บท 22: Migraine vs. Headache
A lot of you probably think a migraine is the same as a headache. Only a choice few are graced with the horrible fact that any given day you could be struck down and put out of commission for an entire day or two. My goal is to try to help someone that lives with another being that doesn't get it; whether it's your parents, your siblings or your significant other.
First off, I'd like to lead with the obvious fact behind this matter. We don't know when a migraine is going to hit, we don't know all the time when a regular sinus or tension headache is going to turn into a horrible, crippling migraine. There's no need to argue about it, no need to get frustrated about it and no need to create any sort of tension about it.
No one that suffers from chronic migraines wants to have a migraine. I've never heard anyone profess their undying love for a good migraine or say they would love to get a migraine right now so they can leave work early. I would work 24 hours a day if it meant I wouldn't have a migraine.
Secondly, many people (doctors/scientists) believe a migraine is actually a disorder of the central nervous system in our bodies. A headache is merely a pain in the head area; triggered by eating habits, dehydration, sinus congestion, muscle tension, etc. A migraine is beyond the point of headache status, they include all the symptoms above and also nausea, vomiting, dizziness, pain behind the eyes, trouble seeing, muscle weakness, and abdominal pain. All these symptoms come from the brain because the severity of the migraine is, to put it so everyone can understand, making the brain panic. The brain, as complex as it is, convinces itself that the host is in danger and it is trying to eradicate the problem by sending troops out to spots that aren't even a part of the problem.
As a constant migraine sufferer, I have experienced each and every one of these issues/symptoms and it is certainly not something real migraine sufferers would even joke about wishing on someone. It's that serious and in my experience can lead to trips to the Emergency Room to have two shots, one for the nausea and one for the severity of the pain. Now I've never been dosed up enough to the point that I needed to be carried in the house but I have heard stories about my father being so doped up just to get rid of the pain that he couldn't even function to get in the house.
Finally, there are a few more symptoms or side effects to the migraine. When a true migraine has set in the victim can and probably does suffer from photophobia.
Photophobia is an increased sensitivity to light; I've experienced this every time I've had a migraine. The light acts as a visual dagger either trying to pierce its way in to the brain after crushing through the skull or the dagger of light is already in the brain and it wants to come out, probably through one of the eyeballs.
Now we have Phonophobia.
Phonophobia is an increased sensitivity to sound; I have experienced this one as well with every migraine. The slightest noise is so excruciating that it actually makes the brain feel like one of the drums Lars Ulrich (Metallica reference) would play during a show. It's like the brain wants to exit the skull and your mental abilities are so drained that you think it could actually happen. Sometimes I feel like I have a huge knot on my forehead and go check in the mirror to prove it's not their or that my eyeball is about to squeeze its way out of my eye socket, crushing my orbital bones in the process.
Next time you have a migraine or someone you know is suffering from a migraine, sympathize with them and do everything you can to help them. It's not life threatening even though it will get so bad at times that it will seem like death is the only logical option.
For all my fellow migraine sufferers, remember that you are not the only one, you are not alone. Just try to be calm, get in a dark room or shower and just close your eyes. Hopefully when you get in the bed, you'll fall asleep for hours and when you wake up, it will all be over with and life can continue like normal, until the next one.
Don't be ashamed to go to the Emergency Room, don't be embarrassed. I couldn't give two shits about what someone thinks about me during my time of hell on earth. The Emergency Rooms are slow but they are sympathetic to these problems and they will take care of you, just be prepared for the co-pay.
In conclusion, for my non-migraine sufferers don't EVER call a migraine "just a headache"! Feel blessed or lucky that you haven't had to experience a migraine at full force. We don't enjoy being in the bed all day or having to use our vacation as a sick day but it is part of the life that was bestowed upon us through our genes.
I know it's frustrating for my spouse, but once it is clear, once they hear you vomiting up stomach acid for hours on end, once they hear you taking 8 showers in a 2 hour period and as they see you getting a ride to the ER only to collapse on the bed and suffer for hours until they finally give you some meds they will eventually get it.
You're not the only one.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง