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“Stop yawning, or go take a nap for a few minutes.”
I can just hear my dad’s voice, exasperated after my tenth yawn in a row (probably without covering my mouth, truth be told).
My dear father is incredibly sweet and easygoing, but he has his pet peeves—and people yawning excessively right in front of him is one of them. Sure, the not-covering-the-mouth thing is rude. No question there, and I’m guilty of that. I may be wrong, but I think one of the reasons he doesn’t like witnessing excessive yawning is because the yawner appears bored or in need of sleep.
After years of living with migraine disease, I’ve finally this year realized for myself that, for me, yawning (excluding bedtime yawning) doesn’t mean either of those things listed above. Rather, it means that the migraine process has probably begun.
A couple of weeks ago I had a few migraine days in a row. The first one came on while one of my employees, T., was working with me at the bookshop. I started yawning in the afternoon and could. not. stop. (Oh, my word. Even typing the word “yawn” in this post has got me on a power-of-suggestion yawning bender!) Maybe it was being around T., who is a great guy but not a close friend. Maybe it was being in a fairly new environment, the bookshop. Or maybe it was just that I’m now more aware of my own health patterns. But it dawned on me immediately: “Oh, I’m getting a migraine.” I let T. know that my yawns had nothing to do with him, that they were a part of the migraine process. I’m thankful I gave him the heads-up, because I also realized that he probably could use another warning. “I know I can be forgetful sometimes anyway, but please know that if I repeat myself or ask you a really foolish question, it may just be because my brain isn’t working right.” T. was very understanding and encouraged me to go home and get rest as soon as we closed the shop that night. (He was right on, too, as by the time we closed up I had a full-force migraine on its way and went home to crash.)
Does anyone out there get these obnoxiously intense yawning jags? I know it’s a common sign of prodrome but haven’t talked to many others who go through this. Do you say anything to those around you? Do you even notice what’s happening? I’d love to hear from you on this.
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"I had my first migraine when I was 12. I thought I was going blind, the spots in my vision all grouped together and everything went black. The pain was intense and felt like my head would crack open above my right eye." 
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Yep, I have noticed that; I’ll yawn about 10 times in maybe about 4 minutes. It’s most annoying when I’m in class and I get accused of not paying attention, but then I suppose it has it’s advantages because it’s a good warning system, you wouldn’t miss it!
Yes, I’ve noticed that, over the past 20 years that I’ve been getting migraines, I yawn excessively before I get one. It serves as a warning sign for me-that a migraine is very likely to happen. Sometimes I will get those “yawning jags” the night before I get a migraine. Then, if I wake up the next morning with one, I’m not surprised.