Let’s Talk: Life With Chronic Migraines

Since migraines are such a big part of my life that I’ve never really talked about here on my blog, I felt like now was the time — especially if any of you struggle with the same thing! I do think having chronic migraines has shaped my personality and habits in some ways, and it plays a role in my lifestyle, whether I like it or not. Keep reading for some insight on life with migraines, my migraine story, my treatment process and how they’ve affected my life on a day-to-day basis.

MY MIGRAINE STORY

To give you some background info, this all started for me with getting headaches as a kid, and I think that’s how it starts for most people. These headaches developed into migraines during my teenage years and haven’t gone away since. I have them anywhere from 2-3 times a week to upwards of 5 or more. It’s extremely rare if I don’t have one within a week. Unfortunately, they’re hereditary and my mom and older brother have them too. I don’t know when I realized my headaches were no longer just headaches, but discomfort/pain that prevented me from doing my day-to-day tasks some days was a huge indicator.

My migraines caused me to miss school some days, spend an afternoon on vacation in bed, skip out on hangouts with friends and stay home from work. When they get bad, I’m kind of forced to shut down for the remainder of the day until my medicine kicks in, which I’ll touch on more in a second. I’m always hesitant to define them as “chronic” because I know so many other people have it worse than I do and the frequency can vary, but in general, I think it’s the most fitting term.

As for severity, mine can get really bad really quickly. They affect my ability to communicate, work, drive (safely, that is), and perform day to day tasks in general. Often times I hesitate to make plans ahead of time because I truly never know when a migraine is going to show up out of nowhere and completely dehabilitate me from being able to perform as I should. I hate cancelling plans and not showing up to things I said I would, but this is something I’m working on feeling better about because sometimes it’s just out of my control.

MY TRIGGERS

When you’ve had migraines as long as I have, you pick up on your triggers pretty quickly — and my list isn’t a short one. New triggers have developed over time and I’m learning new ways to avoid these circumstances and scenarios as much as I can. Here are some of mine:

• Change in weather (atmospheric pressure)
• Loud, unexpected noises
• Bright lights (this happens at restaurants when I’m sitting across from someone and they are backlit by a window, and my eyes struggle to focus on them)
• Eye strain (trying to focus on something when my eyes are forced to be in an uncomfortable/unnatural position, trying to read in a moving car, etc.)
• Additional weight or tightness on my head (ill-fitting sunglasses, hats, headbands, etc.)
• Stress
• Hormones
• Dehydration
• Lack of caffeine

PRESCRIBED MEDICATION

I didn’t seek actual treatment or prescription medication until after college, I believe. Most migraines I would suffer through until they were gone (lasting anywhere from a few hours to 24 hours) because I told myself they were part of my genetic makeup and there wasn’t much I could do about it. To be honest, I pushed off going to the doctor way longer than I should have and, in turn, suffered much more than I needed to.

Friends and family had been telling me to go to the neurologist for years and I finally decided to go after having yet another migraine streak (sometimes five days in a row) that pushed me over the edge. Denying the severity of my migraines for years on end wasn’t helping me, and it took me a while to come to terms with that.

My neurologist put me on a preventative medication and an onset medication, starting with a low mg dosage and working my way up over the course of six months or so. I used to be the kind of person that hated medication and would avoid taking it at all costs, so coming to terms with the fact that I legitimately needed it was difficult for me.

Since that initial prescription, I have since changed to a different preventative medication and the mg amount has increased. I feel comfortable with what I’m taking now, but I know my body while eventually get used to the medication and it will no longer work as it’s supposed to, and I’ll have to switch to something new.

I’ve also taken shots in the past, which is essentially just my onset medication in shot form that gets though my system faster. They shots are prescription and don’t have an actual needle — once you unlock it, you press it into a fatty part of your body and the pressurized medicine breaks open your skin. It’s loud and BOY is it painful. I’ve never been shot with a BB gun or anything, but that’s what I imagine it feels like (LOL, but really). It can leave a bruise and I’m pretty sure I bit a towel the first couple times I had it done (shoutout to Justin for being my doctor on this one). It is so painful and something I absolutely dread, but when the migraine is that bad, you gotta do what you gotta do!

A huge factor of my medication for me is rationing. Insurance only allows me to get a certain number of pills at once, and once I’m out, I have to pay a fee per pill until my insurance allows me to get more. When this happens, the fee for one pill is $20, which I willingly pay on days I’m feeling desperate.

As for other doctor-related things, I thought it would be beneficial to get a head scan in case there was something bigger going on, just in case. Knowing my migraines are hereditary and there likely wouldn’t be anything else shown, I went ahead and had an MRI last fall and everything came back normal (other than a “slight” deviated septum — am I that girl from Hannah Montana?! Let me know if you guys know who I’m talking about!). I suggest everyone with migraines get an MRI just so you can rule some things out and know there’s not a bigger issue at hand.

SELF TREATMENT

As for self-treatment, there are some things I do at home to help with the pain. I’d say the #1 thing I do is putting a heating pad on my feet. I’ve heard it helps blood flow to your feet and not as much to your head as it does during a migraine, but I don’t know how accurate that is. For me, it’s more of a comfort thing now, and I know when I have it tuned up as hot as it goes and it only feels lukewarm on my skin (yikes), my migraine is pretty bad.

Hot showers help sometimes too, but again, I think it’s more of a comfort thing. As for sleeping, I always lay down in a dark, quiet room and do my best to fall asleep because I feel like the medicine always works faster and better when I take a nap. I also try to eat something when I take my medication because it helps lessen my nausea, and I try to get in as much fluids as I can. Gatorade usually helps me drink more because I like the taste more than water. People say the electrolytes in Gatorade are supposed to help, but that hasn’t been my experience. Sometimes my migraines cause me to throw up, so I have to prepare for that too.

FEELING DEFEATED

Migraines have a way bringing you down, for sure. I’ve talked to my brother about this, and we both strongly agree that migraines bring along a down in the dumps feeling, making you feel like things are never going to get better health-wise and that you’re going to suffer forever. It sucks away your hope that you’ll ever find treatment that actually works. I’m curious if you guys experience this too!

Another unfavorable thing about this is letting other people take care of me. I’m so lucky to have family who gets it and a husband that’s so understanding. Justin drives to the pharmacy at 3 a.m. to get me meds when I can’t get of bed, is constantly checking on me and nurtures me so incredibly well. I do feel guilty sometimes that he has to do so much for me, but he’s always reassuring me that he doesn’t mind. It also doesn’t help that Justin hasn’t been legitimately sick once in the 4.5 years we’ve been together (lucky duck — like, how crazy is that?!), so I feel like I haven’t been able to pay it back to him, though I know that’s totally not how this works.

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Do any of you have chronic migraines? If so, how have they affected your life? I’d love to open a discussion on this in the comments section, or in my email inbox if you’d rather do so privately. Thanks for listening to my migraine story and I hope those of you going through the same thing, or any other illness for that matter, can relate and feel comforted knowing you’re not alone. I’m incredibly blessed that this is the only health-related issue I deal with, but like those of you that have them too, I hope medication and treatment improves in the future. If you enjoyed this post, you can read all of my previous “Let’s Talk” posts here. Check back for a new post on Friday!

P.S. On a completely unrelated note, the lemonade I’m holding in the photo is from Natalie’s Orchid Island Juice and it’s my new obsession. I’ll be sharing more about it on Instagram today + here’s a coupon for it you can use at Fresh Thyme!