A few hours after yesterday’s blog was published, I was sitting at my computer and sensed the beginning of an ocular migraine, the third one of the week.  There was a time I was getting them everyday and even several times a day. For years I have been drawing circles around dates on piles of calendars, tracking these events, trying to figure out links, causes, ties of some kind, but nothing felt consistent, it just, well, happened. Happened on its own terms. I have even thought that this condition could be due to a virus that was lingering and making itself at home, rattling me constantly, causing more anxiety. Millions of folks suffer from migraine with aura and no one, no one knows why it happens. My doctor says it is confused brain signals.

So, when I sensed that barely perceptible visual pop, which leads to a barely perceptible blind spot which takes on a life of its own and grows into strange shimmering shapes (indicating the brain is in spasm), I decided to try the Nerivio device again. This time I rebooted my phone as was suggested by the company. It seemed to clear a path to communicate between the device and the app; they paired immediately.

I was able to stick the device to my arm, lock it in place with the armband, (practice makes perfect) link the app and device and fire up the barbie: it was working. It was about 5 minutes into the episode. Ocular migraines tend to resolve in 30 minutes on their own. Often I am left feeling exhausted and unbalanced. Sometimes I soldier on and try to continue doing what I was doing: I make believe I can ignore it, but, in the back of my mind I am adding another ring around a date on the calendar.

The CBD I had taken earlier didn’t seem to have a direct effect. Lately, it’s been that way. I had no hope. Why should anything work? Some people reported relief with the Aimovig shot. It seemed to have some effect for a while for me. Some people swore by the Emgality shot. I see no vast difference yet. Now this electronic device had not been cooperating. What’s the use?

While sitting and writing with the Nerivio at a pulsing frequency in the 40s, like little needles punching into my arm, I realized something: THE AURA STOPPED. How could it have? These things can’t work! Whenever I want to make sure I am still in migraine mode I close one eye and then the other looking for that visual disturbance. (It always appears in both eyes). The weird blinding squiggles in gold and black, zig zagging in my field of vision: At the beginning they seem very small, like they are far-off and waving at me, letting me know they are coming. I saw nothing.

At the end of the 45 minute treatment the pulsing stopped from the device and I removed it from my arm and packed it back up. And then I noticed, another ocular worm-like creature in the distance, the double-whammy, two-for-one treat! It was coming again, beckoning in the distance, taunting me. My first reaction was: well, there you have it: in order for this to work you can never remove this thing!

I returned to what I was doing and then realized after several minutes of diversion, that brain-shimmer-worm just faded and left. It gave up.

I will not.

The first of the series on CBD oil/medical marijuana, begins here.

The previous post is here

The next post is here