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The outline of a house filled with various cleaning supplies.

Techniques I Use to Manage a Household with Migraine

Amanda Workman's avatar image

By Amanda Workman

3 min read

B-12 injections, and vitamin drink mixes, and fatigue, oh my!

It is a Friday night, yet I am curled up on the couch with my dogs. There are so many things I could be doing right now, ranging from housework to having dinner with friends. Yet my pain and fatigue have shown their ugly heads more than usual this week. No combination of energy producing supplements can fight off my current fatigue.

How do I keep up on chores with migraine?

Despite living with chronic migraine and the fatigue that is associated with the migraine pain, I still must maintain my household. To successfully manage my household, I must prioritize the most important tasks. I like to write down my to-do list. This helps me determine the most important tasks.

Technique #1

The first tip that I use is to set manageable goals. By this, I mean starting off by cleaning all the tabletops in the living room or by cleaning the corner of the room instead of the entire room.
A sparkling clean table.

This helps to prevent me from feeling overwhelmed, which makes me not want to even start a task. Plus, being able to check something off my list provides a sense of satisfaction.

Technique #2

One trick that I have learned is to try to tidy up as I go through my everyday life. By this, I mean that I try to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher as I finish using them. This helps me later because I do not end up with multiple loads of dishes to do.
A laundry basket with bubbles around it. I also try to do laundry one load at a time. For me, this is better than waiting for there to be so much laundry that I have to spend an entire day doing it. This is not a guaranteed thing because some pain and fatigue days are worse than others. But when I can implement it, it is helpful.

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Technique #3

The next trick that I use is allowing myself to take breaks. Anytime that I accomplish something on my to-do list, I sit down for a break. I have even taken a break after putting the clean dishes up, before dealing with the dirty ones. It honestly depends on how my pain levels are that day.

A round clock with a stop sign behind it. Learning to listen to your body is a huge task. But once mastered, it can help you so much with managing your household. By paying attention to my body, I can take a break before my body forces me to take one. This normally allows me to continue cleaning afterward instead of pushing so hard that my body takes me out of commission for days with a major migraine.

Technique #4

My final technique is to enlist help whenever I need it. This is honestly the hardest one for me to use consistently. I struggle to ask for help with anything. But if am having an extremely bad period of pain and deep depression, I find myself asking my best friend to come help me with a few things.
Two hands reaching out to connect surrounded by cleaning bubbles.
When managing a household with any chronic health conditions, it can be extremely helpful to acquire help from family or friends. If family and friends cannot assist you, maybe you can team up with a house cleaner. I say team up because in cases where finances are limited, it can be cheaper to have a house cleaner that does some basic tasks instead of asking for a deep clean.

Are you responsible for maintaining your household? If so, do you have any tips to share on how you manage your household?

This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The Migraine.com team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

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