Tagged "headache disorder"

// Day 30 - Recap//

Describe your HAWMC experience in one word!

Eye-opening

…It counts as one word if it’s hyphenated, right?

This experience has been a total eye opener for me. I’ve connected with new people and gotten to know the people I’ve been in touch with even more. Through this month, I’ve blogged (nearly) every day, which is something that I don’t always do on this account. I’m hoping it’s started the habit within me, and that I’ll keep up this blog more regularly.

This month, I’ve also gotten the support I needed to go get some real tests done and to start getting some really solid answers about my migraines.

There’s a great big world of migraine advocacy out there, and I’ve only just started to skim the surface.

30 / 04

3 notes

// Day 27 - Titles//

If you wrote a book about your life, your community, your condition, or your health activism - What would you name it? Come up with 5 working titles.

Confessions and Cocktails: This is a name I’ve had in my back pocket for a long time. My dad is an Orthodox Priest, and one of the greatest sacraments in the Orthodox Christian church is the sacrament of Confession. This title came about because I was musing about how at ACRY (our diocesan youth/everybody group - There’s a Sr. & Jr. division) on Saturday evenings, the schedule would always list that Confessions were available. The next thing on the schedule was always Cocktail hour for the dinner that night. I just found it funny and thought it would be a catchy title for some kind of memoir. And hey, now I have my funny baptismal certificate story to add…
Coffee, please. Hold the MSG. I’m sitting here drinking a cup of coffee, and this one came to me, because it calls out two of my “triggers”. Well, MSG is a trigger for me, coffee is a livesaver. Having caffeine can really make the difference in my headache, and make it more bearable.
Sorry. We don’t have the funding for that. This title could apply to many different areas of my life. First off, it can apply to the headache and migraine community. We are constantly underfunded for research because people don’t see migraines are the life threatening condition they are. This would also be applicable to my life growing up in an urban area where they’d put new turf on the football field before increasing the budget for any arts programs. Actually, let’s just cut some arts programs instead, okay?
The Eight Dwarf Who Lived in My Head. The seven dwarves work in a mine. They have pick axes. When I have a migraine, it can feel very much like there’s a man behind my eye with a pick-axe. I guess I was going for a play off of the fairy tale here. Maybe I’d write some of it in a fairy tale-esque fashion and then break through that style with some sarcasm and dry wit. Or maybe the princess would just get wise. How about that? A change in the fairy tale where she learns there’s an 8th dwarf, and he lives in her head, thinking it’s a mine. Weirdest inspiration ever, but I like weird.
At Least I Didn’t Give You Glaucoma. This would be another option for some kind of a memoir. Or a chapter within a memoir. As I stated in an earlier post, this is something that my mother likes to remind me of whenever I have a migraine or a kidney stone attack.

What would be some working titles for books about your life, community, health activism, or condition?

27 / 04

4 notes

// Day 20 - Burnout//

Write about burnout. What does it feel like? What are your burnout triggers?

Well, for me, burnout happens after a migraine. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve started to identify the different ways I experience migraine, usually depending on what the trigger is.

When I don’t have a “flash migraine”, I tend to experience burnout afterwards. For me, this is categorized by a few things:

1) Physical exhaustion: Just the thought of moving hurts. I often liken it to feeling like “I’ve been hit by a truck”. My whole body is just sore. I can’t even say that my body aches, but everything just feels run down. I’m exhausted in every sense of the word. Which leads to…

2) Mental and emotional exhaustion: I can’t do any tasks that require great concentration or intense focus. I might be able to read a magazine or a book, but I can’t really get schoolwork done or anything else that requires a lot of attention. Also, because I’m so exhausted, I tend to either emotionally disconnect, OR react in an overly emotional manner.

3) Loss of appetite: After a migraine, it’s rare that I have a desire to eat. 9 times out of 10, I throw up during a migraine. This leaves me with very little in my stomach. I’ll usually nosh on some tostitos or saltines and try to drink lots of water.

4) Dehydration: Because of the aforementioned vomiting, I tend to feel very dehydrated. So I drink a lot of water.

It can take another day for me to get back on my feet again after an especially intense migraine has broken.

Do you experience burnout? What are the markers of burnout for you?

20 / 04

2 notes

// Day 17 - Wordless Wednesday//

å I wasn’t able to get Wordle to work on my browser, so I used another word cloud generator. I obviously talk about migraines a lot! :)

17 / 04

2 notes

// Any chronic headache/migraine blogs out there?//

foginthefog:

Me! [and ditto]

allthegoodurlnamesaretaken:

I would like to follow you.

I’m a migraine blog!! I’ll be following some new people based on this post I think! :)

(via adoseofmichelle)

14 / 04

23 notes

10) Yes actually, I can. And I am.

9) I’ve had a job since I was 13. I graduated 8/1072 in high school, was the student speaker at UCC graduating with a 3.9, and then graduated Magna Cum Laude from Kean University with a B.A. in Speech and Hearing Sciences. I’m taking a year off of school to work in order to save money to get my Master’s degree. What was that you were saying?

8) You’re right. I want attention from those medical professionals who don’t think it’s necessary to look into the root cause of migraines more. I also want attention from pharmaceutical companies who tell me that the best thing for me is to keep taking a medication until I max out on dosage and have to start a new one. I want attention from the people who say “it’s just a headache”.

7) Stress is only one of my triggers. And I’ve found ways to manage that through yoga and exercise. Once you can control the weather - one of my biggest triggers - you get back to me.

6) Without the pain I wouldn’t have gained as much knowledge about my condition and be as informed. But I also wouldn’t have gained a mistrust of many medical professionals. If we’re going to talk kidney stones, I also wouldn’t have gained a lower functioning kidney due to hydroneufrosis of my kidney during my junior year of high school…

5) Absolutely. That’s why it’s called a migraine headache.

4) Wait, where are my oversized, superdark sunglasses?

3) So lucky that my muscles start to get sore from not moving! That’s why Idogo outside and try to function. I just can’t always do it well when I’m in so much pain.

2) My dad’s a priest. I work at a church camp during the summers. I have icons in my bedroom, wear a prayer rope and a cross everyday, and am on multiple parish’s prayer lists. I think I’ve got that one covered.

1) Why thank you. The weight I’ve lost is due to throwing up because of my migraines or just having no appetite. I’ve also learned the magic of makeup when I’m looking particularly sallow and pale. I’ve also learned how to fake it.

12 / 09

72 notes

// Migraine Awareness Month #27: “In My Head and Heart”//

Who inspires you to keep trying and not give up, despite your Migraines?

My mom.

She’s suffered from migraines for longer than I can remember (and probably longer than she cares to)

She has always encouraged me to work toward my dreams and do the best that I can.

I feel like being proactive with my health will hopefully push her in the direction of being more proactive with hers. She’s been an example to me for so long that I’d love to give her something to look forward to. No, not everything that works for me will help her, but I’d like to be able to show her some holistic things that have helped me to see if they help her out.

She’s suffered in silence for too long, and I want to show her how successful I can be in spite of the migraines that I suffer from.

“National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger’s Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com.”

28 / 06

3 notes

// Migraine Awareness Month #23: “I Drank the Kool-Aid!”//

We all try things out of desperation, even when our common sense is telling us they’re not going to do anything. Share your experience with this.

I tried one of those juice cleanses that recommended juices that would “help migraines”. A family friend recommended it because she had success and reduced the frequency of her migraines by sticking to this diet. It wasn’t 24/7 juice only, but the first few days were pure juice, and then you slowly added things back in. Like salads.And it was one of those “you’ll feel worse before you feel better” kinds of things.

Only I never felt better.

And if I had to juice and drink one more beet, I was going to stab myself.

I don’t have a problem eating beets (I actually find them pretty yummy) but juicing them and then mixing them with cucumber and carrot juice (among some other things) pretty much made me want to vomit.

That ended very quickly. I still have the book and every once in awhile I look at it, think about it for about 20 seconds and then think of that beet juice.

I don’t know how I thought that a juice diet/cleanse was going to help when most migraine sufferers know that eating is very important in staving off migraines.

Have you ever done something to “help” your migraines that your common sense told you wasn’t going to work?

“National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger’s Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com.”

23 / 06

2 notes

// Migraine Awareness Month #22: “The Game Changer.”//

Tell us about a time your plans changed due either an unexpected Migraine or an unexpected Migraine-free experience.

Actually, I had an experiencethis past Saturdaywith exactly this situation.

I am a subscriber to Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ and had tickets to go and seeOnce on This Island with my sister.

However, on Friday, I had started to feel some sinus pressure, and was hoping that it was nothing more than a little sinus headache. By the middle of the night, I could tell that it wasmuchmore than that. I had a full blown migraine by the morning. I had to call out of work, and attending a musical was definitely out of the question.

Thankfully, my brother had also wanted to see the show (we were going to buy him a ticket at the door), so he took my seat and they went without me.I was bummedbecause it’s a show I enjoy (I saw my old HS’s production of it last Spring) and I like the music and would havelovedto see a professional production of the show.

My migraine just didn’t think that last Saturday was the time.

How has a migraine made you change your plans? Or have you ever had an unexpected migraine-free day?

“National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger’s Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com.”

22 / 06

2 notes

// Migraine Awareness Month #21: “Shaking in My Boots.”//

What’s your biggest Migraine related fear. How do you cope with it?

I think that when it comes to migraines, my biggest fear is that I’m going to miss out on something because of a migraine.

And I mean this in a very general sense. Miss hanging out with my friends (having to cancel plans because of a migraine), miss having a great time at camp (because of a migraine), miss out on being able to be the best that I can at my job (because a migraine kept me in bed for an extra 30 minutes until I could muster the strength to move), and - most of all - miss out on taking chances.

I’m one of those people that’s always lived my life by a plan. Yes, I deviated from it every once in awhile, but when I didn’t get into Grad School for the coming Fall semester, I saw it as an opportunity for me to take chances without the added stress of school. Yes, I’ll still be working, but I’ll have more time to go out and audition and run and take care of myself in the way that I want to.

If I want to drive to Pittsburgh to visit friends for a weekend, I’ll be able to do that. Migraines have stood in my way of going out on a limb, and I refuse to let them do that anymore. I guess you could say I’m pushing that fear to the side.

I don’t want to miss out on what my lifecould bebecause I’m too preoccupied with a migraine that Icould have.

“National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger’s Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com.”

21 / 06

1 note