Migraine Awareness: My Personal Experience
Am I seeing this right? Is there lights in my eyes? Can I read these words on the page? Is that person's face looking blurry? These are questions going through my mind when I think I am getting a migraine. My migraines most of the time start out visual with these disturbances. One thing you can look up on google to get a glimpse into what these visual disturbances may look like is pictures of a migraine aura (not including a picture here because of how closely it does reflect what I and others may experience with migraines). The pictures shown are very close to what they look like for me. They can turn into headaches and body numbness if I don't get to bed right away and take pain reliever.
I remember my first migraine in sixth grade. I did not know it was a migraine then but in seventh grade, I ended up in the hospital and they determined from the symptoms that it was a migraine. I realized then that the weird sickness I had in sixth grade was also a migraine. Dehydration was the reason they determined for my migraine; over the years, I have uncovered other reasons such as anxiety and lack of sleep. I never had a migraine before 6th grade. My migraines don't happen all the time, but when they do, they impact me for 1 to 3 days afterward depending on severity. My migraines are not chronic; my last one was a few months ago, but I worry constantly about getting them.
I remember my recent migraine, my first full day back to school this past semester. I remember this migraine because it was a hard one. This migraine is a good example of all the impacts that migraines can have on me, so I will use this one as an example for migraines. My migraines can vary in severity though and I don’t typically get all the symptoms. I got it at the day camp we had O Week training which was the most inconvenient place to get it. The best place to get a migraine is a place where I can immediately get into a dark room away from any noise and light. I was outside in the sunlight with an overwhelming amount of sounds. This migraine made it so I almost ended up in the hospital. I called my dad and he drove out to Grand Rapids with the plan to take me to the hospital. I ended up feeling better by the time he got to me, so he just went to Meijer to get some medicine and sick-day food.
Physical Impacts of Migraines
The most obvious impact of migraines is physical. Migraines and headaches are similar, but different in a lot of ways. They both include head pain; however, for me, migraines start out with visual disturbances and progress. My migraines progress from visual disturbances to head pain to numbness throughout my body and could be accompanied by other symptoms. I was dizzy during this migraine. I don't typically get nauseous with my migraines, but this migraine I did. I had numbness and blurred vision.
My migraines typically have different symptoms starting with visual disturbances accompanied with dizziness. Then after a bit, I get numbness that shoots up one side of my body to my face then down to the other side of my body. After that, I usually get a headache and that typically is nearing the end of the migraine. Afterwards, there is the post-migraine effects which include feeling drained.
Every migraine is different for different people. For some people, there are chronic migraines where they are long-lasting and occur frequently. For me, I don't have chronic migraines. My migraines last typically 1 day with post-migraine effects including feeling drained afterward. My migraines can get severe if I don't act on it right away, and the impacts of those can last longer. For this specific migraine, it took me about two days after the migraine to feel back to my normal self.
Mental Impacts of Migraines
The fear of getting a migraine is always here. Being at the cafeteria, my job, or being away from home makes it more nerve-wracking. It starts with thinking I might be getting a migraine and then my nervousness grows. There are two results of this: either I do get a migraine or I don’t and I need to calm myself down. I also get dizzy sometimes and my doctors have told me that might be a different type of migraine.
When I get a migraine, the worst thing I could possibly do is freak out. If I remain calm, it won’t get bad; the initial migraine will pass quickly. However, migraines typically do have an emotional component. Getting a migraine is an anxiety ridden experience. The migraine I had last semester was one where I absolutely freaked out. None of my roommates moved in yet, I was all alone in my dorm, and I was hungry but hadn’t unpacked the silverware. I did not know what to do, but the only food I had required a fork. I could not message anyone because of my vision, so I instead used the voice chat option. The anxiety got worse when I could not get anybody to answer. When a friend finally did answer, I was so anxious that I was going to pass out from getting so worked up that I did not want her to leave. She helped me to calm down, and now the goal was to remain calm. I called my dad later about it not knowing what to do as it was one of the worst ones I had in a while.
Spiritual Impacts of Migraines
My migraines have a spiritual aspect to them. When I got the migraine earlier this year, the first thing I did was sit down on a bucket by where the team building game was being played and prayed to God. I prayed for peace and strength as I knew it was a bad place to get a migraine. Another migraine I got last year, I remember that I could not stop thinking of the lyrics “I will carry you through the darkest nights when you’re terrified”. Having a migraine may not feel like a blessing, but these lyrics racing through my mind in that moment actually was a blessing as it reflected the season I was going through and God carrying me through. Another spiritual aspect is just remembering that the pain is only temporary and God heals us.
Comments
Post a Comment