Migraine Awareness Month #4: "June Is Bustin' Out All Over!"

Migraine Awareness Month #4:  "June Is Bustin' Out All Over!" What's the best tip you can offer others for having some summer fun despite Migraines? 

Summer can be tough on us migraineurs. Heat, humidity, schedule changes, etc. can all be migraine triggers, and together, they can make summer one hell of a season. Some tips I keep in mind to mitigate the headaches:

1. Stay hydrated. Drink before you feel thirsty.
2. Don't skip meals. Low blood sugar is NOT your friend.
3. Sunglasses, sunglasses, sunglasses!!!
4. Try to keep a semi-regular sleep schedule
5. If you sleep late, remember that if you're used to a morning cup of coffee at 6 a.m., sleeping in until 10 a.m. may bring on a migraine
6. Remember to pack your rescue meds with you when you go to parties, on vacations, etc.

National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com.

Migraine Awareness Month #3: Just shoot me now!

Migraine Awareness Month #3:   Just shoot me now! What's your worst Migraine trigger? Can you avoid it? How do you handle it?

Worst trigger? Wow, there are so many....cigarette smoke, loud noise, bright lights, flashing lights, hormones, weather, heat, dehydration, hunger, lack of sleep, too much sleep, overstimulation, stress, drinking too much, perfume, air fresheners, scented candles, too much computer time...I could go on indefinitely! Sometimes I feel like life itself is just a big trigger.

My two worst have to be hormones and weather changes. Changes in my monthly cycle wreak havoc with my head as do weather changes. The weather can change from nice to rainy or vice versa, but either can trigger a migraine. If hormones and weather changes happen at the same time, it's a synergistic  trigger convergence nightmare! Just shoot me.

"National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com."

Migraine Awareness Month #2: Tea for Two

Migraine Awareness Month #2:  Tea for Two. If you could invite someone (any living person) to your home for tea for the purpose of explaining Migraine disease to them so they would truly understand it, who would it be and why? 

This is a tough one! My family is very supportive and understands my migraines all too well. Unfortunately, my daughter also has migraines. It seems to run in the maternal side of my family. If I could invite someone over for tea and explain Migraine disease so it would be truly understood (although I'm not sure it ever can be truly understood unless you've experienced it), I would invite Ellen DeGeneres.

Why Ellen? First off, she seems like she'd be a blast to have over for a cup or two of tea. She makes me laugh and I can always use a laugh. Secondly, she's popular and in the public eye. Thirdly, she has the ability to communicate with a large number of people through her TV show and other media outlets. If she understood migraine disease and became a spokesperson, she might be able to better educate the public about what migraine is and is not.  She could have other celebrities who have migraine disease on her show to speak about how the disorder has affected them and how they cope. Overall, having a celebrity spokesperson could increase awareness and understanding of migraine disease.

National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com.

June 1: Your First For the First

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Sorry to disappoint those of you hoping for a juicy sex story from my past. June is Migraine Awareness Month, and I'm participating in a blogging challenge.

1. Migraine Awareness Month #1: Your First for the First. Share the story of your first Migraine, what it was like, if you knew what it was, what you did, how you felt.  

I don't remember my first migraine. I do know that I've had them since I was at least 7 years old. At the time, however, no one knew they were migraines. My mother referred to them as my "sick headaches," since I would often throw up during one of these headaches. The only thing that helped the pain and nausea was sleep. I remember having a diary at the time and referring to them as "blah days." They often seemed to occur on Sundays, and even back then, I worried about how I would feel. Looking back through the diary (I had saved it over the years), I saw that I had written, "I hope that I don't have another 'blah day.'" How sad.

National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com.