What a typical migraine aura looks like. A C-shaped dark form facing in the direction of its choice, replete with shimmering gold zig-zags.

Some of you have asked:

Yes, I still get migraines.

If you recall at the beginning of my posts, they really kicked in about ten years ago when I began caregiving for my mother. However, what I didn’t realize was that even before then, I was having these occasional weird vertigo episodes. What I didn’t know at the time and for some time later, that this kind of vertigo is attributed to migraine, not to a vestibular component. I have been tested about four times and there was never a correlation. At least with a vestibular component, there are some types of remediation where the position of the head is manipulated and the head is held in place by a brace for a few days. This manipulates the position of the crystallizations that have gone wayward in the inner ear. They tend to break apart, get lodged and create havoc.

Unfortunately, there is nothing one can do when stricken by my kind of migraine. It usually passes within fifteen minutes or so, it knocks the body temperature around, kicks one in the head and  often nausea is aroused. It is akin to feeling seasick.

Thankfully, the episodes I still do have have on occasion are much milder and less violent, however, this is not something you’d want to experience during independent travel or when driving a motor vehicle. The eyes must close, no other way for me to endure this.

Then there is the old standby, the ocular migraine with aura which yes, I still get. Sometimes people say, “Oh you are still getting those?” And I have to remind the questioner that this is a lifelong thing, migraines in all their glory don’t “go away,” though they may morph into another variation or just lay in wait until you are least expected. It is a neurological disorder.

There was a time that I was getting about thirty of these a month which put me in the category of “WTF?” None of my neurologists heard of such a thing. Fifteen or more episodes are labelled a “chronic” condition. I was beyond, sometimes having more than one a day, sometimes more than one an hour.

My types of headaches are not painful and unbearable (at this time of life), but they end up knocking the wind out of me, making me feel disoriented, sometimes end up in my stomach, sometimes make my nose stuffy or runny, sometimes make me feel exhausted. Sometimes affect my speech and word retrieval.

As a child I had terrible, dreadful head pain, stomach migraines, vertigo and I was constantly sick to my stomach. The feeling then was, “nervous.”

Years later when I was working, I would often have to take 6-8 Extra Strength Bufferin to get through the day. This was not the best thing to do but when you are desperate you’ll try anything. I didn’t realize that everything I was experiencing from childhood on, stemmed from migraine. You can even chalk them up to barometric pressure changes.

Today, while on the computer (but this can occur anywhere in the house at any time, anywhere outside; it has hit me while driving) I had a typical burst or pop of light and that is the signal; it’s coming. The weird shape will shimmer and shimmy into my field of vision leaving blind spots, for about thirty minutes, and leave me wiped. The huge shape or light might seem to appear laterally but if one closes one eye and then the other, it is a phenomenon that is occuring in both eyes.

For about a year now, maybe a bit longer, I have had an average of five episodes per month. Sometimes one or two more, sometimes one or two less. There is no predicting.

I have been taking a self-shot monthly of EMGALITY. Prior to that I was taking AIMOVIG but because I had some vertigo issues I asked to switch. Actually, they are probably the same thing! These are CGRP antagonists, the newest group of medications approved for prevention of migraines.They work on the calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), a protein that’s found around the brain. CGRP is involved in the pain associated with a migraine.

I am not 100% sure what has helped to diminish the frequency because the stress level which was mainly brought on by my husband’s illness didn’t help. But, the strange thing is that it is almost like a long-term virus or infection though nothing ever shows up in tests: It seems to run a course, maybe for some, goes into remission. NO one knows.

At this time and for more than a year, I have been taking CBD. What I find effective, especially for sleeping, are the Charlotte’s Web products, which are first rate and reliable. (Vaping went out a long time ago and when I tried medical marijuana and CBD vapes, I wouldn’t inhale, just run it through my mouth into nose.) I don’t take oils often, I mainly rely on the gummies labelled, SLEEP, CALM, and RECOVERY. The dosage has to be self-tested and one should NOT leave the house until the effects are known. Do not drive. The history of Charlotte’s Web is here.

I had an ocular migraine an hour or so ago and now I am getting a headache: It’s the fallout from the bomb. I’ll be taking a RELPAX. So much for the walk I planned to take.

📌The series starts here:
Part 1 Life Is A Journey, But This Is A Trip

The last post is here

The next post is here