I had a great health week last week; I managed to make it from Saturday the 19th after two ocular migraines for almost one week without any form of migraine. I had begun a plethora of methodologies to eradicate my almost two years of intrusive visual migraines.

Therapeutic massage and acupuncture along with a Chinese herbal tonic were regular. And don’t forget all the Botox injections at the neurologist. I added the Cephaly machine, Gunnars’ computer glasses, a regimen of magnesium and vitamin B12, and “cell salts.”  (see this blog: Kicking Migraine’s Ass). With all the intervention I figured I had hit on something or a combination of things that provided a virtual cure. Just give me a Nobel Prize.

Nope.

Yesterday I was standing outside  talking to my neighbor, and just like the previous week an ocular migraine began, a full-fledged thirty minute one. I remember that I hadn’t eaten breakfast and felt a little strange. And just like the previous week, a second ocular migraine picked up where the last one left off. They usually occur in the morning. This morning I was making coffee and looked at a white piece of paper and that triggered it. They are almost like seizures as they begin with that light-trigger and I perceive an initial blind spot. I decided to use the Cefaly machine while I had the second episode. The machine is now at full capacity and it is not the most comfortable experience but I didn’t stop it. I think the migraine might have decreased in length than the usual half hour but I am not sure. The pain of the machine was so intense I could barely open my eyes to see the clock. And if that wasn’t enough, later in the day in a museum, just as I was paying for something at the gift shop, I began to feel a vestibular migraine emerge: a small room-spin, the fear of falling, getting sick to my stomach. I started to feel very over-heated. Thank goodness it passed when I got out of the building and had a cold drink, but I was queasy for a while.

So what was different toward the end of the week? Could it have been that I decreased the magnesium to the regular dose? I had been doubling the dose but it is hard on the stomach. Today I compromised and took a second half-dose.

The thing with migraine as with any disease is that we think we can control it but invariably it controls us. I am not giving up. I hadn’t had “regular pain headaches this past week,” and I didn’t take any medication, both positives.

It is like having a migraine episode is the brain’s way of regulated electricity; if there is a build-up, it needs to be discharged. It is just one of those things in this day and age that remains a mystery.

I am determined to solve it.