Had another migraine yesterday. Luckily Excedrin Migraine took away the worst of the pain but still spent most of the day with a solid headache, feeling woozy and slightly nauseated. Most people would never know I had a migraine unless I told them. I might look tired when going thru it but I don't think it's obvious.
I remember years ago when a friend of mine told me how she had had such a bad migraine that she screamed thru it. I remember thinking screaming would make it worse. I questioned if it actually was a migraine?
When I first started having migraines, I didn't have Excedrin Migraine to fight them off for me. Here's how it went for me:
1) I start noticing that it's hard to see. I'm blinking and struggling to make things out. After a bit I notice an arc of sparkling shards of rainbow lights slowly widening across my field of vision. I see it when I shut my eyes also. I now know that it's called an aura. It's my warning system. Not everyone is lucky enough to get a warning. I do. But the semi-blindness I get isn't fun to deal with. I was dealing with that yesterday. I have woken up with a migraine. That's the worst because you slept thru the warning. There is no rhyme or reason to them...they just happen.
Back in the day, when this warning hit, I knew it was time to go home IMMEDIATELY. I was suddenly in a race against time because when the aura went away, the migraine would begin. Migraines don't care what you're in the middle of, or who is depending on you. Back in the day, when they hit, my life had to stop. Honestly it was pretty awful. There are few things in life that I don't struggle thru but migraines were one of them.
2) The migraine hits. I become light sensitive and need to be in the dark. Light hurts.
I become sound sensitive and need to be in a quiet place. Noise hurts.
There was often vomiting. It hurts so bad it makes you vomit, which is the last thing you want to be doing when you're hurting that bad!
And the pain? It felt like someone was inside my head pounding with a hammer. There was no relief and no escape unless I was lucky enough to fall asleep. I used to have Tylenol with codeine in it that I'd take to try to knock myself out during those sessions. Sometimes it worked.
Oh, and you don't want to move. Moving hurts. I really hated when I'd have to vomit. Felt like my head would explode. This phase could go on for hours.
3) The migraine passes. You feel like you've been sick. You're woozy and out of it. There is sometimes a residual headache that can last up to 2 days afterwards. I tend to feel fuzzy-muddled. Like I'm muffled and somehow subdued. I get this reaction despite taking meds. Today I feel "off" but functional. Not 100% but good enough.
Sometimes you get another one within a few days. That used to happen to me a lot. Now it doesn't. Maybe it's because of my meds? No idea but I'm glad I don't get a series of them so much anymore!
I've recently started experiencing aphasia. When it first happened I was joking that I must have had a stroke because I couldn't find the words. Honestly I was a little worried until I investigated further and found out it can happen after a migraine. That made sense based on the timing. I'd seen my Dad experience aphasia after his strokes. You know what you want to say but you can't find the words in your brain. You can suggest other things sort of like it to try to describe what you want to say. My Dad would call a winter coat a warm. He had the problem much worse that I ever did but his experience helped me recognize what was happening to me enough to be concerned. Despite having headed off the worst of it with Excedrin I still suffered the aphasia. Luckily it's temporary after migraines. I just have to be patient.
I'm lucky and have found a medicine that helps! When the aura hits, I take Excedrin Migraine and wait. Yesterday the headache was pretty bad but I was still functional. I no longer have to race home for a dark, silent room to suffer it out. Now my life can continue.
Sadly I know my medicine does not always work for others. Some folks really struggle to find any relief.
I wanted to write this to maybe help people understand that a migraine is not just a really bad headache. It can be debilitating and actually force someone to stop in their tracks and just ride it out. It can literally pull them away from their life and they have no say in it. They aren't being babies. It's BAD.
I'm one of the lucky ones who has found treatment. Others have not and need support and understanding. I'm hoping this might help with some understanding of the experience if you aren't one who's ever had a migraine.
