Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Ow! My head!

So tonight I bring the boys home from the gym and begin making dinner, then I notice the spots in my vision. Can it be? The spots don't go away. I decide to throw a load of clothes in the wash and finish dinner as quickly as I can because I know what's coming, though I am fighting it. Last time I could only see out of half my right eye. I take two Ibuprofen, I drink an extra glass of water...to no avail. By the time dinner is ready I am near tears because the left side of my head is throbbing so badly and my eye could fall out at any time. I also was so looking forward to taco salad. Charlie graciously takes over with the boys and I climb in bed, sweat and all.

Now it's 11:30 and I'm up and at 'em, and I had some left-over taco salad. Mmm. Research and asking around has told me I get "migraines", but I try to just think of them as headaches. They started after C was born, and occur once every 1-6 mos. Often they seem related to stress (when we have visitors), but not always, and the last two have occured after my very strenuous cycle class at the gym (but not after other forms of intense work-outs). What's going on? I intend to fight them. And why did I never get them before I had kids? The plot thickens.

Our "Raw Juices Can Save Your Life" book seems to suggest dehydration (which may explain the last two, though I feel I'm quite hydrated), and also suggests taking magnesium regularly- which I am not opposed to trying. It also gives me a juice recipe for migraines, but so far I have had neither alfalfa sprouts nor dandelion leaves on hand. Rats.

I will fight this. And I will win. It may take a while, but I'll do it. And I'll let my fellow headache sufferers know what works. (Additionally, if you know something I don't, do share).

3 comments:

Christy said...

Do you think the epson salt helps? Do you get them that often? or is it necessary to take it twice a day even for occasional ones?

Everything about migraines is weird. What about the whole vision thing? Or not being able to speak in complete sentences and forgetting names before you get them? It's all very fishy.

Annecourager said...

This interests me....I haven't heard about the epsom salts before. Does it only prevent, or can it "head one off at the pass" after it's already begun?

I have only had one migraine- to the point of vomiting - so usually now I go into "retreat" mode if I sense the pain is heading that way and I go right to bed with an eye pillow over my eyes.

And yeah, waking up after a migraine is like waking up from the dead.

I would say I get headaches like this 4-5x's a year, where I have to go to bed or Life Will Be Very Bad.

I never had this until recently, though.

Christy said...

Okay, talked a bit with my SIL who is a nurse. It seems that it has a LOT to do with dehydration - not just water. Magnesium (epsom salts) is part of replenishing what your body loses while sweating...akin to the electrolyte drinks (Gatorade, etc.) You don't just sweat water, you sweat salt and other minerals. So, it makes sense that epsom salts would work. But I don't know if it would "head one off at the pass"...

I've gotten these monthly, then it decreased, then once I started exercising again they have increased. So I'm going to try some form of electrolyte drinks once in a while or epsom salts.

This isn't well-researched or anything, just a lot of hypothesizing.

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