Is it possible to enjoy the holidays?
Is it possible to enjoy the holidays and effectively still manage your migraine? Share your advice or tips on ways you have maybe found to navigate through this hectic time!
On the other hand, need a space to vent about the holidays? We are here to lend an ear! Share how you REALLY feel when it comes to migraine management and the holidays.
I was hoping for a question like this.
I have no tips or tricks. I'm just hoping to find support if there are others feeling as I do; and vice versa.
For ME, over the years, it has become less & less possible to even ATTEND holidays. My migraines became daily 16years ago. For several years I could make it to some holidays but not all. If I went, I had good plans: bring ear plugs; arrange in advance to have a bedroom I could rest in if needed; arrange for an early ride home if needed; take a lot of pictures - thus hiding behind my camera to avoid the head-pain of speaking; moving around from noisy rooms to quieter ones, as needed...
These things help a lot IF I CAN GO AT ALL. That's what has changed over time. I just missed my umpteenth Thanksgiving gathering. That was Thursday, now it's Monday. I'm still so depressed that I can't leave my apartment.
My family is F - U - N : FUN! Our parties & holidays are loving and hilarious - full of story telling, great laughs, lots of hugs, good talks, appreciation, and joy. Sure, they have imperfect moments, imperfect occasions;, but they're generally great and I HATE to keep missing them.
It's been going on for so long that, sometimes, I can sort of take it in stride. This year, however, it is hitting me like a brick wall. ... and a sinkhole. ....and a tidal wave. ...and,.. and. ..and..... ...
I've given up. I'm not even trying to .. shower, get out, call for support, nothing. At first that was largely, perhaps, prodrome; but now it's just plain sadness & grief. It's been so long, but the grief doesn't stop, because the hits keep coming. I'm so sad, and I'm so angry, that I have to give up so much of my because of this illness. Also, I'm very afraid that it will never get better. My family has continued to have all of the usual parties, holidays, weddings, graduations, and other occasions - year after year. They are ALWAYS supportive and hoping to find ways to help me be a part of things. But I feel like life moves on out there while I live in a stupid bubble where it all stands still and I can't touch life. Can't touch holidays.
Kate
I've been there. I'm sure many of us have.
Hot and cold compresses, ice water, luke warm water.
Sitting in the shower crying..sometimes it helps for a few minutes.
Nothing over the counter works for mine.
The Imitrix crap has never worked and is nasty....make me feel like a 50 pound weight is on my chest.
A mouth guard---nope but I will try a new style one just to grasp at straws.
The ER's think I'm a drug seeker. I have to call my nurse hotline advocate and tell them which er I'm going to just to NOT be treated like a street walker junkie and sometimes that wont work.
Once one starts....well. forget it. I'm in it for 96+ hours and then 1-2 days of hangover like symptoms due to the PAIN my body has been through.
My wife is in awe sometimes.
To keep my job I have to wear prescription sun glasses to see the computer screen so I can work.
It's a real nightmare
So, your not alone.
I hope you feel better. My first one was at ten years old that I can remember.
My mom said I have her headaches...So 1/2 a century later its been hell.
Yoga, walk, deep breathing, soft classical easy music. Low lights in the house.....Amazing or what!
When I feel good I'm great. I can go to a concert or some other event and all will be well and then all of a sudden, It might be a sound or a smell and I will see a strange AURA glow and then i feel it in the pit of my stomach and I know I'm back for another 96 hours of hell.
I diet right, TRY to sleep right but work is extremely busy these past few years.
I'm on Adderral now for ADD and that seems to help with lessend frequency of the Chronic Migraine.
I understand the hopelessness, despair and grief one goes through as it seems that loss is our lot in life. I have done my grieving and realize that it is really just under the surface but I will not let it take over my life for even an hour. I have certain music to play when it wants to surface, distraction is key. I look at it as just a chemical imbalance due to whatever weird wave is going through my brain at the moment. Go through any grieving one has to do for a short time but don't let it take over. I am over 70, live alone, really don't have anyone, and will only drive when I feel competent enough and never after dark. My neighbors will help if necessary but I won't burden them. May really need them someday. The weather has become very unstable with waves of storms so that means the barometric pressure rising and falling continuously. It takes a lot of courage to live our lives. When "the feelings" really get too much I scream and that makes me laugh because of the looks my cats give me.
Oh holidays. Forget it. Too far to drive to be miserable.
I long for the old days when my healthcare and migraines were treated by my doctor. Not the insurance company nor the government. When pain was treated not brushed off when you could go to the drug store and buy whatever you needed. I'm really tired of justifying my pain. In tired of being treated like a criminal or a faker or even a child.
Nobody is understanding. They all think I should just toughen up and bear it. Friends, family and work. Especially those who "brag" they have never missed a day or work. Those guys make me want to puke. If they had ANY consideration, they would stay home when they are sick so I don't catch their plague and subsiquently miss work.
