What A Migraine!

I don't usually document my migraines here, but this one was so typical with all the migraine stages that I thought it could be useful to help some people understand what those of us with acute and chronic migraine deal with. My migraines are usually not as severe as this one because of my preventive medications. I also catch them sooner and treat them. I'm not sure why I missed this one.

Yesterday was really a pretty good day. I slept well Wednesday night and woke up feeling OK. It was actually kind of surprising because I had a pretty bad headache when I went to bed Wednesday night because we had a snowstorm during the night, but I assumed I just slept off the headache.

I went to a friend's house and helped her with some knitting (her vision is diminishing, so I cast on and knit the first row for her socks). Then, it was off to my counseling appointment and then grocery shopping for a few things. I had a headache at about a 5/10 during those activities, but I wasn't nauseated and I was managing well.

I got home and put away a few of the groceries and then sat and ate my dark chocolate (my weekly treat for getting groceries). Patrick and Minh got home soon after. They were going to the high school basketball games, so they got leftovers to feed themselves.

This was when I should have first noticed something. I still had a headache at about a 5/10, but I was starting to get irritable. When Patrick and I were talking, I found myself getting more irritated and angry than usual about political and social topics. Sure, Trump can get me riled up, but instead of my usual frustration, I was actually getting angry. The feeling was much stronger than usual. I should have taken note then.

Patrick and Minh left for the basketball games and I read and then watched TV and knit. I ate some leftover soup. During Project Runway, I noticed that the head pain was getting worse and I was getting nauseated. I let it go for an hour or so. Big mistake. I finally took my Phenergan and Imitrex. I didn't take ibuprofen or Tylenol at the time. Within an hour, the pain was up to an 8/10, very localized to the right side, and the nausea was worse. I put an icepack on my head and turned the sound on the TV down.

Patrick came home and saw the ice pack and asked how I was doing. I told him I was dying. Not till after Project Runway, but dying nonetheless. After the TV show, I lay down on the sofa with my ice pack and remembered to take ibuprofen and Tylenol. I'm not sure how much good they did because about 30 minutes later, I vomited. So fun.

The vomiting seemed to have calmed down the nausea and I took the least number of sleeping meds I could get away with and went upstairs to bed. I lay in bed for about 30-45 minutes waiting for sleep as my nausea got worse again. I made another trip to the bathroom and emptied the contents of my stomach. This time, the nausea was really gone. I was afraid that the sleeping meds were also gone, but I was able to sleep within another half hour or so.

After about 6 1/2 hours, at 4:30am, I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep. The headache was down to about a 3-4/10, and I was exhausted and hungry. I feel like I've been run over by a truck. It's going to be a long day.

Every migraine is different. Last night's was a terrible one. They aren't all this bad, but they are frequent, so they add up. I don't think I'll ever get the hang of it.

Catherine