Migraine Diary: Post 1

When a migraine starts for me it can start in different ways. A migraine can start from sleeping wrong, a strong smell, the stereotypical bright light or loud noise, and often by nothing or nothing I can remember because the brain fog is so bad.

My life consists of the following: working as a children and family services case manager, working weird and stressful hours, visiting my family at their home where there are 9 cats and dogs in the home, and trying different medications for migraines until I’m able to see a neurologist. To put it simply, my life consists of many factors that trigger or contribute to my migraines.

Take this past Sunday for example. I spent the night at my parents home and woke up on Sunday morning with a migraine. There are different levels of migraine pain for myself. If I were to put my migraine on a scale from 1 to 10, with 1 being a headache with no other symptoms and 10 being I want to go to the emergency room, then this migraine was about a 5 or 6. My symptoms included: headache, sensitivity to light and loud noises, dizziness and nausea. Like most people with chronic migraines, I took my doctor recommended prescription “cocktail” of 2 Excedrin, 1 Topamax, 2 Tylenol and laying down with a face mask covering my eyes. Nothing. I waited probably 30-45 minutes. Nothing. I tried my hardest to attempt to take nap. I fell asleep for 25 minutes. I woke up to a constant, dull headache and brain fog.

I don’t remember how or what I did after, but I know I was able to drive myself back to my apartment 40 minutes away and place a grocery order on DoorDash for delivery. That was it. I was not up to doing laundry or even eating. I think I ate a yogurt and downed a bottle of water.

Then at some point I woke up. It was 5:47am on Monday and I started to get around for work. Still with a migraine, which had downgraded to a 3. All I know is I made it home to my apartment at 5pm.

Thank you Migraine…