Migraine today

It’s not a good day. I woke up in the middle of the night with a migraine. I guess I’m lucky in one way that I don’t usually experience the associated symptoms (nausea, for example), but the pain is excruciating. I do get the other symptoms, just not often. I get the “knife in the back of my left eye” pain and it’s something that someone who hasn’t experienced can’t really understand.

It’s frustrating because you don’t want pain like this to interfere with your life but rarely are migraines amenable to your schedule. I made arrangements to meet a good friend for breakfast this morning. We have a great cafe right near my house that is connected to a stained glass workshop. The cafe is beautifully decorated and is run by a husband-and-wife team. The food is incredible and that’s where I was to meet my friend, who I don’t get to see very often.

Someone once told me that I didn’t have migraines. I was at a basketball game for my youngest son that day and my head hurt so much. The thump, thump, thump of the basketball didn’t help at all. At one point I had to run out of the gym because I was going to be sick from the migraine. When I came back, my son had gotten a basket, something he hadn’t done yet that season. That’s when the guy next to me said that there was no way I could have a migraine because people with true migraines wouldn’t be able to sit through a basketball game.

That was at a time when I had migraines almost every day – what was I supposed to do? I had three kids, a husband, and a home and job to run. I would have given anything to curl up and pretend my head didn’t hurt. And there were times when I had to give in and hide from the world; but when you have migraines as often as I did then, that’s just not an option.

I don’t remember what I said to that man, but his comments stuck with me because I remember them more than 10 years later. I have had to leave events because of migraines. This same son was playing soccer in one game and my migraine was a bad one. I had to seek out another parent to ask her to drive my son home because I just couldn’t stay. I remember driving home, praying I wouldn’t have an accident and praying I wouldn’t throw up in the car. I made it into the house before I got sick, but it was a close call. I remember being very frustrated because I felt as if I was failing, but allowing my migraines live my life.

Migraines suck the life out of people. Thank God I don’t get them as often any more but how do I wish there was a definite cure for this agony.

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