I am a Classic Migraine Sufferer. My grandfather got migraines when he used condiments, which included tomato sauce, mustard and others. My mother’s trigger was citrus fruit. She adored orange juice but could not drink more than half a glass. This was great for me because I adored orange juice. We got a weekly delivery along with milk and guava juice, which meant the orange juice was all for me.
My first migraine was when I was 13 years old. I was at boarding school and we were in our evening study session. I knew my mother was a Migraine Sufferer but had no idea what it entailed. This was a very scary experience.
What my Migraine looks like
My migraines generally follow the same pattern.
The Aura
It starts with the classic ‘aura’. This is simply an experience that I know a migraine is coming. My senses feel heightened and my body seems to be preparing for the onslaught.
Visual Disturbances
The visual disturbances start quite small. Imagine someone has taken a photograph of you using a flash. You get that temporary silver spot in your vision. That’s what my migraine starts with. But this spot grows and evolves to take over most of my vision. I often notice it more when I look at myself in the mirror and half of my face is not there in the reflection.
The disturbances have a real impact on how I am able to function, but there are many times in my life while teaching or tour guiding when I just have to get on with it.
These spots can last for between 20 minutes and 3 hours. And they seem to correspond with the headache that follows. If the disturbances are shorter, the headache is longer, and vice versa. But, my vision doesn’t really return to full function for at least 24 hours after the migraine has gone.
Numbness
Soon after the visual disturbances appear, I start to feel numbness in my fingers and in my mouth. The sensation ‘creeps’ up my arm. It is generally only one arm, and mostly my right. Within minutes my arm feels dead. As a teenager, when the numbness got to the top of my arm, I panicked. I was worried it would get to my heart and it would stop beating. This, of course, added to the anxiety of the experience and amplified the condition.
The numbness in my mouth is a horrible feeling. The roof of my mouth, sometimes my gums, but mostly my tongue, are affected. My tongue feels like it is swollen and speaking is difficult or may even sound slurred. This sensation seems to stay only until the migraine ‘peaks’.
Headache
As the visual disturbances start to subside, the headache kicks in. And boy is this horrible. My head pounds, mostly around my temples and is often so bad, it is sore to put my head on a pillow. This is when lying in a dark room is the best option. But seldom possible if it is the middle of a lesson, or I am sitting in the front of a coach tour guiding.
The headache can last for half an hour to 3 hours, responding to the length of the visual disturbances. But for up to 48 hours after my migraine, my head feels like I have a hangover. It feels heavy, and I struggle to move very quickly. My late mother described the headache as “turning your head and feeling you have left half of it behind.”
Nausea
I am really lucky I don’t get much nausea. I did, on the odd occasion, when I was young, spend a lot to time throwing up bile. But thankfully, it is nothing I have experienced in at least 30 years.
My Triggers
From the first time I got one, I was eager to find out what triggered my migraines. I gave up all caffeine for two years as a teenager, but I still got them. I kept a hormone diary for about 20 years to try to find a link between my periods and my migraines. But there was no correlation.
So, in the mid-2000s I got an appointment at a headache clinic in Surrey. I was thrilled that the specialist was himself a Migraine Sufferer. He totally understood what I was going through.
I was relieved that he did not want to give me preventative medication. This is for people who get migraines so often, they need to take daily tablets. But, he did give me an incredibly valuable trigger list to consider.
Traditional Triggers
- Sleep – when Migraine Sufferers have too much or too little sleep, they are more likely to get a migraine. The advice is to have your alarm set for the same time during the week, over weekends and while on holiday. The body needs a routine, and if you sleep late, you are throwing the body off-kilter.
- Water – as soon as I feel thirsty, it is almost too late. So drinking water regularly during the day, is a good way to keep the migraine at bay. I have more recently been able to halt a migraine, if I catch it early enough, by sculling a pint of water as I experience the aura or early visual disturbances.
- Food – skipping meals is not good for anyone. But for me, if my blood sugar drops too dramatically, my chances are greater of getting a migraine. I have not found any specific foods that trigger a migraine, for me.
- Light – I struggle to function in fluorescent lighting. Stobe lights ‘look’ too much like migraine visual disturbances and makes me very uncomfortable. I also find it difficult to drive along a road with tall trees on either side. The light goes from bright to shade, and at pace. This is not great at all. Bright lights, flashing lights, reflective lights (like on a mirror), and a semi-dark day before a storm (for example), all have a negative impact on me.
- Caffeine – I believe caffeine builds up in the body. I have noticed, as I got older, that the caffeine in tea is not enough to have an impact on my migraines. I can drink up to 6 cups of coffee a day with no effect. But if I drink coffee every day, within 3 days I will have a migraine.
- Stress – when life gets ‘too much’ a migraine is almost inevitable.
The Science of Migraines
Because science is still in the dark about what migraines really are, we can only still manage the condition. If you do an ECG (electrocardiogram) on a Migraine Sufferer, it is the same as an epileptic. Migraines are thus little epileptic fits.
What we do know is that something triggers the constriction of the blood vessels in the brain. As they constrict, it causes nausea and numbness. And when they start to return to normal, the bruising caused the headache.
Managing my Condition
The most important daily activity for me is that my alarm is set for the same time every day. I drink a glass of water, that’s next to my bed, before I even get up. I have another pint of water before I eat of drink anything else and I try to ensure water is near me throughout the day.
If I am going to have coffee, I drink decaffeinated coffee.
I always carry sunglasses, even in the winter. When the sun is low in the sky, I struggle with the light.
I try very hard to eat regularly, even if just a snack.
And I focus on ensuring stress is managed or not even ‘a thing’ in my life. I am not always successful, but it is something that comes so much easier as I get older.
But, if any of these happen at the same time, I am doomed. If, for example, I am on holiday somewhere hot and don’t drink enough water, slept late, enjoy local coffee and busy sightseeing, skip meals, and then miss a plane – well, there is nothing I can do to stop it.
Well, I do have some very precious tablets, which I can take as soon as I know the migraine is coming. If I leave it too late, the tablets do nothing for me. The doctor only gives me six of these tablets at a time as they are pretty expensive, but luckily they can last me about a year.
Famous Sufferers
It seems I am in good company. Many famous people suffer too including Whoopi Goldberg, Charles Darwin, Julius Caesar, Hugh Jackman, Elvis, Janet Jackson, and Serena Williams. Many of them are able to manage their condition, but for some, it has had a marked impact on their lives and careers – having to cancel meetings, shows, and events.
My Migraines
I have accepted that migraines are a part of who I am. They have caused me a lot of pain, limitations, and frustration. But without them, I would not be me. They are strangely a link with my late mother as well as my grandfather.
But, the most interesting part of having a migraine, is that after an attack, my senses are heightened. I crave dairy products and I feel incredibly creative. And that is not always a bad thing.
