One Day My Blog Will Have Something to Say About This

With apologies to the Log Lady, but I've been heavily medicated today.... This morning I had my 2nd worst migraine ever. My 1st worst migraine was also my 1st migraine that I ever correctly identified as a migraine, on Christmas Day in 1995 or 1996. The paranoid part of me is suspicious; just 2 days ago I was recounting my "1st migraine story" and thinking about how far I'd come. Hubris. It figures. What made this morning's episode worthy of a blog post after so many months? Well, the pain mostly. The actual writhing in agony and blinding pain and shocking nausea, unabated by drugs nor ice packs nor ginger nor sitting up nor lying down nor lying partly down but propped with pillows nor with blackout mask nor "why don't I try walking around?" nor "bad idea, never move again ever. Ever." My cat, hoping for a snuggle, instead perched cautiously on the corner of the bed, warily watching but (dutifully? lovingly? impatiently waiting for food?) still remaining close by. The pain struck at 5:23 am, or at least that is the time I roused myself to attempt the all-thumbs fustercluck ridiculousness of opening the imitrex packaging. One helpful friend suggested opening them ahead of time, but I've been told by doctors that exposure to air degrades the drugs. And I NEED the drugs. I understood junkies this morning. I would've smoked crystal meth from a toothless whore if I thought I would feel better. At 7:12, after 100 mg of imitrex, a fiorocet, a mucinex from the orange box (just in case it was sinuses) and a lot of nausea, blinding white pain, calculations of approximate force required of head against wall to induce blacking out, phone in hand to call someone to take me to the ER, I finally emerged slowly. So, full circle or something. I still have no idea why today at 5:23 am occurred. I went over everything I ate, was exposed to, the weather, my water intake, the allergens forecast, and still no answer. All I can do it push forward and hope for the best. And make friends with someone with his/her own personal morphine drip. Ok, ok, maybe not. Onward....!

I wanna new drug

I realize that this will sound like a #FirstWorldProblem, but by last Fall I had finally reached my tipping point of patience with my terrible horrible issue of...facial sweating. Yeah, sure, it is inconvenient and un-ladylike, but come on. I know. But being an event planner and going to speak to a client after running around the kitchen and back hallways was not always pretty. Even if they weren't noticing, I felt self-conscious and thought "Hell, there's a drug for GROWING EYELASHES, so why not for this?!"

After tons of internet research and being blown off my 3 different doctors I finally convinced one to let me try the drug Robinul (Glycopyrrolate). It is an anti-ulcer drug with a side effect of reduced sweating, especially in the face and head area. Score! I'd read that other people with "gross face" (technical name: crainiofacial hyperhidrosis) had success, and let me tell you, I would now write one million love sonnets to this drug. I only take 1/2 mg per day and it is just enough to let me get through a day with makeup and confidence intact. However, a warning to fellow migraineurs who take tripans for migraines: the increased body heat brought on by both drugs is intense. Massive hydration, perhaps even some G2 Gatorade, is recommended.

More allergies

Like everyone else across the country, or at least on the east coast(ish), allergies are hellacious this season. With a temperate winter without a few good, long freezes, all of the pollen and molds just kept growing. Now, with the trees budding, I am relying more and more on daily Mucinex and daily 24-hour Claritin. A small victory of graduating to every-other-week allergy shots was short-lived, and after a severe reaction to a shot I am now back to weekly visits. All that being said, I am remarkably not plagued by migraines. I had one in the middle of the night, but I chalk that up to a stressful day (bride test dinner PLUS a wedding reception PLUS multiple brides "popping in" -- oh yeah, not at all a hectic 9-hour nonstop day!).

Anybody else having allergy-influenced migraines?