Sorry about the dearth of posts over the last couple of days! I’ve been on a Migraine Vacation. Alas, this is not a vacation FROM migraines; it is, rather, a perverse sort of anti-vacation vacation in which instead of lying on a beach with a nice big lemonade you lie on the couch with a constant low-grade migraine.
I’m ok; I just get go through these from time to time. I’ve had issues with chronic migraines for years. The meds I take control them somewhat but don’t keep them from recurring, and I go through stretches where they’re pretty much unending — not full-blown stab-in-your-eye-socket migraines but migraines still powerful enough that they’re impossible to control with over-the-counter pain meds. Not the end of the world, but it’s hard to get much work done.
I will do my best to get some short posts out though. And hopefully this will ease up a bit sometime in the near future.
Thanks for your patience, and giant thanks to all those who have been donating during this pledge drive! More on that in a bit.
If you haven’t donated yet, here’s that magic button again!
Thanks again!
So sorry to hear you are not feeling well, David, get well soon.
Belated sympathies and get-well wishes, David. (so belated that I sincerely hope they’re completely redundant now)
(also thanks to you and MissEB47 I now know that capybaras are right there in The Best Animals Ever category)
Ouch. OUCH.
I’m a chronic migraine person. I get it. All of it.
You go commune with the couch as long as you need to.
(New drugs may be coming out in another year or two. Google “CGRP monoclonal antibodies.” We might be a lot less couch-bound soon.)
@ Kat, October 4, 2016, 1:33 am
Sorry for the slow response!
What seems to work best is music with a hard, driving rhythm; lots of guitar and bass and whatnot. It’s probably most helpful if I just list a portion of the playlist I use, as an example:
Arch Enemy – Enemy Within, Burning Angel
Abigail Williams – From a Buried Heart, Like Carrion Birds, Watchtower
In This Moment – Daddy’s Falling Angel
Genitorturers – Lecher B****, 120 Days
My Ruin – Hot in the House of God
Octavia Sperati – Moonlit
Rob Zombie – Superbeast
Die So Fluid – Pigsy
Crisis – Blood Burden
Scarling – Black Horse Riding Star
That sort of thing. The key seems to be to keep up the noise with fast, aggressive songs like these. Usually, about forty-five minutes (or a bit more), at high volume, is enough. It’s most effective in the first hour or so when the symptoms start; I’d say it works about three quarters of the time if I catch it that early. It’s less effective if I wait longer, though it sometimes gives me a bit of relief.
I discovered that this helps with me by accident years ago. My parents were having a fight, and I couldn’t listen to it anymore, so I sequestered myself and put on an Arch Enemy album. I could feel a migraine coming on, but I turned it up loud anyway. I noticed that, during the heavier songs, my head felt a bit better. Lighter, more melodic songs seemed to make it worse, but the screaming, the wailing guitars and heavy bass seemed to soothe the pain.
It was pretty much the opposite of what I expected, but by the end of the album, my headache was all but gone. I still had a bit of that drunken feeling that migraines give me, but the pain was gone. After a few hours of sleep, I was fine.
I’ve been using music for my headaches for years now, and that’s generally how it goes. The symptoms don’t usually go away completely, but they’re much less severe. The heavier and harder the music, the better it seems to work. Sort of a constant roar is what I look for. Decent speakers seem to be the ideal delivery system, though in a pinch I’ve had some success headphones/earbuds.
I don’t know if it will work for anyone else, but I hope this is helpful. Sorry if my response is a bit disjointed, but I’m feeling a whopper of a headache coming on now, and circumstances were not conducive to listening to music.
Incidentally, I can say that watching two grown men have an hour-and-a-half long tantrum is not useful for preventing migraines.
Terrible idea for a vacation. Feel better.