Migraines

Migraines are nasty things. I should know. I spent the weekend with one.

What gets me is how misunderstood migraines are. Many people are quick to dismiss migraines as just headaches. Then again, they have never had them, so they do not understand the hell migraines can be.

We are not just dealing with a simple headache. We are dealing with agony that affects the whole body. For me, when a migraine kicks in, I have to be in the dark because my eyes are hypersensitive. I can’t eat because of the nausea. My skin is sensitive. So not only does my head feel like a jackhammer is running riot, the rest of my body is reacting.

All I can do is take some codeine pills, and let is pass. Which means being in my room, alone curled up on my bed praying the pain will end. And it fucks up my plans.

For here, there is no problem. I have already few threads written for this week, so this weekend, it was just cut and paste. But I wanted to finish the fourth chapter of Tangled Threads. So that is been deferred.

That is the thing about migraines, you become completely non-functional. Even when the drugs kick in, you are in a fuzzy and can’t focus. I tried to write something for a future blog but is just ended up being a meandering piece of shit.

There are known triggers for migraines. For me, it is MSG, red wine and cheeses like blue cheese. But the worst trigger is stress. There were some problems last week with my roommate, Errol which just festered. It shouldn’t have but I was pissed off and let it get to me. So it built up and hit me on Saturday. And lasted until early this afternoon.

Thing is that a migraine is not just a simple headache. It normally lasts 24 to 48 hours. Once it hits, you’re fucked. All you can do is curl up and hope it will go away. And in time, it will. There ain’t much one can do.

Which pisses me off when I see ads like Advil that promote their migraine pills. They do not work. I take codeine pills which are over the counter that only dull the pain. Let me sleep and handle the pain. Their gel-caps do nothing. But it is the latest niche market to target.

So what is the moral of this story? Migraines are nasty. They are not just simple headaches. They are debilitating. So don’t be dismissive if you know you someone who has them. You have no idea what pain they are going through.