Migraines. Everyone has heard of them, but not everyone gets them or even fully understands how they really feel. They're not 'just a headache'. They're annoying, they suck, and lately they've set out to intervene with my daily life.
I'm writing this blog post for a couple of reasons. Firstly because I'm so frustrated and blogging is like a diary to me, and secondly because it's so hard to find blogs about migraines, especially based in Ireland.
I've always suffered from migraines. In my case I believe they're hereditary as my mum also suffers from them. My migraines have always affected me, but not as much as they do now. Whereas they'd usually be a few times a month, I now find I have them around 3 times a week. A couple of weeks ago I had to go to the doctor on an emergency basis to get an injection in my bum to get rid of a migraine that had stuck around for 3 whole days. 3 days of lying in bed with the room spinning, feeling like I was going to be sick and wanting to rip my head off just to make it stop.
When I get migraines, the lights, sounds, smells, everything becomes overpowering, and nothing can alleviate it until I sleep or until painkillers kick in. Even the day after my migraine I try to get out of bed and fall over from being so dizzy.
I've tried so many things: an alphabet of painkillers, cutting out dairy, changing my sleep pattern - but they just keep coming back. I don't smoke, I rarely drink, I don't eat meat, I get plenty of sleep and rarely drink coffee, so I'm certain it's not a lifestyle thing. With that being said, the doctor who injected me suggested I cut out tomatoes as they're a massive trigger for migraines - who knew?!
I went to my own GP on Friday to see what more could be done to help me. He's changed my Pill as he said it could be what's causing the migraines, and also prescribed a preventative which he advised I take in a few weeks. Along with that, I was given new painkillers.
Today, yet again, my old friend migraine came back - twice in one day. Even with the painkillers prescribed it came back after a few hours. I'm hoping that when I do eventually go on the preventative things will change. For now, I'm missing a lot of college because of how often my migraines occur, and I know it sounds stupid but I worry if I tell my college they'll go 'ah sure it's only a migraine, just deal with it'.
I don't think there's a lot of information or support for migraine sufferers in Ireland and I'd like that to change. While for some it may seem like 'just a headache', for sufferers it's so much more than that.
If anyone reading this has any tips to overcome migraines, or tales of your own experiences, I would love to hear from you.
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