I've been having such a hard time with my head-pain the past 2 or 3 weeks especially.
Migraines are SO physical but they are weird because they are invisible to everyone.
As much as you want people to understand your invisible physical torment they just can't
& it's all on you and you alone to get through it.
You have to jump through mental hoops to get yourself through
and often we're tackling those hoops freshly every single time.
I've been thinking about how I live and get through my days with all the pain,
not physically so much but emotionally...how am I am still a joyful person despite all the hardship?
I think one of my tricks to still being a happy person despite this physical hardship of mine is that
I never take for granted, no matter how many 100's of times I am stuck in a dark bedroom etc
those first hours when I can actually open my eyes and look at sunlight without stabbing pain,
When I can walk slowly in my beloved gardens & bend over to smell the flowers.
Where I don't want to puke when I inhale the air thick with beautiful lilacs.
Or most important of all, when I can get down to snuggle the buns and play with my hon or when I can get into my studio & actually look forward to work, no matter how short or long that may be.
I know all the little beauties that make me happy & which keep me afloat and I surround myself
with them & I rely very heavily on them during all parts of my pain, before, after & during.
It takes an awful lot of tenacity this life with chronic pain.
Life with chronic & acute pain is hell...there is currently no escape...
there is nothing I am doing wrong,
that's the misconception with migraines and headaches that I find so frustrating.
People are just trying to be sweet & helpful when they suggest that it's my diet or an allergy etc...
but migraines come from a misfiring in the brains network...
when the walls of certain blood vessels contract & detract & why they do so is unknown
and so there is currently no cure only pain management & for many of us nothing helps.
Yes, for sure there are triggers for the pain but most head pain sufferers know their triggers
and trust me on this, we avoid those triggers like the plaque if we can but my biggest trigger is
the weather & barometric pressure, the one thing there's no way to escape or avoid whatsoever!
So may I kindly ask you to keep in mind the next time your near someone with a sore head,
don't offer us diet advice or ask if they've tried Feverfew or the newest Advil etc...
(YES, I am on Feverfew...and Magnesium and CoQ10 and B's etc etc etc)
Don't praise the benefits of acupuncture or massage or tantric yoga!!!
(because most of us have tried everything under the sun!)
Just offer us a glass of flat ginger ale for our nausea tums...keep the rooms dark and quiet...
don't get mad at us or make us feel bad if we have to cancel plans on you,
just check in on us every once in awhile so we don't spiral in the lonesomeness,
maybe leave us a beautiful healthy pot of soup at the door...
offer us an ice pack to wrap around our neck and bring us a hot water bottle for our eyes...
give us a little hug, a pat on the back, admiration for our tenacious spirits
and count your lucky lucky stars that you don't suffer to!
