaches worse and can like it did yesterday, bring on full-blown migraines.
What Do I Do When I Have A Migraine?
Luckily, since it was such bad weather yesterday I did not have any lessons to teach out at the barn. I knew my headache was worse than usual when I woke up. Before I get migraines my vision gets worse than usual and I get really really thirsty.
Since I could tell a bad one was coming on I knew I just needed to lay down. Normally, if I take my medication and then lay down I can fall asleep quickly and sleep it off. At least sleep until, it has subsided enough that I can sit up without feeling dizzy and nauseated.
For some reason, yesterday I could not fall asleep. I laid around all day listening to tv because the screen bothers my eyes and makes my symptoms worse. Try as I might I could not fall asleep so it was a miserable day.
If My Ice Packs Don’t Work You Know It’s Bad
I have written in a lot of my other TBI posts about how ice packs are a life saver for me. Everyday I spend time with an ice pack on my forehead, this gives me headache relief. Oddly enough the cold pressure on my forehead is actually calming as well.
Normally the ice packs will take the edge off. Not yesterday, they felt good on my forehead but didn’t help my headache at all.
Bed Time!
I couldn’t wait for night time to come so I could just go to bed. Lay there and be still in the dark. I was literally up all night. It sucked I could not sleep. So I tossed and turned all night.
Morning
I woke up this morning feeling like I got run over a bus. My migraine though had subsided to a normal bad headache.
Migraines suck, if you don’t get them you just can’t understand how awful they are. Unfortunately, migraines were a part of my life prior to brain injury and are no worse than ever.
Hints For Migraines
I’m sure in all my posts I have mentioned some of my migraine tricks, but here they are again in case you are interested.
- Ice Packs- On the forehead and back of the neck can both help a lot.
- Heat on your neck- Some of my migraines start on the back of my head from tension in my neck and shoulder blades. If I lay with my neck on a heating pad when my muscles relax it can sometimes give me some headache relief.
- Drink lots of water- I always feel like I’m dehydrated when I have a migraine so I try to drink lots of water. For me really, really cold water is the most thirst-quenching.
- Sleep- If you can try and sleep it off that is great! Sometimes it works for me and other times it keeps me from sleeping.
- Listen To TV- When I can’t sleep I cover my forehead and eyes with an icepack and just listen to whatever is on television, sometimes I can follow it and it distracts me, other times it helps me fall asleep.
- Wearing sunglasses in the house- As goofy as it may sound, I have been known to be in the house wearing sunglasses just because sometimes even with the blinds clothes it is too bright for me and kills my eyes.
- Stay off screens- The more I strain my eyes when I have a migraine the worse I get. So no kindle or cell phone and like I said, if I have the television on I listen to it, with my eyes covered instead of watching it.
Other Migraine Tips
If anyone has other migraine tips please comment. I’m always looking for something to help with them.
Today I feel like I have been run over by a bus, but I will take that over a migraine any day!
In Other News
After the rain the farm is a muddy disgusting mess. A lot more leaves have also come down.
Lucky Old Dublin Gets Lunch
Our old man Dublin has gotten super thin these last few months and so we have started giving him lunch. His lunch menu consists of soaked alfalfa pellets. He takes forever to eat his meals. It is not his fault though he is an old man.
Dumb Turkeys
Can You See Me?
When it rains I go outside to feed Dublin his lunch in half pajamas, half hunting gear. Can you see me? This is one of my extra special barn outfits !! haha
Hey Katie, have you tried putting Vicks on your forehead over the sinus cavity area? I have reactions to the air pressure, too. Yesterday Mr. Mike looked at me asking if I had a headache. I didn’t even realize I was applying pressure to my forehead just between my eyebrows.
I wear sunglasses, a lot! Bright lights will cause me to get eye migraines. Luckily, I do not get the aching head part. Just the zig zag flashing lights and new this year a gray rectangular blocking of vision in my one eye! Just had my annual appointment and they say that is also an eye migraine symptom. See, you can teach an old dog something new!
Love you, girl 🙂
I have not tried Vicks! Sounds like a great idea though. and one that I have never tried!