Baby’s First Migraine

Beowabbit

Now mostly on Facebook (and rarely caught up even there)

8th-Jan-2010 09:51 pm

So I had my first migraine yesterday. I was very very lucky: it was quite short (only about 40min before it was mostly over), very mild, and it was the kind that does not involve much pain! (I know about those because

sionnagh used to get them. Took years before she learned what they were, since you think of a migraine as involving, you know, a headache.)

I had some nausea and (as it got worse) a sense of disconnection and a hard time with short-term memory, and a little bit of a headache, but mostly it was visual effects. I first noticed something was going on when I was having trouble seeing my solitaire game on the train. (I was on my way to meet

plumtreeblossom for dinner before rehearsal.) Some experimentation showed that I had a blind spot, or nearly blind spot, more or less in the center of my vision. That was the scariest part of the event, because I was afraid that something was going physically wrong with my eye or eyes, like maybe a detached retina. As it got worse, though, I started seeing faint shimmering and flashing geometric shapes, and feeling nauseous, and I knew what it was. By this point I wouldn’t have been able to read without great effort, but I never got to a point where I couldn’t navigate. I got to the restaurant and found

plumtreeblossom, who had already ordered me food. I got some ibuprofen from her; it was probably only 15min after I'd originally noticed something wrong that I took it. Things got a bit worse over the course of dinner (although the nausea never got bad enough to interfere with eating; in fact, the food seemed to settle my stomach), but towards the end of dinner I was feeling a bit better and my vision was getting more normal, which made the prospect of participating in rehearsal for a radio drama a bit more realistic. By the time we were done with our food I was distinctly better, and by the time we got to the church basement for rehearsal, I was almost all better, with just a bit of residual headache and nausea and fatigue.

I hope this is not the start of a trend, although if they’re all that mild, it won’t be much of a problem.

Oh, and rehearsal was loads of fun!

Tags:diary, health, plumtreeblossom, theatreatfirst

Comments

9th-Jan-2010 02:58 am (UTC)

joyeous

I've never had the aura (though lots of people have) but many of my migraines involve more nausea than pain. In fact, sometimes for the first several hours, I don't know that I'm getting a migraine. All I know is that I don't feel like eating, not even full out nausea. I just feel like my stomach has shut down. The second symptom I get is that I feel unnaturally tired and I can't stop yawning. Now I know when I start feeling like that to take my scripts right away, because it's a precursor to when it gets really bad (i.e. pain and vomiting). Luckily for you yours went away on its own! Advil usually makes the nausea worse for me, as my stomach can't handle it if it's already upset.

9th-Jan-2010 03:09 am (UTC)

lilbjorn

On rare occasions I get the same kind of visual migraine, but without the nausea. It lasts about 20 to 30 minutes and happens maybe three or four times a year. But yeah, my first thought when it first happened was detached retina. I never get the painful kind of Migraines (*quickly reaches to knock wood*).

9th-Jan-2010 06:35 pm (UTC)

beowabbit

Yes, that sounds exactly like what I had (although it was a bit more than 30min before it was over). I’m knocking wood too!

(That sounds kind of naughty, actually.)

9th-Jan-2010 03:26 am (UTC)

necturus

That sounds very much like my first migraine, which I had as a teenager. I don't remember feeling nauseous, but I do remember wondering what was the matter with my eyes, and getting very frustrated looking at a map in one of my old atlases and not being able to see countries. And then ye gods, what a headache! It was excruciating and seemed to last for hours.

9th-Jan-2010 06:36 pm (UTC)

beowabbit

I hope you don’t get them regularly, and I’m sorry you have the headache with them! I really lucked out.

(Deleted comment)

9th-Jan-2010 06:40 pm (UTC)

beowabbit

Thanks for the description; I'd always wondered exactly what a migraine felt like.

Well, this was not terribly typical; most people who have migraines have the awful headache as well, and most people’s last a lot longer. I was lucky!

9th-Jan-2010 03:53 am (UTC)

kalliejenn2

yikes! did you eat or do anything out of the ordinary yesterday? sometimes that can trigger them (certain foods, for example)

9th-Jan-2010 06:42 pm (UTC)

beowabbit

Well, it was a politically stressful day at work, and I hadn’t been getting enough sleep lately (but then, I never do). Other than that, can’t think of anything.

9th-Jan-2010 04:31 am (UTC)

persis

Wow, you lucked out with such a short time lapse. Thanks for your migraine description; mine are somewhat different. I look forward to seeing the radio play next weekend.

9th-Jan-2010 06:01 am (UTC)

chienne_folle

I'm sorry to hear you had a migraine at all but glad to hear that it was relatively mild, at least. May you never have another!

9th-Jan-2010 06:42 pm (UTC)

beowabbit

Thank you!

9th-Jan-2010 01:15 pm (UTC)

plumtreeblossom

Poor my wuzzle. I hope this was isolated and you don't have to deal with it ongoing. *kiss*

9th-Jan-2010 06:43 pm (UTC)

beowabbit

Thanks, darling love!

9th-Jan-2010 02:16 pm (UTC)

moonshadow

Sorry to hear about this. I hope that if you have more in the future, they will be just as low-key, though of course not having any more is much more ideal.

(And I'm posting this with a picture of a migraine.)

9th-Jan-2010 06:44 pm (UTC)

beowabbit

Thank you!

9th-Jan-2010 02:16 pm (UTC)

eetmewithtoast

My migraines are triggered by what I like to call "environmental stress". Which just naturally happens during busy periods of my life, so there's not much I can do to prevent them, but they're definitely triggered by too little sleep, not enough food, and being forced to stay focused on one task for a long time. Good luck finding your triggers, if it does become a recurrent thing.

9th-Jan-2010 06:45 pm (UTC)

beowabbit

Yeah, these are the only likely triggers I can think of. But I’ve never had one before, and I’ve been plenty stressed before, so hopefully I’ll never have one again. :-)

9th-Jan-2010 03:20 pm (UTC)

hrafn

I wouldn't mind migraines so much if it weren't for the headache; I get the funky flickery aura and small blindspot for a while first (well, I haven't had one in 11 years, so maybe I don't get them anymore, and while I definitely wanted to lie down in a dark room and sleep until the whole thing was over, the pain wasn't all that severe). Here's hoping this is not the start of an exciting new trend.

9th-Jan-2010 03:36 pm (UTC)

surrealestate

I'm glad you don't have a concussion and I hope this was an isolated incident!

(Deleted comment)

9th-Jan-2010 06:46 pm (UTC)

beowabbit

Thank you! And I’m really glad you were able to get rid of yours.

9th-Jan-2010 06:45 pm (UTC)

beowabbit

Thanks!

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