Ow

I've had migraines since I was 22. I remember the day I had the first one, which was an aura with no pain. I was at work and suddenly had no peripheral vision, kind of like someone letterboxed my screen. There were perks to working in a hospital, although having your boss (whom you loathe) take your blood pressure is not one of them.

I didn't get a migraine with aura and pain until years after that. That one included Mr. Scotoma and when he had made his way entirely around the left field of vision in my left eye, BANG, the pain started.

Since then, I've had plenty of time and experiences to figure out what my typical migraine is like and what tends to trigger a migraine for me. I've had some where a day or more before I know I'm in that mode. Usually, it's just a 20 minute session with the scotoma thing, maybe a little pre-nausea, light and sound sensitivity, and then a headache that makes me want to burrow my head into a wall.

My triggers are pretty straight forward. A sure fire migraine mix is when it's unseasonably warm out (like this weekend), I haven't had enough sleep (like this weekend), and I am menstrual (like this weekend). I do try to avoid that combo, but sometimes you just can't. And then you just have to roll with it. Ginger and rosemary tea help. But once one has a hold of me, there isn't much I can do but curl up somewhere dark and quiet, preferably with a wet washcloth and some lavendar until I fall asleep. So what happened this week?

This one is unusual. The pre-migraine symptoms were days long. When it peaked on Tuesday, it was chock full o'weird. At one point when I was lying down Tuesday, I started saying the alphabet in my head. It's hard to explain why...if I'm in a lot of pain, I tend to do things like count, say the alphabet, conjugate verbs in Latin, and other repetitive mumbly type stuff. I just do. It's like a mantra or something. Anyhow, I got to "P" and could not get what came next. To say I didn't remember is an understatement. I just couldn't GET it.

There were a couple of other things that made this one quite different, not the least of which is that I still feel like I am in that nasty post migraine state. And so I win a trip to the neurologist next week, who will probably do little more than tell me I had a brain all along.

Now if only I can manage to get some courage and figure out how these ruby slippers work, I'll be all set.

What the hell is a migraine anyhow? You may as well ask the Ouija board, because like many other things that tend to affect women more than men, it seems migraines are a big medical mystery. If men got them and if they were correlated with erectile dysfunction, we'd have migraines all figured out, I'm sure.
For now, here's a collection of possible causes for this incredibly mysterious yet rather comon disorder:
"The mechanisms of migraine remain not completely understood."

"For many years, scientists believed that migraines were linked to the dilation and constriction of blood vessels in the head. Investigators now believe that migraine is caused by inherited abnormalities in genes that control the activities of certain cell populations in the brain."

"Migraine headaches seem to be caused in part by changes in the level of a body chemical called serotonin...When serotonin levels are high, blood vessels constrict (shrink). When serotonin levels fall, the blood vessels dilate (swell). This swelling can cause pain or other problems."

"Although much about headaches still isn't understood, some researchers think migraines may be caused by functional changes in the trigeminal nerve system..."

Personally, I think it's transmissions from aliens. I knew I shouldn't have let them put that probe in there.