I’d been wrong to assign the symptoms to a hangover.
By the time I realized what I was up against, I was lying on a pile of towels on my bathroom floor weeping. Migraines will do that -- curl you up in a ball, have you crying for the Universe to take pity on you and send a bolt of lightning your way to end it. I was gripping the edge of the toilet bowl, and the edge of my sanity. Don’t let me throw up before the medicine dissolves.
When I felt certain I wasn’t going to toss my medicine-y cookies, I stumbled around the apartment turning things off. Ceiling fans, air conditioner. Even the hum of my computer monitor had to be stopped. I banished Sir Hal to the bathroom and climbed into my bed. Or, onto it rather. I crouched, fighting nausea, pressing fists into my ears and begging the world to stop being. Light. Sound. The rotation of the earth. I wanted it all to cease.
If you catch a migraine in time, you can actually take a pill before the rabid nausea sets in. The catch is, though, some prescription migraine medicine will also make you sick to your stomach. Tricky bastards. My migraines seem to schedule themselves only once very six months -- in that, I know I’m lucky. And last night, the worst was over after a short four hours. Lucky there, too. In college once, I slept, wrapped in a towel on our bathroom floor (the only room without light) for twelve long hours while roommates quite literally tiptoed around the apartment.
I have very evil feelings for people who squint their eyes, put a hand to their temple and complain, “I have a migraine.” If you’re not pleading for a mercy killing, you don’t have a migraine.
It takes me a good day or two to recover from one of my ‘episodes’ (I like the Victorian sound of that), and so here I am, at home on a Saturday night. Recovering -- with the ceiling fans back on and Sir Hal very gratefully released from his bathroom prison. We’re going to watch The Great Muppet Caper and eat Massamum curry. We are SO rock and roll.
I know exactly what you mean about people who *claim* to have migraines. I woke up with my first ever this past Wednesday morning. I knew it was a migraine as soon as I woke up BECAUSE I wanted to beg for a mercy killing. I couldn't even get through phone calls to professors and work without tears because of the pain. I don't know how people who get them frequently do it...
Posted by: Amanda* at September 18, 2004 10:10 PMActually, in our defense... some of us migraine-claimers actually have transformed migraines. Basically, a constant, non-stop low-grade migraine/high-grade headache. I've had them for about four years now, and some times are worse than others, but I've had to learn to work and clean and function through it, or I'd never get anything done. About twice a year I have to call in sick with a full-blown migraine, and the rest of the year I "just" have a headache... I don't generally claim to have a migraine all the time -- I try not to complain about it, generally, but when asked, I do explain the migraine/transformed migraine thing.
Posted by: Bonnie at September 18, 2004 10:38 PMSorry -- that said, I totally feel for you, and I hope you feel better really soon, 'cause I know it S.U.C.K sucks.
Posted by: Bonnie at September 18, 2004 10:38 PMI usually get them when I don't hydrate well enough with heavy exercise. Gosh, the hot flashes, the cold sweats, the photophobia, ugh!
Oddly enough, hangover food is the only stuff I can keep down: anything starchy, and heaps of Gatorade.
Posted by: Gopi at September 18, 2004 11:58 PMOh Fish - I too get those.
All I can do is curl up in a ball, weep, and pray to god I don't barf. I also get those lesser headaches too - so I do know that those can be miserable as well, but DEFINATELY not like a migraine.
You've inspired me to watch GMC too :) Thanks!!
Posted by: angie at September 19, 2004 12:28 AMHey Fish, take care of that noodle for us. When I have an 'episode', I usually wake up badly beaten, naked, and in jail in a non-english speaking country.
Posted by: NEIN at September 19, 2004 02:07 AMBeen there, felt that. At least you've mounted the peak and now you're on the way down. Feel better.
Posted by: Kenna at September 19, 2004 08:52 AMFeel better, Fishie.
Posted by: Daniella at September 19, 2004 09:59 AMHave you ever heard of an "intestinal migraine"?
Apparently they happen to me when I'm severely stressed out. (Are some migraines triggered by stress?) I'm lucky that I almost never get headaches-- I think it's because I have such a big head, there's room for everything to move around. But when there's some emotional "crisis" in my life, and I spend two or three hours on the floor shaking and crying, the next day is Intestinal Migraine day.
It's like a 24-hour bug, except that things are evacuated both ends. It hurts a lot.
I haven't had one in a couple of years, though... maybe I won't have one again.
And I don't see why they call it an 'intestinal migraine' if your head doesn't hurt...
Posted by: anna at September 19, 2004 11:11 AMi think you slipped me a fraction of your migraine in one of my eight glasses of champagne. i had a bad headache last night.
oh wait, maybe that was from eight glasses of champagne.
Posted by: kate at September 19, 2004 11:35 AMI sympathize - I used to get them when I was in my late teens/early twenties. Ended up one night crouched under a desk in an office that was as dark as I could make it, crying my eyes out and grateful that no one else was around to see it. I had another one that I had no choice but to work through - I actually continued working for I still have no idea how long and had to call my mother because when the migraine let up, I had no idea how I had gotten to where I was and no memory of what had happened in the interim. The doc who was on call that night said that migraine headaches can do that. He also said they might have something to do with stress and hormones...
Whatever the reason, I sincerely hope you feel better. Those buggers are nasty.
Posted by: lawyerchik1 at September 19, 2004 04:36 PMMigraines are the worst. A flourescent workplace is the epitome of hell when one descends.
Feel better soon!
ugh. so sorry, fish.
Posted by: mingaling at September 20, 2004 01:55 PMI've suffered from them quite literally all my life, so I feel for you. Hope you're back to your old self very soon.
Posted by: The Lobster at September 20, 2004 02:35 PMI've only had the wanting-to-die headache a couple of times, but I know that it sucks. I'm so sorry you have to/have had to go through that.
Here's to the muppets and getting better.
Posted by: Shiz at September 20, 2004 07:06 PM