My first migraine headache hit me when I was about 6 years old. I'm really fortunate that I don't have them very often and I get enough warning that I can usually get control of them early. This means I don't usually need anything more substantial than a good painkiller or the occasional Ibuprofen migraine tablet, a lie down in a reasonably dark room and peace and quiet. So far, a migraine has never coincided with a sudden desire on Anne's part to rearrange all the metal pans and cooking trays as they fall out the cupboard at the same time!
I can have quiet detailed conversations with people as long as they don't mind the fact that I don't open my eyes. If I do, I feel as though my head will explode which is somewhat unnerving to say the least, and likely to cause a particularly difficult to remove stain to appear in the furnishings. I'm sure there are one or two people with whom I've spoken on the 'phone who are blissfully unaware that I am sitting or lying down with my eyes closed thinking calm thoughts.
Why am I blogging about it today? Well I got hit this afternoon with a humdinger of a migraine that came out of nowhere and without any of the usual symptoms. When I was younger I used to get these really weird shifts in perspective. Things would start to drift off into the distance and I couldn't bear striped things or anything with a repeating pattern of circles or squares on it. I remember even now having bad dreams about the kitchen wallpaper!
I couldn't sleep facing a wall or any object, which made it a challenge when Anne (please don't tell her I compared her to a wall and an object) and I got married because I would always have to turn my back on her in order to get to sleep and not set off a headache! She's got used to it now by the way.
Anyway, over the years my symptoms changed and I would get blank spots in my field of vision. I'd be reading a book and suddenly realise that bits of the page were disappearing. To this I seem to have added flashing lights that only appear when I close my eyes. Which in turn is rather unfortunate because closing my eyes is the one thing I need to do when the headache strikes. A somewhat unfair development in the circumstances!
Today however I just became nauseous and felt quite sick, and then came the thumping headache and we were stuck 30 minutes from home in a noisy shopping centre. So we got home, and for about two hours I lay quietly, waiting for the medication to kick in and now some eight hours on I feel fine.
Odd things migraines, at least for me. I'm just glad they don't strike as often as they used to when I was younger. Maybe I've just got better control of things, maybe I don't do or eat the things that trigger them, maybe I'm just more disciplined about staying hydrated.
But if you're a fellow sufferer, then my heart goes out to you and I pray that your headaches will be rare and short-lived.
In case you're wondering my worst one lasted five days.
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