Migraines

The spelling of migraines gives me a migraine. Too many vowels. Anyways, they’re back. I was getting a bunch of them last year. More than what was normal based on what my doctor was saying. But no remedy really. Then I started seeing a cognitive behaviorist and the quantity of headaches let alone migraines went down to almost nothing. It’s been about 9 months – and pretty much learned to pay attention to the signs of a headache coming on, stop and assess the situation and deal with whatever the root cause (usually since they were stressed related) and that pretty much stopped them in their tracks – no headaches.

A pretty good track record. But then Wednesday I started getting a headache in the late morning which turned into a migraine and forced me to bed early. I slept for 5 hours and woke up without the migraine. I cooked up some late night dinner and then slept for another 7 hours. But then yesterday at the end of a networking event in the evening I could feel the migraine coming on. So to bed. This morning I woke up and didn’t have one technically but couldn’t sense it’s presence, like it was lurking around the corner, ready to pop out. And now I feel it coming on and am going to have to cut my day short a third time in a row and crawl into bed. I almost want to say it’s the same migraine, just moving the forefront for awhile and then receding into the shadows but still present in the background. I can’t seem to shake this one.

I don’t know why they’re back and am bummed as there’s really no way to operate with them. I can barely keep my head up and sometimes I worry about actually making it home from work. I really have to focus on not focusing, especially on the bus.

Here’s my theories of causes:
- Stress levels – more things on the plate with committees, projects coming back to life, networking/business development, holiday juggling
- Weather – isn’t there something about barometric pressure differences with the season changes? We’ve just switched from warm 70 muggy weather to cold 50 dry weather in a matter of a week.
- Cold – I have been fighting off a cold for a month and have lost ground. I’ve had the sore throat, a little stuffiness in the head, but not a full blown cold – sneezing, snot style.
- Cycle – I’m just wrapping up the end of my monthly cycle. Low iron maybe?
- Food – nothing too unusual although I did buy some un-homogenized milk last weekend to try. It tastes so much richer and better. It’s what the rest of the world drinks, so don’t think it’s that. I also bought a half gallon of Odwalla’s Mango Tango. I just learned of several people acquiring mango allergies later in life – but those had to do with the mouth swelling up. Nothing else that unusual.

Fingers crossed I can have a low profile weekend. Unfortunately it looks like I’ll have to bring some work home since the migraines knocked me off schedule this week. But will try to limit the intrusion.

On the upside, I’m up to 222 on LinkedIn. Slowly but surely. Actually make that, 224 - another two just while writing this - how nice.