I’ve never had a migraine (thankfully) but I have found letting my mind be a guest house to all the ‘visitors’ definitely makes my world a better place. Happy mother’s day! You rock!!

Bless your heart! I don’t get migraines, but here in the USA, they do botox injections for migraines, with success. Have you checked into those? I like the idea of just giving into it since you know it’s coming, but it would be great if you didn’t have them any more!

Go to your GP. For decades I struggled with migraine. No over the counter drugs touched it. I only saw a doctor if I had an accident and never thought to ask if there was any help as my mother had just the same problem and I thought it was normal to fight your way through it. Then one attack was so bad that I was vomitting for 3 days and could only take sips of water so I went to my doctor. “Nowadays”, he said, “there are drugs that can help. we will try this” and he prescribed me tablets that changed my life. I take them at the first sign of an attack and 90% of the time they work. It is amazing.

Sorry to hear about these monthly migraines Hila. I don’t have any tips for you but it sounds as if your decision to let it run its course instead of fighting it is working better for you.
I do have a migraine once in a while but it manifests itself as some sparky bright lights (b&w not coloured) in one eye and if I take an ibuprofen and close my eyes for 10 minutes it goes – I don’t get the headache.
My brother used to suffer with horrible migraines as a child and, in the night, he used to bang his head against the wall presumably for the same reason you imagine an anvil. We’re not in touch much any more but, next time we speak, I must ask him if he still gets them all these years later.
Bon courage.

My mother used to get them. I remember as a child we’d have to be very quiet and would sometimes creep into her darkened room to ask her questions. She would reply without moving at all.
She read what little was available back then and wondered if combining chocolate and oranges brought them on.
But a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda in a glass of water sometimes helped … it tastes bad. But I guess if you’re desperate. Which she was. She said someone had written a book on migraines and thought they were related to food allergies. So glad I didn’t inherit the migraines. Sounds like you dealt well with it this time. Less medication has to be good – because less side effects.

I had monthly migraines for year and did virtually the same ….took handfuls of pills with very little results. Not only that I got rebound headaches when I stopped the meds. I stopped using aspartame (diet pop mostly) and started eating less sugar in general. That helped a lot. My doctor said that they were hormone related, and when my periods stopped at age 50, they went away. I only get the odd tension headache now. I hope you can get some relief, as I know how debilitating these are.
My daughter also suffers with migraines.
Take care, Barb from Canada

Hila, I’m sorry you have to deal with migraines. I get them rarely, but they are bad enough to call an ambulance. I get similar symptoms to a stroke (speaking/swallowing difficulty, single sided paralysis), as well as the vice-like pain and nausea/vomiting. I’ve been given all the heavy pain relief, but have found that it is only Largactil that gave me any relief. I hope you never have the same experience, but if you do, there’s a treatment out there!
Happy sewing, Jess

Hi Hila. Surrendering is the best way to let the episode end earlier rather than later. My family now understands that when they go to voicemail or emails don’t get answered I am having a migraine. Mine start with zig-zags of light in my field of vision and sometimes things glow around the edges. There is an intense throbbing pain hours later along with nausea and sometimes stomach virus.

I used to take Imitrex and the symptoms were controlled but eventually they did drop in for a visit. I went off all meds in the 2010s. You are doing the right approach. Too many pills will eventually damage your liver. Staying warm or cool, depending on the season, retreating to a darkened room and getting into bed with clean sheets is the way to let it pass.

Also, learning the triggers helps one prepare and mitigate some of the effects a little.

People have told me the migraine is an episode. To me it is like a seizure in that I cannot control myself at times. When I come out hot showers help. It is strange but everything looks so much better and I feel lighter, as if my body has purged itself of something awful. In a few days I forget all the pain.

I too have migraines, though thankfully, only infrequently. My neurologist, specializing in migraine, told me each person has a headache that is unique — like the lock on a very old door. The trick is to find a key that fits the lock. Using pain relieving meds can actually make the headaches bounce back, returning within days, and upping the number you have every month. Migraine-focused meds (like the triptan meds) actually prevent what happens in the blood vessels of the brain that CAUSE the symptom (pain). Some of these migraine specific meds are very inexpensive (mine last Rx was 9 dollars for nine pills), and can actually abort the headache if taken at the first sign of HA. I know what you mean about fighting. I too find that tightening up and trying to hold myself incredibly still actually makes the whole thing worse. But I can’t advocate for migraine-specific meds enough. You don’t have to suffer at ALL.