Life with Migraine
What a life
it has been for the last few months. Just kidding! Thankfully nothing new has
happened-it’s all same old but definitely the work load has increased for me
and I am pretty sure that it is going to take its momentum in the upcoming
weeks. So first of all, thank you so much for all your lovely comments on the
blog.
Many people
have asked me if I am really the one who write all my posts/ articles or is
there a ghost writer. To tell you the truth that I am apparently the one who is
writing all the material yet I know for sure that it is only possible by the
orders of God and His creativity to enter my mind and express whatever there is
to spoken to the world.
Whether we
write, act, draw, sing or even take a superb business decision or get a
brilliant idea it is never possible without the divine intervention. So how to
have that intervention, though I don’t have any precise guidelines in this
regard I believe to have some pointers. I believe it is imperative to have a
healthy lifestyle full of activity, body movement and exercise and devoid of
junk food. Second is our openness to accept help from the invisible realm, and
then it is our readiness to act on the guidance that we receive.
So after
almost twenty years of living with frequently happening bad headaches I was
diagnosed with migraine. Like me, there are many of you who are suffering in
silence because many doctors believe that migraine is untreatable, whereas other
half of them think that it’s psychosomatic/ stress related. However, I have to
inform you that it is neither untreatable nor it’s merely a stress related issue,
and that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Yes
treatment of migraine is complicated, it differs from patient to patient and
once it starts to take place then it is almost unstoppable until the patient is
properly slept and in many cases only after a vomit. However, healthcare research
institutes like John Hopkins Headache Centre, American Migraine Foundation and Harvard
Medical and many others have declared migraine to be a valid health problem for
which there are several studies being conducted every day.
Migraine is a particular type of headache which causes severe pain in head muscles, but
its pain is experienced in jaw area, back & shoulders muscles, and eye
socket along with acidity, nausea/vomiting. In fact, entire body gets affected during a
migraine attack to an extent that it completely disables the patient from
continuing with her/his daily activities. It happens with aura and also without
an aura, which means that in aura patient sees lines, dots, spots before the headache.
In many cases, migraine subsides after vomiting while with many other patients
there is no vomit but only nausea and it relaxes after a proper sleep at night.
Causes of
migraine are still not known but there is a very strong research which suggests
that the pain of migraines is associated with swelling in blood vessels
and irritation of nerves that surround the brain. The brain doesn't have pain
receptors. But it processes pain signals from other parts of the body. It's the
pain processing networks, or centers, in the brain that are overly reactive or
dysfunctional in migraine. The brain chemical serotonin may play an important
role in this process as it does in other conditions, including depression and
eating disorders.
Furthermore, an abnormal electrical activity may occur in the
brain tissues during a migraine attack. Areas of altered activity have been
found on brain imaging studies in patients having migraine attacks. This
activity is called "spreading depression," and it represents a wave
of increased activity of nerve cells, followed by decreased activity.
Originally it was thought that blood vessel spasms caused this abnormal
activity, but more recently we have learned that this is not the case. The
electrical disturbance is the primary event, and the blood flow changes are a
response to the electrical disturbance (Teixido & Carey, 2014).[1]
Migraines can be triggered by
certain activities, foods, smells or emotions. Some people are more likely to
experience migraines when they are under stress, while others develop migraines
when stress is relieved (for example, the day after exams or an important
meeting). Women who have migraines often find that their headaches occur or
worsen around the time of their menstrual periods (Harvard Health Publishing, 2019)[2]. If you need
further information, follow the links given after this post. Some of the migraine triggers are:
·
Weather
changes (hot & humid)
·
Lack
of sleep
·
Coffee,
chocolate, cheese
·
Schedule
changes, not defined sleep patterns
·
Dehydration
·
Hunger
(irregular eating timing or prolonged fasting)
·
Certain
foods
·
Strong
smells
·
Teeth
grinding at night
·
Menstruation
For me this journey has been quite painful, the first time I
felt the pain it was accompanied by a strong pain in my teeth so I went to the dentist.
He diagnosed it as wisdom tooth pain, this happened on many occasions when I
assumed that I had a dental issue but doctor thought the opposite. They quickly
diagnosed it as psychosomatic problem because they believed that I think about
my pain too much.
But let me tell you this, so you can tell people around you
that migraine is a real illness and nobody ever thinks about it and start
feeling this terrifying pain. It is the high time that people and doctors
should study and research more before they simply categorize it as
anxiety-stress related illness.
Please note that Migraine is very common in children, some of them also have abdominal/ stomach-migraine Abdominal migraine is a form of migraine seen mainly in children of ages between five to nine years old, but can occur in adults as well. Abdominal migraine consists primarily of abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting.
It is recognized as an episodic syndrome that may be associated with migraine, as links have been made to other family members having migraines and children who have this disorder often grow into adults with migraine. Most children who experience abdominal migraine grow out of it by their teens and eventually develop migraine headaches.
The pain associated with abdominal migraine is generally located in the middle of the abdomen around the belly button. It is often described as dull or “just sore” and may be moderate to severe. In addition to the pain, there can be loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting and pallor. The attacks last between 2-72 hours and in between attacks there should be complete symptom freedom (AMF, 2016).[3]
It is always advisable to see a doctor, especially a
neurologist to treat your migraine as many other specialists would not be aware
about the seriousness of this type of headache and would simply treat you with
a muscle relaxant or a pain killer. Today there are many line of treatments
specifically focused on migraine with some wonderful medicines that could heal
the pain at the beginning and also be helpful in controlling its attack.
For me, precautions as well as medication has proved to be
quite beneficial. Also alternative medicine or naturopathy like acupressure, reflexology
along with medical treatment are effective ways to curb the menace before it
starts, as little can done after the migraine attack takes place.
Now the precautions which have proved to work: Eat banana, Eat
banana and Eat banana- before your breakfast and then drink water; before and
after your workout; before and during the migraine attack. It will be difficult
but Drink lots of water during the attack and Eat banana. The point is to
supply your body with enough water so the electric current and flow of blood in
your capillaries is restored. If you need to relieve yourself then it could help in easing the pain.
In normal days keep yourself hydrated and drink lots of
water. The 8-10 glass idea is only a basic water requirement, you need to drink
more of it. And let me tell you that you will not need to relieve yourself
often while at work because you are drinking too much water. It is a myth that
one has to use lavatory a lot while drinking water, it might happen once or for
two days when you are body is adjusting itself to your new hydration regime. You
will see that within no time your need to use washroom will be perfectly
managed and, it would be only as and when needed and not more.
Eat properly don’t skip meals and strictly avoid junk/deep
fried/ fast food. It is always better to have a home-cooked full meal, even for
lunch at work.
Avoid drinking tea or coffee more than twice a day. Instead
eat nuts, peanuts, chappati role with sabzi, peanut butter sandwich, and
seasonal fruits whenever you feel hungry. Don’t just get a cup of tea or coffee
when you feel hungry or lazy during your day at home or at work. Eat and rest
for few minutes. Our body is very intelligent, it will always guide us but we do have to listen to it.
Then discipline yourself with scheduled sleep and wake times
and especially while using your laptops, tablets or smartphones. Use them only
when you actually need to.
Do breathing exercises and mediation. I don't care what is your age, size or shape please avoid making lame excuses, do exercise at least 150 minutes per week. And pleeaaase don't tell me that you are too busy, because our Prime Minister Imran Khan is handling the entire country, craziest economy, foreign and internal affairs, aggressive opposition, dull departments and he still manages to exercise before getting to work in morning. So kindly don't tell your self that you are too busy.
Amitabh Bachchan and actress Jane Fonda are aged 75 and they still exercise. So kindly don't tell your self that you are too old to exercise. Do yoga, strength/weight straining,
cardio, move, walk, take stairs instead of lift, get-up and please park your
car or get off your vehicles a little away from the malls so you can move and
be active. Don’t just sit on your chair for 10 hours- you need move, walk and
stretch after every 30 minutes.
Lastly, always wear sunglasses and also train your children to wear them also during outdoor activities in
the day, especially in hot weathers. I hope this information would help to you in
the best possible way.
With lots of best wishes.
Sonya Syed. (Day 579)
Comments
Regard: Mohsin Farooq