I suffer from migraines. I have had them since I was 13. They used to be really bad, especially when I was a teenager. I would lose vision and then when my vision would come back it would be dragging along an excruciating headache for company. They got better as I got older, then got worse again as I went through fluctuating hormones, infertility and the like. Now I probably only get one every two months or so. I know of people who get them on a weekly basis. I also know a lot of people who feel a twinge in their noggin and say, "Oh, I can't get out of bed, I have a migraine" and what they actually have is a really bad headache. There is a difference. I think it can be used as a catch-all, like asthma, GERD and fibromyaligia.
I can tell you when I'm going to get one. Probably anyone who gets migraines can tell you they feel one coming on before the pain ever starts. The foreshadowing for mine is a feeling like I've been staring at the sun - that feeling like your pupils are dilated to the max and your eyes are watering and you need to close them but closing them doesn't help.
Yesterday in Tulsa I got that feeling. I had been driving and blew it off as eyestrain and a sunny afternoon. Eventually the feeling went away and I thought I had dodged a migraine. Oh but noooooooooo . . . last night lying in bed talking to Mr. Diva about the day, the watery, overdilated feeling came back and there went my vision. Poof. Vamanos. El gone - o. I could see out of the lower right corner of my right eye and that was it. It only lasted a minute, maybe, but when my vision came wandering back in like the prodigal son it brought back a hobo carrying a bandana on a stick and inside that bandana on a stick was a motherfucking migraine.
Today my head feels like someone in a crazy Slovakian hostel just released my melon from the vice grip that was holding it so that they could drill into my skull with a Craftsman battery-powered drill with a 7/32" bit on it. But hey, at least it doesn't feel like it's being drilled anymore - it's only that achey, just-having-been drilled feeling.
2 comments:
Recklace, I knew that the loss of vision was an aura, but had no idea that there was a name for migraine precognition. Your education just paid off.
$10,000 a year....dayam. Glad I decided against pharmacy school. I'd be the world's poorest pharmacist.
My vision blurs before a migraine. Sometimes the neon lights of a casino can bring one on. I don't get them very often, but when I do...OMG! I have to lie very still in dark room with no sound. I hope yours gets better soon.
Courtney
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