migraines

My weekend away with hubby did not start out well.  The drive to the airport was nice because of the beautiful fall day in Montana, we got checked in and through security without any hassles (love small airports for this reason!), and had time to sit an relax before out flight.  It was about this time that I noticed I was getting a headache.  My 5th headache in 6 six days.  Unfortunately this isn't unusual for this time of year due to allergies and also hormonal for that time of the month.  I didn't think much of it, just figured it would go away on it's own.

Nope.  

The flight was good until we started the decent, then we hit a lot of turbulence, making my headache worse and adding some nausea to go with it.  By the time we landed and finally got off the plan, my headache had turned into a migraine. 

And for me, this is all to familiar thing.  Though the migraines have lessened over the years, I still get them.

I started getting migraines when I was late teens and early 20's.  At the time, I didn't know that was what I was suffering from, just that I would occasionally get these "bad headaches."  I finally diagnosed with migraines when I was about 26, put on medication and sent on my way.  The medication didn't seem to help, but who was I to argue with my doctor.... something I regret now!  The headaches and migraines continued, and continued to get worse.  In 2005 I realized that I was on the verge of losing my job due to excessive sick leave from my chronic migraines.  I was having migraines more days than not.  I was miserable.  

My friend had been bugging me for several years to see a naturopath about the headaches and migraines, but I didn't see how that would help if my own doctor couldn't figure it out.  But in desperation, I got the naturopath's name and went to see her.  

I spent an hour with her (never having spent that long with my doctor, though more than that time in his office waiting for him!) but she had pretty much figured out my main issue within the first 10 minutes.  One of the first things she asked me is, "what do you eat during the day, starting with breakfast?"  I thought that was on odd question (at the time I had no concept of how food could effect the body), but I started out by telling her I have a mug of tea.  She asked if I used sweetener and I said "yes, Equal."  She sighed and said that may be my problem.  Equal is aspartame.  Aspartame is known to cause headaches and migraines.  
That made perfect since to me.  I had been on Weight Watchers for about 9 months so I was eating a lot of low-fat, low-calorie foods... most of which were sweetened with aspartame (a shocking amount of my food contained it!).  I drank tea with aspartame and diet coke with aspartame.  And what did I do when I got a migraine?  I drank more tea (with more aspartame) thinking that was helping!  

There were other factors that were causing my migraines, but once I began limiting the amount of sweeteners, getting 7 to 8 hours of restful sleep, and moderate activity, my migraines went from 3 or 4 a week down to 1 or 2 a month (and generally hit during that time of of the month).  

Over the years I've learned tricks to alleviate the migraine, such as a cold compress on the neck for 30 minutes and then a hot shower to 10 minutes (not sure why this works for me, but it does) or if I'm out and about I will take 2 Excedrin Migraine and drink a mug of black tea.  There are times, only an hour or two of sleep in a dark, quiet room will do it.

So, back to my weekend away adventure with a migraine...

By the time Hubby and I walked through the airport, collected our bags, caught the shuttle bus to the rental car hub, and got on the road, I was absolutely miserable.  But the fun was finished... we landed at 6, were in the rental car by 7, when it was dark.  And rainy.  And neither Hubby and I had a clue how to get the hotel.  Even with the help of my iPhone and his Android phone, it took us three tries to find the right road to the hotel.

At that point, I was done.  I was not going anywhere.  I was suffering from one of the worst migraines I have had in years and I just wanted to pass out, and Hubby was tired, frustrated and hungry.  Needless to say, it was not the best start to our weekend away.  What should have been a nice, relaxing dinner at some local restaurant, ended up with my Hubby going to the restaurant at the hotel next door, while I tried my best to get some sleep in the room.

Today is a new day.  I feel 90% better (so a HUGE improvement from last night), have energy, and a determination to make this a good day to get our weekend back on track.

Off to have some fun!