pigen51's Status Updates

Hi @pigen51,

Thank you for your kind words and reaching out to share your thoughts with us.

I hear you! People don't seem to understand migraine is NOT a headache, but a genetic, neurological disease!! Maybe throw that at them and see how they respond?!

Congratulations on retirement! If retirement got rid of migraine, I'd do that in a heart beat! The thing is stress may trigger an attack, but it certainly isn't the only trigger we have.

Wishing you a good day,
Nancy Harris Bonk, Patient Advocate/Moderator
I do wonder if a dose adjustment is needed with Vypeti? Something to discuss with the doctor. Let me share our information on this medication; https://migraine.com/news/vyepti-first-intravenous-preventive-treatment-approved/ and https://migraine.com/vyepti-eptinezumab-jjmr/. It may take a bit for this medication to "kick in" as they say.

Congratulations on your retirement, pigen! 😀 I hope that you find moments of enjoyment in between migraines. -Melissa, migraine.com team

nancy, sorry about the misspelling of the med I am on. After taking so many different drugs and drug combos over the years, sometimes I get the correct name mixed up, and it sticks in my head, and the right name never replaces the wrong one.
I have only gotten my 2nd dose, at the beginning of my trial with it, and so I will contact my doctor and suggest that the next dose, we perhaps raise the amount of the dose, which seems to be the protocol. As always, thank you for your caring and concern, as well as your hard earned advice.
One other note, as an over 40 year migraine patient, I have been on a few of the websites that have existed since the internet became a popular thing, even since the days of just bulletin boards. And this website, gathering place, or what ever one could wish to call it, is the best that I have ever found, both due to how easy it is to navigate and also due to the moderators and the kindness and concern of the people who gather here. Sometimes when I am having a particularly hard week, I find myself ending up here, reading about other's journeys, and how they deal with them, and even though I have perhaps walked in the same footsteps, at one time or another, I find strength, simply through that connection with someone else who has shared in my pain, or sadness, or downright feeling sorry for myself. I can tell when I am just feeling sorry for myself, and still can't stop, but when I find another who through the same basic issue that we share, i somehow am able to if not get rid of the feeling, I am at least able to hang on until I find myself getting over things, and able to recognize the beauty that is life once again.
So I guess I just want to tell you thank you, for such a wonderful ministry, that brings so much hope to so many.

Melissa,
I wrote a note to Nancy, expressing my thanks for this website and the group of people that gather here, both to seek help, and to offer their support, and I cannot go without mentioning you and how helpful you, along with the rest of the moderators have been to me, as well as I am certain, hundreds of others.
I hope you are able to read the note that I wrote to Nancy, as it applies to you and several others also.
I did retire due to chronic migraines, and also a chronic pain problem due to a car accident when I was 20, and broke my back. I worked for over 35 years in a foundry environment, all the while with a bad back, and over time, migraines that increased in frequency and severity.
The thing that always kept me going was the knowledge that I was working at such a hard job to support a family. I did go through a divorce from my first wife, which was probably the most difficult thing that I ever faced. But there were a number of things that came from that which were positives. One was that I was able to spend a few years playing music professionally, as a side gig along with the foundry job. I actually was voted an All American Musician my senior year of high school, but like I said, I took a job in a foundry to support a young and growing family.
Another good thing that came of my divorce was that I met and married someone that I was in sync with, and who was able to work together with, and with each other, we became soul mates. I don't feel like you can find a soul mate that is just out there waiting to be discovered, but rather, you must find someone who is willing to stay with you and do the sometimes easy and sometimes very hard work to become each others soulmates. And we are working on our 29th year together. I can't imagine being with any other woman, and as a Christian I have no doubt that God led us to each other.
Looking at how my life has unfolded, and the many things and people who have entered my life, sometimes for a short time, and sometimes for the length of my life, I can see the hand of God moving, protecting me from so many things that could have harmed me, and made me live a life that would have been inconsistent with the person that I am.
I have a twin brother who, I am happy to say, doesn't get migraines, but sadly, has the problem that afflicted many in my family, that of dependency on different substances. Even in high school, he had this problem, while I was the one who was friends with the teachers, the high school principle, and just a young man who had character. And I am glad to be able to say, that trait has followed me my entire life. It is because of that quality that I never became angry or disheartened over any of the things that can happen to all of us, in life. I spent my entire working life doing dangerous, manual labor, while I had the chance to attend college on scholarships, both based upon music, academics, and also on a full ride for football, for my freshman year, at least. Having made my choice, I was able to make a decent living and to enjoy the luck of having 3 biological children with my first wife, and 2 adopted children with my present wife. Knowing how my life ended up, I would not change a thing, wanting to still have my children, and to be able to have a relationship with someone that I loved while I was young, and then to later find the woman who I was meant to grow old with.
I still have days when sadness over things that happened in my life threaten to take over my happiness, and I often suffer the depression that many of us fellow migraine/chronic pain patients suffer from. As I mentioned before, I come here, and I am able to find a person who has walked the same or similar path that I have, and I often find peace through the way that they dealt with their pain.
We all know that the life of a migraine sufferer is not an easy one. Just the process of attempting to find a treatment regimen that works for us, is often something that can take years. Or it will work for a time, and then it is as if we never had any relief, and must start over from the beginning. I only want to let you know that it is because of you and your fellow migraine.com team mates that I have been more able to get some strength emotionally to deal with myself and the many issues that I find that I had pushed away. I found a counsellor that helped me to deal with so many issues from my growing up years, that I am so grateful for. Yet I also find that I had attempted to hide from some of the more difficult ones, those that dealt with pain and acceptance of not only dealing with it, but with myself, and allowing myself to feel the pain, and not dismissing my own feelings related to that pain. Coming here, and reading stories of people that have dealt with their own difficulties, both with their pain and their close relationships and how their pain affected those relationships has allowed me to let myself feel that pain and to be a human who also has value simply because I exist, not because of what I do or how I can be something for someone.
So after all of my ramblings I guess what I am attempting to say is thank you, for both being helpful, with your suggestions and your attitude towards allowing all of us to simply exist, and to be weak when we need to be, and to be strong when we can be. And thank you to the people who post here, and allow me and others into their lives, and to learn about ourselves through their own selves. You all have made me a better person, and a stronger person, because of your own strength.

Pigpen51, or just Tim.

Hi @Pigpen51,

Tim you've made me speechless, which isn't easy to to! Thank you so very much for your kind and compassionate words. They truly mean so much to me and my fellow moderators and contributors. We know how important it is to not feel alone and isolated while living with chronic illness.

People like you make this community what it is - a safe, compassionate place to share life experiences while living with migraine, which is not an easy task.

I appreciate you and what you've been through, you're not alone!

Have a wonderful day!
Nancy Harris Bonk, Patient Advocate/Moderator

Dear pigpen, thank you for always being so kind. Everyone here really cares about our members and it is a joy to hear when we make a difference. I am actually not a migraineur -- I work as a moderator for several sites in our Health Union family -- but I have learned a great deal from the experiences you all share so openly. While I won't understand as well as some others here, I know that you all go through so much just to get through the day. We all deserve a place to let our guard down and be heard. If I can be a friend in the midst of that, then all the better. -Melissa, migraine.com team

Just checking in and I'm truly sorry to hear that you haven't experienced any relief from Yvepti so far in your migraine journey. Believe me, I know how much of a bummer it is when people underestimate the impact of migraines, assuming they're just headaches. I hope you've been feeling way better as of late, since this last update. We're always looking out for you, no matter when our responses come from 💜 ~ Sawyer (team)

Hi, pigen! Good to see you.

Congrats on the weight loss -- even though you only made small changes, it still takes determination and commitment to stay with it. Soda can really make a person pile on weight. My mother-in-law doesn't drink coffee, but she likes soda. One year, she gave up soda for the 40 days of Lent and was surprised to find by Easter she had lost 10 pounds. No other lifestyle changes. I hate plain water (I am an odd one, haha), and for many years now I've been drinking Propel water. It has electrolytes too. You might find it helps a bit if your migraines are influenced by dehydration or nutrient balance.

Keep taking good care of yourself. Best wishes in the new year -- hopefully you'll be through this rough season soon!
Melissa, migraine.com team

Melissa,
My wife and I both drink Propel water. I have heard that they might be phasing it out, and I also am not a huge fan of plain water. But if I have to, I will start drinking plain ordinary tap water. I found during high school sports that Gatorade made a difference, especially in football. I played on every play, except for when we kicked off,and was able to grab a quick drink at that time only. I lost 11 pounds during one game, our senior year homecoming. It was in 1977, and we had a budget crisis,and so they played our home games on Saturday afternoons, rather than Friday night, so that they didn't have to pay for running the lights. I happened to step on our medical scale on the way out of the locker room, and then on the way back in. I couldn't believe that I had sweated off 11 pounds.
During cold Friday nights, with temps in the low 40's to high 30's, I would lean my head back, and hold my neck open,and watch the steam rise up from my neck hole of my uniform.
I actually was a pretty good high school player, with a few chances to play in small colleges. Back then, there was no such thing as a concussion protocol, or I would not have been able to play very much.
Thank you for your good wishes, and I wish the same to all here,and a very wonderful and safe, happy New Year, filled with blessings and close connections with loved ones.

Oh wow, thanks for telling me about Propel. Your timing is interesting, because for the last little while the shelf at my grocery store has been scarce and I wondered why. I'm drinking a different brand now and am not a fan. Maybe I need to start weaning myself into drinking lemon water... Sigh. -Melissa, migraine.com team