migraine joys!

here are some wonderful things you get to experience waking up with a migraine:

1. nausea, followed by vomiting. the actual puking occurs in about one-third of all lucky migraine sufferers. what's so great about this for me, anyhow, is that i will continue to throw up all day long DESPITE THE FACT THERE'S NOTHING IN MY STOMACH. because any and everything gets vomited, drinking, oh, a sip of water is pointless. an ice chip on the tongue will come back up. and when there's nothing to come up, my stomach invariably finds something. like mucous. and bile. [today, for example, i counted my sessions over the toilet: 10. this includes three trips to the women's restroom nearest to the lecture hall i was teaching in, two of which were DURING CLASS. my students were a little freaked out. i canceled class number two today ...]

2. of course: pounding, relentless headache pain. i once came across a 1-10 pain index in an article written by someone who suffers from chronic pain. "migraine" ranked a 10, higher than having a compound fracture (think bone pushed out through your skin) and even childbirth. i think this might be a tad extreme, honestly. today's migraine was awful, certainly. i have had some that were much worse than the one today. but i think there must be worse things people endure. i hope not. [and for me, even if i had pain medication strong enough to help, it wouldn't stay down for more than two minutes ... maybe i need to look into getting my own injections i can do at home.]

so, uh, i guess that's it. just those two "joys" of having a migraine. naturally there is the crazy sensory overload -- all five senses are on high-alert when you have a migraine, which explains why people are sensitive to light, smell, the way stuff feels on your skin, sound ... taste (but since no one can eat while they have a migraine, i guess this last one gets ignored). all of these are true for me ... smells make me puke, sunlight hurts, and i can only tolerate cotton on my skin (wool sweater i contemplated this morning = too hot and WAY too scratchy). fresh air helps. stale, inside-air is BAD.

some other symptoms that seem to affect me: sweating (it's nice for me to be cold when i have a migraine. i always have a "winter-only" migraine fantasy idea of taking a sleeping bag outside in the cold and recovering that way), blocked sinuses, and occasionally (ahem!) diarrhea. i think the dizziness from the migraine is from not being able to eat or drink anything ON TOP of the nausea and nightmarish pain. today, teaching with the migraine: i tripped over my own feet TWICE. my students probably thought i was hungover, hmm. [sometimes the pain is so bad it makes me actually cry! total-baby admission, i know. it only happens with the really bad ones, and then only makes the pain worse.]

but it's over now. i had the migraine for about 10 hours today, not bad. i'm worn out, but like every other time a migraine fades and then disappears: i'm so happy to be alive! i'm euphoric i don't have a headache anymore. :) my head is actually sore (it will be tomorrow, too) from all the pain, but ibuprofen helps. and finally: I CAN EAT!

[cuteness alert: my dogs were GEMS with me on the couch with the migraine this entire afternoon. no barking, no stepping all over me (ok, there was a little of that at first, until i barked at them in some scratchy-freaky-witch voice that must've really alarmed them), no growling or farting, no humping each other ... they just curled up by my head as they're often wont to do and slept and cuddled like angels. i love them.]