A Letter to You

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Seeing Spots.

And I'm not talking about cheetahs. Does anyone else see spots before they get hit by the Migraine Train?!

A little history: I used to get full-blown migraines all the time when I was young. Then, I had one when I was 12 (after an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet where I ate about 20 pieces of bacon. I'm blaming the pork). Since then, I  have not had more than 3 pieces of bacon - and guess what? They stopped! For almost ten years I was Migraine-free! I didn't have another one until I was pregnant with Monkey at age 21! (No pork, no over exhaustion... I still have no clue what triggered it. )

Let me just give you a typical rundown/timeline of how my migraines roll...

First, I start seeing "spots"... or missing spots in my sight. Can't focus. It's pretty kooky.

Next, the pain starts setting in. If I can pop some Excedrin as soon as I see the spots, sometimes it's not as bad.

Then, (I'm laying down in a dark room by now) half of my body (face included) goes numb.

4th, Usually after the numbness passes, my brain feels "muddled". I can't concentrate and nothing makes sense. I can't even put together simple sentences in my mind. If I try to speak, by speech is slow and sloppy. It's really, really really weird.

Usually, I can't keep anything down. I don't know if this is because of the pain, but when I take 2 migraine excedrin right away, and lay down in a dark, quiet room immediately after seeing the spots, the pain is much less, and I don't throw up at all. But if I don't do all the right away, (like when I was in school, or out and about) the pain is almost intolerable. I'd rather give birth (preferably with an epidural, please) than go through that pain. And when I was pregnant, I couldn't even take anything "good". I had to go into the insta care and get a special anti-nausea shot! I mean, its. bad.

I am out for the count... between 4-9 hours when they hit. And then, when I can finally function again, I am weak (shaky) and just exhausted! Mostly, I can do everything I need/want to, but I just have very little energy.

The reason, I'm even thinking about this is because in the last 6 months I've had 4!  No pork. No over exhaustion. Stress, maybe? Pinched nerve... maybe? I can't figure out what'd triggering them. It's totally random. Nothing I have eaten is the same, none of my days activities are the same (or similar), the time of day they hit varies, too! 

I'm hoping someone out there (I'm just sending this out into the cosmos!) can assist me in my quest (*grin. I feel like a maiden undertaking some adventurous voyage... teehee) to identifying the problem. Or perhaps, someone reading this knows what I'm going through, and we can figure this thing out together. I'm not so much looking for ways to suppress the pain or "endure" them... I want to figure out how to prevent them. So any and all input is very, very welcome!

(I'll keep ya'll updated when/if I ever have another one.)

9 comments:

Emmy said...

I wish I knew. Mine start off just like yours. I always call mine a "c-spot" as the blurry vision/spot thing is always in the shape of a c. If I get in the dark at that point I can often get by without getting a headache at all. Mine seem random to, I used to think it was related with my monthly cycle, but it's not. So I am not sure. Sorry I couldn't be more help, but I can relate! :)

Scott, Tina, Spencer and Morgan said...

my mom gets hers from too much sugar or pop.

Missy Mauch said...

Cody gets them when he eats chocolate. Try seeing if that helps.

Meet the Smiths said...

I have had migraines since I was 12 yrs old...some similar to yours..but most aren't as severe. I do know that the sun and heat have been triggering mine lately. And aged cheeses trigger mine...though I LOVE swiss and sharp cheddar. Pork doesn't trigger mine that much, though. When I went on Yasmin birth control, I rarely had headaches..but i had tremendous mood swings...so I went off the BC and just decided to deal with the headaches.
This may be weird...but I don't see spots (at least not at first...I have to be a few hours into my migraine to see spots)...but I can smell a migraine coming on...it reminds me of a Thanksgiving turkey cooking...weird, but true...so as soon as I smell that, I get whatever headaches meds that I have on hand and drink some caffeine. That helps tremendously.
My dad has these migraines as well, and we have come to realization that they could be linked to hypoglycemia (i think that is the right term)...whenever our blood sugar gets low, it hits us and hits us hard...the best food to get our blood sugar up and stabilized is fried okra.
Hope this helps...and sorry my response was so long.
~Joy

KatBouska said...

I get those!!!!! Exactly what you described! They started in my early twenties and I actually had an MRI to rule out a brain tumor (thanks dad).

The vision stuff and confusion and numbness I believe are migraine auras. I don't think a lot of people get them and I get them occasionally. Usually I have to be beyond stressed out...like a close family member in the hospital kind of stressed out. Not "the kids are driving me crazy" stressed out.

But when I was pregnant with Kainoa I got them all the time. Maybe you're PREGNANT!! ;)

No really, I wish I could help, but I treat mine the same way you treat yours. I just have to stop. I literally cannot continue to function. Words do not come out the way they are supposed to come out and it's hard for me to understand things I'm reading and hearing. It's really scary.

Shanna Notebo-Tabura said...

My mom has had those what the doctor and her figured out was when she missed her cup or cups of coffee. Its like her body was going through some sorta withdrawl because of the caffine. So she tries to stick to the usual 2-3 cups of coffee. May be something you are eating or not eating.

Night Owl Mama said...

I used to get these when I was younger too. I was told it was change in blood pressure. You should get a physical and make sure you share these experience with your doctor.
thanks for the visit and stopping by my blog. I'm always up blogging late nights. usually til' 3am :)

Anonymous said...

i had one and i will never forget it... and yes... i saw spots and then it looked like i was looking under water. everything was liquidy looking and then my tummy started hurting and my head was HURTING like CRAZY!!!!

my mom gets them a lot and i was like NOT wanting to follow in those footsteps... so i got in the shower and took the hottest shower that i could stand and By George, that Migraine went away before i could wrap my towel around me to dry off.

and i haven't had a migraine since then.

Carli said...

YES! I totally see spots! I just got one last week whcih sucked SO bad cause I am prego and tylenol does NOTHING!!! I was tempted to take a stronger pill but thought it might hurt the baby.