It's been a while

It's been a while since:

1.) I've posted on this blog
and
2.) I've had consistent migraines.

In December I had one migraine a few days before my period, and then small, sharp head pain a few times a day during my period. Then...nothing.

Nothing until a few days before my period this month. Yes, I know, I'm very fortunate. (Well, a few years ago I wouldn't see it that way, but after being a chronic migraineur for a year and a half , I take what I get and find something positive from it.)

So a few days before my period (last Friday, to be exact) I had vertigo. But very slight vertigo where nothing happened except that I felt like I was on a ship for a second or two a few times in five minutes and no vomiting. But no headache until the next day. I was very tired on Saturday, as well. And then Sunday I had some of that terrifying but benign vertigo again, where I feared a public display of dizziness and vomiting, but it didn't happen. My husband and I are very in tune to this vertigo drill. We were at church, in the chapel, when it occurred. I just had to whisper, "vertigo", to him and we waited to see what would happen. After 3o seconds, I knew it wasn't going to turn into anything. I'm so grateful that when I get the vertigo, I have about a 30 second warning before it gets progressively worse. So I had a headache after that little vertigo tease and then was fine all week.

Until two days ago. I was shopping at Macy's and in the dressing room when I got dizzy. As always, I tried to rationalize it away. "Maybe there is construction in the building and the floor got uneven for a second." or "Maybe it's just because I had my head down and stood up too quickly." I do that a lot. But it is always a migraine.

Five minutes later I was purchasing my clothes and the pain came on intense. I couldn't think straight. Well. I thought enough to quickly grab my migranal (nasal spray for migraines) out of my purse and set it up for use. I now always keep a dose in my purse (note to self, put another in there now that I've used up the last one!) so I am not stuck somewhere with a monster headache. I took the spray quickly and after a few minutes was able to get to the car just fine. Fifteen minutes later I took the second dose and was pain free for the day. Tired, but pain free.

The next day a migraine happened again. We were just about to leave to take the girls to the park (an incredibly and surprisingly sunny day in Seattle!) and no vertigo, but intense pain. With that intense pain, I can't think straight. Though I do have enough in me to think, "spray! now!"
I took my second dose in the car on the way to the park. (It's so nice to not have to stop life completely for these headaches, anymore.) We were there for about thirty minutes when I knew that the spray wasn't going to be enough. We stayed at the park a little longer (I'm not going to leave early for some head pain when my three year old doesn't get to do her favorite thing, flying on the swings, very often) and then my husband dropped me off at home and took the girls for an extra errand. He's so good about giving me a little quiet time when I'm adjusting to a headache. I took three aspirin, as prescribed by my neurologist when the spray isn't enough, and this took all the edge off.

It's interesting that I had the headaches before and at the beginning of my period, nothing in the middle, and then at the very end. My body just doesn't like change. Especially estrogen change. I wonder, if this will eventually be controlled and my life completely back; and then if I will go through this during peri-menopause. Nothing I'm worried about now--I've got at least fifteen more years before this occurs (I assume), but I'm just amazed at our bodies never ending changes to hormones.

I'm grateful for my strong body. I'm grateful that I can walk, talk, breathe, see, laugh, read, cook, garden, write. My body is amazing and I can do many things. I'm even able to start to cope with migraines well. For a while, I didn't know if this would ever happen.

...though I really look forward to the post where I write, "Wow. I didn't know this day would come where I can write that I've had NO migraines for two months." something like that, would be victorious.