Why Migraines SUCK!

Something I wrote a couple if years back on Facebook, during a particularly bad couple of months.

Why Migraines SUCK! (This could probably be from every person who has ever had a migraine) - Byron Morgan

What causes my migraines?

Weather: The worst come with weather changes. Sometimes big, sometimes small, and not always with either....but the worst of the worst come with weather. Sometimes 2 or 3 days ahead, sometimes as it hits.

Sometimes it’s Chemicals: strong smells, certain foods, too much or too little of some vitamin or mineral or nutrient....who knows sometimes what it was.

Stress: of course, mental stress becomes physical stress, and that becomes pain, and when pain gets out of hand, it starts a vicious cycle of feedback. Pain becomes tense muscles, which in turn begin to hurt, which causes more tension, pain, tension, etc, until the snowball becomes a brain-crusher.

What do migraines do?

The most obvious answer: they HURT!!! Ever had an ice cream headache?? Imagine that lasting for hours, days...sometimes weeks. Yeah, that's the nearest "normal" people get.

But that’s not all, and they actually don’t always hurt.

Sometimes I hurt, and I can’t see straight, I don’t see what’s there or I see things that aren’t. I hear roaring or ringing, things taste horrible or not at all, and my nose is possessed. I feel burning or numb or tingling, sometimes even my hair hurts.....really. I’ll feel sick to my stomach, like I’m gonna hurl, like I don’t trust that the floor will be down, which way is up, and why the walls are spinning or crawling around. My hands do nothing or go off on things I don’t tell them, my feet don’t go where they should, like someone else is in control but not paying attention.

Sometimes, I have every bit of that....except pain. Nothing hurts, but nothing else is right either.

What else does a migraine do? Makes me a jerk! I even get on my own nerves.

Oh yeah, and they cause stress.....yeah, stress causes migraines......
But why? Why would a migraine cause stress.
Because while all this is going on, there are a ton of things I’d rather be doing.
Because while I'm stumbling around trying to keep breakfast down, I’m not keeping my responsibilities.
Because I feel unreliable, unpredictable, and unuseful.
Because I know somebody has to pick up the slack I can’t do anything about.
Because I know I can’t improve, I can’t fix the problem....and I’m a fixer, I fix things, if it’s broke, that’s when people look for me....only I’m home, broken too.
Because I know once I come out of it, I’ll have to deal with whatever harsh things I said to people that hurt feelings. I’ll have things to catch up on, things to rush around and get done that fell aside while I was in zombie-land.
Because I know, before long...it’ll come again, and again, and again...
Because the little available relief is so expensive, or so debilitating...pick your poison, $35 a pill, or being a vegetable.

You’ve never had a migraine? Then this part is for you:
Good, I hope you never do. I know some mightily rotten folks and wouldn’t wish them an hour of it...much less the day after day after day I face sometimes. Just remember....there’s a reason you can’t imagine this kinda pain. I wish it was only imaginary. So many doctors treat me like it’s a joke. Nobody could really be hurting that bad without something showing on a test or a scan or some clear-cut disease. All the tests and scans and crap....clear, nothing wrong on their report. No, they think we’re just after a hand full of pain pills, and once we get them, we’ll go away for a few months. That’s the ticket, throw a pill at it, it’ll go away. Trust me, I’ve gone through treatments that hurt 10 times worse than the migraine, but only lasted a minute, in order to get a month without the pain. Pills are easy...I want a cure. I want to know why, and fix it. I just want to be something related to normal. Uninterrupted normal.