Oh Migraine!

For anyone that didn't know, I get migraines. The really big ones, like you see on commercials for migraine medication. You know, where they show a woman holding her head in her hands saying, "My migraines are so bad I wish I could remove my head." Or where there's a big group of people just walking around minding their own business, and a huge boulder falls on one of them, and a voice says, "Do your migraines wipe you out?" Yeah, I get those kind of migraines, I've had them since I was a little girl.


It starts with a little pressure, and if I don't take something quick, it turns into an immense pounding pain in one temple. If the room is too bright, it gets worse. If there's noise anywhere, it gets worse. If there's a funny smell, it gets worse. When it gets really bad, I get nauseous and my stomach hurts...which makes my head hurt worse. Basically, I get really bad migraines.


Yesterday evening I had one.


What I wanted to do was take a whole bottle of Ibuprofen, lay down in my bed with the door locked, the lights off, and a pillow over my head, slowly choking me into unconsciousness. What I had to do was make dinner. It was after 5:00, and Jeff hadn't come home yet. The kids were hungry, and when they're hungry they're fussy. And noisy. I had to make the noise stop.


So I threw together some hot tuna salad and flatbread, all the while trying to ignore the hammer slamming itself repeatedly into the side of my head. Man, that hammer was annoying. I made up a little ditty that I sang to myself over and over. The tune is from Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog.

A mom's gotta do what a mom's gotta do,
That's why I'm standing here making dinner for you,
Even though this migraine's slowly pounding me to death,
So please give me a sec to catch my breath.

Not bad, huh?

Jeff came home while dinner was baking. Oh joy, oh reprieve! I smiled brightly and let him know that he was now in charge.


He kept the kids under control while I threw myself dramatically (though gently - rough movements make the pain worse) onto the couch. I stayed there through dinner, unable to get up because of that stupid hammer and my slowly-starting-to-ache stomach. After the kids were fed, though, Jeff woke me from my pain-induced stupor to tell me he had to leave for an appointment. I was alone with the kids again. I got them out of their booster seats and sat them in front of the computer with Homestar Runner to entertain them. I choked down some dinner, knowing that sometimes eating helps the migraine to go away. Then it was back onto the couch for the rest of the evening. Jeff had to put the kids to bed by himself.

By the time I staggered to bed at 10:00, the hammer had slowed down, and wasn't hitting me quite so hard. And when I got up this morning, the pain was gone. But talking, writing, or even thinking about a migraine tends to give me a migraine, so I'd better end this post now. I'm starting to feel that little bit of pressure right behind my eye...