Wednesday, August 24, 2011

The Anatomy of A Migraine

It just wouldn't be a picnic without the ants. –Unknown

Yes. I still have a migraine. I can't be absolutely certain if I've had three different ones since Friday, or if it is just the same one that won't go away.

No. I'm not going to give you the run-down of what is and is not a migraine. And, no. I'm not going to give you my complete medical history. I just thought that The Anatomy of A Migraine was a sort of compelling post title :lol:. I'm really trying not to be whiney about this, although I know I'm not succeeding. Blogging is about what's on your mind, and a migraine is what's on my mind lately. I have to say this much, though. My mom gets migraines too. And she just goes on doing whatever it is she has to do; work, kids, grandkids, dinner, chores, whatever. She just keeps on. I used to wonder how she could do it because my migraines used to be the kind that made me want to curl up into a ball in the dark, under my covers, with an ice pack on my head until it went away. As time has passed, the headache part of it has devolved from a nauseatingly intense and debilitating pain to ranging in sensation from an almost intolerable and still quite nauseating pain to a dull ache in one side of my head that I can almost — but not quite — forget is there. I can still go to work and do laundry and cook dinner, but I move at a snail's pace, coherent thought is elusive, and there's not much left over for anything creative.

So, I'm asking nicely. Migraine, please go away, because I really want to get back to quilting the Pinwheel Sampler. I haven't worked on it since last Thursday.

In the meantime, I got the sixth Halloween placemat together and ready for borders. Scrappy piecing and sewing in straight lines doesn't take much brain power, although this one is ¼" shorter in the width than the other five. We'll blame it on the non-coherency, rather than the fact that I really just forgot how to do math for a few minutes.

I'm going to work on cutting fabric for the scrappy borders now. The potential for goof-ups is minimal and at least I'll have something to keep my hands busy.

7 comments:

Ann Marie @ 16 Muddy Feet said...

oh I hope it goes away quickly, I get them all the time too. I take 2 Aleve and it works 99% of the time. It is the only thing that gets rid of them. Don't try to do any quilty math, that makes it worse!! Good luck on cutting fabric with a migraine, I don't even go near the studio till mine has passed. I hope you get better soon. I really really do!!!

Paulette said...

I feel bad for you, E. Migraines just plain suck, but a several-day migraine? I would be retreating to a dark room with pain relievers and letting nothing in through my eye-holes for a while. Also concentrating on relaxing the muscles of my skull, imagining an opening at the top of my cranium and breathing in and out and imagining the free exchange of energy through that spot. Sounds crazy but it has helped me in the past. I'm just not good at powering through a headache.

mom said...

Oh that is awuful! have you tried a coke? (look who is suggesting a coke). But when my perscription medication was gone this summer and no chance for a refill for a couple of weeks and I thought I was going to die, a coke did the job! I'm glad to have my meds back though. Hope you can feel better soon. By the way have you seen a doctor for this?

Michelle said...

I'm so sorry! I used to have them too. Could never decide if beating my head on the wall or stabbing myself in the temple would be an improvement. The two choices certainly didn't sound worse. Anyway, my migraines were hormone related. (Stopping birth control pills helped ~ hoped that's not TMI!)

Shay said...

I have no advice because this isnt something I have experienced and I'm sure you've tried everything.

I hope you feel better soon though - a week is a long time to feel below par.

(Waving at Elizabeth's Mom)

Michelle said...

Oh migraines are SO much more than just a bad headache! Bad headaches don't make you slur your speech and lose the ability to pronounce words (like the names of your children) and get weird sparkly tunnel vission... I gave up on trying to separate one migraine from a string of migraines a long time ago.

I hope you're feeling better today. And I love your Halloween placemats -- the colors are just gorgeous!

Jill said...

My comment comes late. But once, when I had a really aweful headache (probably not a migrane) Julie squeezed my head. She had one hand over my forehead and the other just at the base of my skull and she just squeezed tight. When she let go, there was such a difference. Adding pressure made some of the pressure release. The people around us thought she was really weird and wondered what she was going to do to me and what was wrong with me, but pushing the foolish feelings aside, it helped!