Migraine Roller Coaster Ride

So far 2011 hasn’t been a stellar year for my migraine disease. Due to laziness, sickness, and/or THE ICY STREETS AND SIDEWALKS THAT HAVE BEEN HERE FOR DAYS (sense my frustration?), going on my regular walks has been difficult, if not impossible. Hard to get your heart rate up when you are constantly on the verge of falling on your bee-hind.

Last weekend I was feeling pre-headachey and a little out of it. To top it off, I was coping with Tude of the Century (AKA: inexplicably horrible attitude and snappiness, probably linked to the migraine attack that was well on its way). Jim and I decided to get breakfast out, so we changed out of our PJs and climbed into the car so we could head to a local breakfast joint. I was fine as we sat there drinking coffee and eating food (Texas Toastwich + soysage gravy at our town’s famous restaurant, The Grit, is an incredible way to start the day), but the second we got the check I was ready. to. go. Like, right then.

I don’t know when things shifted for me, but sometime between drinking my last sip of coffee and the moment the waiter dropped off the check, I was antsy and ready to be back in my own house. Before eating, Jim and I had discussed running an errand or two after breakfast, but suddenly I knew that could not happen for me.

Jim was probably a little confused. After all, I’d ventured out of the house to eat and run errands, feeling blah but not sick. Granted, I’d been in a vicious mood, but things had turned up as soon as I had food (funny how that works) and I’d been an amiable, happy breakfast date. Suddenly I was back to pre-breakfast Janet, unable to consider going on errands. Shopping at the grocery store was the last thing on my wish list.

How do I explain to people, even those closest to me, that my migraine disease is taking me on a roller coaster and that they are sometimes automatically along for the ride? That I have no good way of describing how and why my mood changes so rapidly? That it’s hard to say why going to breakfast is all well and good, but that, without warning, anything else on the agenda is intolerable? What do you guys do? (Or am I describing something you’re not familiar with?)