Chronicle Of A Migraine Day

When it comes right down to it, I am rather fortunate in the migraine world.

Well, I still get them, so not incredibly fortunate, but there are plenty of people who have to deal with much more intense and longer-lasting pain. (Including some close relatives of mine.) The fact that I'm functional tonight after a day spent thinking my head might split in two is almost miraculous.

Today was fairly typical, in that respect. Here's how it went.

6:30 AM -- My alarm goes off. I get up and shower feeling a little rundown and generally not great. It was a long weekend, though, so I figure I'm just tired.

7:15 AM -- I'm onto my second cup of coffee as I eat breakfast, answer a few text messages, and then open up my laptop. The caffeine isn't helping much. Yet.

9:55 AM -- I'm staring at my laptop screen, finishing up a piece for the summer staff handbook and considering walking into main camp when I suddenly realize I'm seeing double.

Crap.

At this point, since I wasn't paying attention, it's too late for me. If I'd taken some ibuprofen earlier I could have maybe headed things off, but now I'm in damage control mode. I pop a couple vitamin I and aim for my bedroom, turning off all the lights and burying my head under a couple pillows. Spots still swim in my vision and my head is starting to pound. More to the point, even though I'm horizontal and holding still, I'm dizzy.

12:00ish -- I've drifted in and out of sleep ans now I attempt to get up and move around. No luck.

3:00 PM -- Repeat.

Sometime after 5:00 PM --  I realize that the worst has passed and I get up. More ibuprofen. A slow glass of water. An attempt at food -- a bowl of cereal, because migraines bring some of the worst nausea I get -- and I slowly start moving around the house. Not too many lights yet, and no television, computer or phone for a little while.

I'm lucky. Sometimes these things carry over two (or three) days. A lot of the time I'll wake up the next day and be dead tired but functional. This one was pretty mild, and even though I know my sleep patterns will be wonky for a few days I'm feeling pretty normal. I'm still a little concerned that this one came out of nowhere, though; my migraines are usually after a pressure has been lifted, like when the summer ends or after a major deadline. (I call them "head-enforced breaks.") This one happened because ... ? Hopefully it's not a new trend.

And now that I've had a day of accidental rest, maybe I can get some late-night work done. Enforced night-owl-ness, too.

This could be the start of a very long week.

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