Uncertain if it was something I ate or drank yesterday.Could be related to a change in the weather - barometric pressure, don't you know.
At 3.13amEST, I was jarred awake from a restless sleep with a searing and simultaneous pounding headache. A migraine.
If you suffer with this unfortunate affliction, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you don't (and I do have one friend who in his almost six decades on this planet has never experienced a single headache - and he and his wife raised four sons, two of whom were twins), you may not really understand! And that’s OK.
I have experienced this delightful interruption to one's life since I was a baby. As a child I routinely went through batteries of ridiculous tests and the diagnosis was invariably the same, "Mrs. Taylor, the wee bugger has migraines!"
When you're a kid, you really do not understand what's going on. All you really know is that someone, please, needs to stop this pain, and now. I also perfected the art of the projectile vomit and, with experience, could even, on demand it appeared, spew forth at specific angles and arcs with varying degrees of velocity. To my siblings and friends, I was an unheralded wonder of the world.
I really tried not to let them take over my life. I did not want to be relegated to the same "category" as the unfortunate kid with asthma. So, best I could, I endured. Until I started puking violently or came close to collapsing. My eyes would sink into my head. Specific smells would make me nauseas. Light would act like a laser beam to my eyes. Cold, dark rooms would offer limited solace. And yes, I have driven home on occasion with the car’s air conditioning blasting while wearing prescription sunglasses and squint to one side while negotiating my way home.
Medication wise, nothing really seems to touch them. It’s a matter of time. I’ve even been sent home from a hospital’s Emergency Department after being shot up with morphine and Demerol, to the point that any more medication might kill me. And they wanted me to drive!
Fortunately, as I get older, the frequency has reduced drastically. My Mum and Dad also went through these “things” and now, rarely experience that familiar, sweet pain.
So, perhaps there’s hope for me on this front after all. One day, I’ll be headache pain free. For now, however, would someone please make it go away?
2 comments:
Your 2 younger sisters are also migraine sufferers. Also, unfortunatly it looks like your youngest nephew has also inherited the "migraine". Many a night I've put Brendan to bed with a cold cloth on his head and given him a Motrin. His are now starting to last over 3 days.
I too hope that I grow out of migraines like mum and dad, and that Brendans don't get any worse.
i know... but this is about me!
Too bad about Brennie; perhaps he'll grow out of them at a young age. We can only hope.
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