Migraine: Myths and Reality

Here's an excellent link for migraine sufferers: http://www.migraines.org/myth/mythreal.htm

My mother suffered from migraine for many years. I remember clearly the days that she'd need to lie down in a dark room for more than a day. My mother is a very active person, so it was even more disturbing to see her debilitating nausea and pain.

I started getting migraines about 6 years ago. It was strange that neither my mother or I made the connection between my day-long headaches and migraine. The frequency and intensity of my migraines varied considerably over the years. In one of the worst phases, I had migraines almost every other weekend. These were day-long affairs characterised by hyper-sensitivity to everything--sound, odour, light and touch. Hypersensitivity is fascinating in a strange way. When I have a migraine, I only have to think of a perfume and I can feel it's terrible effect.

I am now on migraine medication and have anyway got rid of those day-long migraines. I also seem to have less nausea and other effects when I do get one. Here are some things that have helped me:

• Migraine-sufferers are very sensitive to changes in pressure and temperature. For me, long hours with an airconditioner or heater mean a migraine. It's slightly better if I leave out a bowl of water next to the heater.
  
• There are tricks to getting over nausea. I eat something immediately after I get up. Usually a cup of coffee (thanks, R!) and a biscuit. After I figured this out on my own, someone told me this was a common remedy for morning sickness as well.
  During a migraine, I find one thing I can have is rasam, which is a thin, peppery Indian soup.
• A surefire trigger for me used to be perfume. Over the years, I seem to have got over this by a kind of controlled exposure. I have two deodorants at home: an odourless one and a normal one. I try and use the normal one whenever I feel less prone to a migraine. I also use two light perfumes now and then.
• On the subject of odour-sensitivity, I find it impossible during a migraine to not have some odour disturbing me. It's like everything acquires a smell, whether it's the detergent smell of cloth or the smell of wood in every piece of furniture. This can get very annoying, so I try and mask these with the one smell that seems soothing during a migraine. In my case, it's eucalyptus oil/menthol.
  
• The link I've posted states emphatically that caffeine is not a trigger. However, I found it helpful to regulate the amount of coffee I drink and the times of the day that I drink it. I try not to drink more or less coffee than usual.
  
• Perhaps the most unusual remedy I use is walking. I don't think I could do it in hot weather but, in the generally chill weather of Melbourne, some fresh air and walking does me a world of good.
• I'm still figuring this out but my eyes seem to look a little duller and reddish the day before my migraine. A few people at work have pointed this out to me, but I still can't spot it myself. If I'm right, the sensation I feel is one of fatigue and blurriness, as though I've been through a dust storm in a very bright place.