Migranes!

Why didn't I think of this! The bane of my life!

I just read a NYTimes by Siri Hustevdt about this exact monster.
http://migraine.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/02/07/arms-at-rest/

She has captured it well and you might relate to if you are a migraine sufferer yourself. Here are my comments that I sent to her.

Siri,
Nice article! Reading through it brought back memories of my own ways of dealing with what I once thought was a monstrosity. I recall migraines ruining my teenage and early adult years. Mine were related to my cycle. I remember so many trips to the neurologists, alternate medicine like homeopathy, even orthodontists, because one doctor suggested it was due to poorly aligned jaw! Its amusing in hindsight :) No medication seemed to help. My theory was that the way the Zomigs and the Midrins 'helped' migraines was by taking the focus to a different part of the body like dizziness and feeling sick to the stomach and inability to drive.

The way I used to pop the pain meds to take the edge off, got my husband really worried and he one day said that this was the wrong way to deal with it, as it was all psychological (not the pain, the thought that the meds would help :)).

I even have older friends and colleagues who have told me menopause won't always take care of it. I have tried omitting foods as an approach, but just the thought of staying off chocolate and nuts, and be happy, as in 'migraine-less' did not seem so appealing a treatment!

Just when I thought I was defeated by this dread of a 'disease' I went back to my roots in Hindu philosophy, which talks about acceptance. Thanks to my husband who said it differently but meant the same thing. I have to say this has to date been my best medicine. I know when an attack is coming, but I don't get anxious; I will slow down but will not stop to 'welcome' it. Three days of hormonal imbalance a month, I can deal with it. The world has worse problems!