The Lucky One

My mom always considered me the lucky one of her kids...interesting, I was a screaming baby until aged two, then apparently, almost over night, I became the first child to head to bed at night. I think she thought I was lucky because I survived my childhood, fraught with accidents. I was always falling down.

I suffered a head injury at age three and a half in a car accident and wondered if that contributed to my 'awful head' as I called it when I was little.

My mom suffered; I remember bottles of Excedrin at her bedside, her dark bedroom with her lying on the bed holding a cold cloth to her head.

I think I always had headaches. The sun is not and never was, my friend. I am very pale, and had strawberry blonde hair as a child. Phys ed was hell for me. I could never, ever figure out how other kids could see in bright sunlight and actually run in it on a hot day.

When I was a teenager, I finally figured out that my 'awful head' was chronic headache. I blamed tension, smell, and improper eating as the causes. It wasn't until I was in my twenties and pregnant with my first child that I had a three month long migraine...with no option for pain killers. I was experiencing the dreaded rebound headaches caused by all the over the counter pills I had popped.

The migraines were intermittent until I was in my late thirties. I had thyroid cancer at forty and then my migraines took on a pre-vertigo phase, accompanied by twelve hours of vomiting. I discovered what my g.p. called the 'migraine protocol'. If I could get myself to a hospital quickly, I would be put in a dark room and hooked up to an I.V to replace fluids and a narcotic to take away the pain. I would literally float home...once the pain is gone, I'd feel so light! I also circumvented a migraine once by running barefoot in the snow, not by choice, (I had to chase a puppy in my bathrobe), and I have used Olbas oil (three or four drops into a bowl of boiling hot water, and inhaled) and even running cold water over my feet or wading in the ocean have eased head pain.

Now, in my fifties, the barometer and orange sets me off. Plus, I now have vertigo, but my new doctor (still a g.p.) found me a drug for that. It stops the vertigo/nausea, but I am a brainless zombie.

I can go to work, but don't ask me to remember anything.

Yes, my job has been affected. I watch people when I tell them, reluctantly, (I do not need to compare stories, listen to their remedies, or alternatively, watch their skepticism) and from past experience, unless they actually see my suffering, I am never sure they believe me.
All three of my children have had migraines, as children. My two daughters have triggers similar to mine. I deal with migraines, as they come and I am surprised that I still suffer from them. I had hoped menopause would rid me of them , but they just changed tack.
It is wonderful to know that I am not alone and I am thankful for this site. Thank You