Against the 'Graine

Migraine And Keeping Your Sanity

2011-11-16T11:30:00.000-05:00

Migraine makes keeping your sanity feel almost impossible. We work so hard to keep our sanity and migraine works just as hard to keep us from it. Here are some ways that might help in keeping your sanity while dealing with migraine. This list is not all inclusive. They are just the beginning in 'keeping sanity' despite your invisible illness. See "Migraine And Living Life", and "Migraine

Migraine And Living A Life

2011-11-14T11:26:00.000-05:00

Having a real life (and not a maybe or abbreviated life) can be difficult even without having migraine disease. It may seem that life and the world around us is passing us by. We get knocked down, and when we are able to get back up, our family and friends have moved on to another calendar day and other activities. It's hard not to stay depressed and question ourselves. Here are a few ideas

Migraine And Work

2011-11-11T10:28:00.001-05:00

Migraine and work rarely go together. Working with migraine on a daily basis, is hard on a migraineur. We work so hard to balance our sanity, our jobs and our life at home . Here are some ways that aid in keeping your job. This list is not all inclusive. They are just the beginning in 'working' with your invisible illness. Contact your HR department and do what you must to get FMLA. In

Migraine Ninja

2011-10-26T17:57:00.000-04:00

I have a few ninja skills when it comes to my migraines. You wouldn't know it to look at me. You're not supposed to be able to see or know that someone is a ninja. The ninja to the left is my daughter. Unfortunately she also suffers from migraine, but not as bad as mine. Her ninja skills are not as developed as mine either. I am in this photo, but I'm invisible to the naked eye. I can/do

How To Plan A Migraine

2011-10-10T10:00:00.000-04:00

Planning a migraine is a lot like planning wedding. Albeit without setting a date, eating cake, inviting any guests, getting flowers, booking a reception hall and doing the "Hokie Pokey". You want to make sure you are ready when your migraine presents itself by having a plan.But, ... Even the best laid plans of mice and men can often go astray. Always plan ahead. If you are planning

Migraine; You Scream, Ice Cream

2011-09-30T10:00:00.000-04:00

It's true. Some migraine sufferers are finding relief in eating what we used to scream for as children. Ice cream, no matter what flavor, when eaten fast enough, may alleviate the head pain of a migraine. Ice Cream headache, known as sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia (betch ya can't say that 10 times fast), means "nerve pain of the sphenopalatine ganglion" and is caused by a sudden

Migraine And The Abbreviated Life

2011-09-29T10:30:00.001-04:00

There are so many people that have suffered from migraine, or other invisible illness, for much of their lives. I myself have dealt with Migraines for over 30 years. That is about 60% of the years of my life. That's means that for more than half of my life, I have been suffering, been forced to stay in bed, cancel plans, miss some of the milestones of my children's lives, and too many other

Easing The Burden of Migraine

2011-09-19T16:57:00.000-04:00

An invisible illness is a beast of burden. You carry it around day and night, day after day. But, many of the people that see you around, don't know that there is a huge weight upon your shoulders. I know your pain, as I deal with migraine on a daily basis. I have learned over the 'many' years that there are things we can do to ease the onset of migraine while I try to live my life. Here are

25,000+ Migraine Views

2011-08-24T18:47:00.000-04:00

Today, I have hit a milestone. I think 25000+ views of my blog is pretty special. When I started in November of 2008 I was very discouraged. I had the belief that "all you have to do is build it and they will come". Well, anyone writing a blog today, knows how funny that is. It takes a lot more than building it. It takes advertising through Twitter, Blog Surfer, and Facebook, just to name a

King Of Pain

2011-08-16T10:53:00.000-04:00

Each migraine sufferer can show just cause as to why they are the king (or queen) of pain. We, the migraine sufferers, know as much about pain as those with other pain illnesses. I am not bashing other illnesses. There are too many illnesses that cause extreme pain. Pain can vary from person to person and from attack to attack. So, how do we measure pain in a way that takes into account each

Migraine Sandwich

2011-08-08T12:00:00.003-04:00

I've had many types of sandwich over the years. One of my favorite restaurants being Macado's, a sandwich shoppe with a location in Radford, VA. I very rarily find a sandwich that I don't like. But there is one sandwich which never fails to leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. The migraine sandwich is always bad news. How do you make a migraine sandwich? Well it's not made with your hands,

Decrease Migraine Down Time

2011-07-26T15:26:00.001-04:00

Who wouldn't prefer a natural remedy for their migraines? Here are five life changes that could naturally reduce the number of migraines in your life. The practice of living a healthy lifestyle is difficult if you try to take it all on at once. So, adjust one item at a time. Altering some bad habits may be what is needed to decrease the number and severity of migraines in your life.

Back To The Migraine Grinder

2011-07-13T13:07:00.000-04:00

More than a month ago I started a journey with my father in-law who was seeking a lung transplant. My week with him at Duke went rather well for me physically. I went the whole week without a migraine problem. My father in-law did not have a good week at all, with all the testing as well as a complication that had him admitted for two of the five days. We recently found out that he has been

Longing For It

2011-06-29T16:47:00.000-04:00

I've had migraine disease for over half of my life. Sometimes I can barely remember what it was like without it. It is only now in the past few years, that research has sought drugs that work on curing the disease. We still must settle for management no matter how much we long for the cure. Just when I think I have it bad, I see others that I know with less hope in a cure for their ailment, than

A Mere Shadow Of Myself

2011-06-16T15:19:00.002-04:00

The last couple, three, weeks have been very eventful for me. My migraines have been persistent throughout. In addition, I had a very bizarre appointment with my pain doctor. I woke up that morning with some pain in my left chest and back.I really was sure that it was not heart related. But, really thought that it was muscular. Well, I went to my appointment and the nurse did the usual

Oh, To Be Migraine Free

2011-06-06T13:04:00.000-04:00

Last week was rough. It started alright, but by morning on Tuesday, I was sporting the scowl of a migraine. In addition I have somehow sprained or tore something in my chest and back. I spent most of the day Wednesday sitting in the emergency room. I left my pain doctors office and headed to the ER on his insistence. They took blood, did an EKG, x-rayed, and CT'd the heck out of me. They did not

Don't Let The Migraine Beast Control Your LIfe

2011-05-30T14:44:00.000-04:00

I have been burdened with writing this article for nearly two weeks. It's not that I don't know what to say, but that I don't know how to say it. I finally just sat down at the keyboard and started typing. This is what I got. The beast is migraines in my case, though it could be any number of chronic or invisible illnesses that are suffered by others. The beast has been with me nearly every

Do You Have A MIgraine Hangover?

2011-05-26T11:18:00.000-04:00

Migraine gone or 'nearly' gone, but you still feel like you got run over by a bus? You might have a migraine hangover. Runny or stuffy nose? You might have a migraine hangover. Sensitive to even the slightest beam of light? You might have a migraine hangover. Dry mouth that tastes like a monkey's butt? You might have a migraine hangover. Vertigo? You might have a migraine hangover. Migraine

Living With An Invisible Illness Is WORK

2011-05-19T14:43:00.002-04:00

Living with an invisible illness like migraine is WORK. I believe that the fight myself and others have is as hard as any 'real' job in the world. In order to keep our sanity, balance, ability to get life done, and not fall overboard is a job. It's very difficult to make the people in my life understand that my invisible illness is real work every day. Even on the days that do not appear to be

Winded By Migraine

2011-05-12T11:44:00.000-04:00

Image via WikipediaHave you been winded by your weather trigger? It's been a rough month for many migraineurs as the weather has attacked so many parts of the country. Tornadoes tearing across the middle states of the country and some have struck southern east coast states as well. All the communities affected by the storms, flooding and the aftermath, deserve our prayers. I live in Southwest

Migraines May Be Triggered By Light

2011-05-09T18:58:00.000-04:00

The glare of certain lights can trigger migraines. Obviously the glare of the sun can be the worst. There are ways to cut the glare and save your head. The first is obviously sun glasses. It is important to wear polarized UV glasses which block the glare. I wear mine all the time. I wear mine day and night, in Walmart, when I'm driving, when I'm fishing, and when I am out shoveling snow. I have

Migraine Sufferers Should Practice Safe Computing

2011-05-04T11:20:00.000-04:00

Work Zones On Your Desk http://www.osha.gov It is important for pain sufferers to practice safe computing. Using your computer with improper posture, incorrect keyboard and monitor setup, or even the wrong type of chair, can cause pain and stress to anyone, especially a chronic pain or migraine sufferer. If you are a chronic pain sufferer and a blogger it is especially important to make sure

Migraine Gives Us Lives Lived In-Between

2011-04-29T12:44:00.000-04:00

Seems I live a life (of or in) 'between'. I do live a life, only it seems to be in shorter spurts than that of others. A life in between migraines. Between pain and the dread of it returning. Between migraines and depression. Between sickness and health. Between, in bed and going back to bed. This isn't a life that is just between me and my family. It is between me and my hobbies, my friends,

Migraine Out Of Kilter

2011-04-26T12:24:00.000-04:00

Managing your medications is an important a task, as you have in your life. If your meds are not managed properly, it can mean your life. Last week was a rough one for me, to say the least. It seems that I did not load my medication dispensers correctly. I missed a certain medication for a day or maybe two, and the result was NOT a party. It is so important to use medications as prescribed,

Attack Your Migraine With Brain Freeze

2011-04-18T12:22:00.000-04:00

I won't say "I told you so." But I will say that my article, 6 Ways To Attack Your Migraine Or Give You Brain Freeze posted in November 2009 touted eating ice cream as a possible way to provide relief from migraine. See this excerpt from The Seattle Times, 4/16/11; People's Pharmacy: Ice-cream cure for migraines By Joe Graedon and Teresa Graedon, Ph.D.Syndicated columnistsQ: You recently