Migraine Management Lesson One - Part 2
Welcome to Part Two of our first Migraine Management Lesson – Know and Reduce your Migraine Triggers. We started last week with two exercises to help you identify your triggers. If you haven’t done them yet, you might want to go back and do them now. Feel free to jump in wherever you are.
In addition to whatever triggers you have identified, you need to take stress into account. Stress itself is not considered to be a migraine trigger, but it lowers your resistance to other triggers. Stress also makes you tense up, especially in the head, neck and shoulders, which can bring on a tension-type headache. For migraineurs, a tension-type headache can trigger or morph into a migraine. Overuse of pain medications, whether OTC or prescription, or use of migraine abortives more than the recommended number of times in a week, can lead to medication over-use headaches, which also can morph into further migraines.
Reduce your trigger-load! It is important to know your triggers and to avoid possible triggers when you can. Some triggers are unavoidable, others not. Some of us can handle one or two triggers at a time but will have a migraine after facing a whole stack of triggers. For example, if you can stay well-hydrated every day, avoid smoke and flashing lights, or use incandescent light bulbs, you may reduce your tendency to get triggered. We can't do anything about major weather changes, but if we have lightened our trigger-load, we may be able to weather the weather! Some of us may need to stop eating dairy, stay away from places with flashing lights, and avoid smokers, for instance.
Exercise 3. What do you have to give up to avoid triggering Migraines? It’s easy to say “I need to give up chocolate – I need to get to bed by 10:30 every night – I need to stay out of smoky bars – stop going to concerts.” Easy to say, hard to do. It’s hard to do because we have to change our habits. But even more than that, it’s hard to give up things we enjoy. It’s important to allow ourselves to feel grief for what we must give up. We may or may not have to give them up forever. But if we ignore our sadness, that sadness is underneath, adding to our stress and pain. List what you are giving up. Let yourself mourn the changes you must make to be healthy. Answer the question: What am I giving up, that I will miss or mourn for? What would it look like if I let myself mourn?
Exercise 4. We are given the term trigger to describe what happens to our nervous system in a Migraine attack. I took that term to the logical conclusion and brought you the picture of a cocked gun. What more positive image could we use for our sensitive nervous systems? Prayer plant leaves curl up if they are touched. Flowers bruise and wilt. A butterfly’s wings lose precious little feathers if brushed. A bubbling pot of delicious soup will boil over if too many ingredients are added. Puppies are bouncy and resilient, but also need to be treated gently. Answer the question: What is a beautiful, positive, fun, endearing thing that your nervous system could be, that you could want to care for? Think of a better image for your nervous system. Think of 5 better images of your nervous system. Write them down.
Please share your thoughts, insights and questions on this thread.
In addition to whatever triggers you have identified, you need to take stress into account. Stress itself is not considered to be a migraine trigger, but it lowers your resistance to other triggers. Stress also makes you tense up, especially in the head, neck and shoulders, which can bring on a tension-type headache. For migraineurs, a tension-type headache can trigger or morph into a migraine. Overuse of pain medications, whether OTC or prescription, or use of migraine abortives more than the recommended number of times in a week, can lead to medication over-use headaches, which also can morph into further migraines.
Reduce your trigger-load! It is important to know your triggers and to avoid possible triggers when you can. Some triggers are unavoidable, others not. Some of us can handle one or two triggers at a time but will have a migraine after facing a whole stack of triggers. For example, if you can stay well-hydrated every day, avoid smoke and flashing lights, or use incandescent light bulbs, you may reduce your tendency to get triggered. We can't do anything about major weather changes, but if we have lightened our trigger-load, we may be able to weather the weather! Some of us may need to stop eating dairy, stay away from places with flashing lights, and avoid smokers, for instance.
Exercise 3. What do you have to give up to avoid triggering Migraines? It’s easy to say “I need to give up chocolate – I need to get to bed by 10:30 every night – I need to stay out of smoky bars – stop going to concerts.” Easy to say, hard to do. It’s hard to do because we have to change our habits. But even more than that, it’s hard to give up things we enjoy. It’s important to allow ourselves to feel grief for what we must give up. We may or may not have to give them up forever. But if we ignore our sadness, that sadness is underneath, adding to our stress and pain. List what you are giving up. Let yourself mourn the changes you must make to be healthy. Answer the question: What am I giving up, that I will miss or mourn for? What would it look like if I let myself mourn?
Exercise 4. We are given the term trigger to describe what happens to our nervous system in a Migraine attack. I took that term to the logical conclusion and brought you the picture of a cocked gun. What more positive image could we use for our sensitive nervous systems? Prayer plant leaves curl up if they are touched. Flowers bruise and wilt. A butterfly’s wings lose precious little feathers if brushed. A bubbling pot of delicious soup will boil over if too many ingredients are added. Puppies are bouncy and resilient, but also need to be treated gently. Answer the question: What is a beautiful, positive, fun, endearing thing that your nervous system could be, that you could want to care for? Think of a better image for your nervous system. Think of 5 better images of your nervous system. Write them down.
Please share your thoughts, insights and questions on this thread.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by SarahLiz on -
What do you have to give up to avoid triggering Migraines? ... it’s hard to give up things we enjoy. List what you are giving up. Answer the question: What am I giving up, that I will miss or mourn for? What would it look like if I let myself mourn?
In order to stave off my migraines, I had to give up alcohol and large amount of chocolate or sugar. I am young, my friends like to go out and drink, and I am the "party pooper" by not drinking. I notice a direct correlation with aged drinks (fermented beer or any type of wine) and so I have been learning to live without them and to celebrate the fewer calories that I ingest because of that. It stinks sometimes, but I live life with less pain now. I also have to be very careful about sugar levels in my food. Too much sugar always causes me to hurt, and then too little sugar makes me woozy and then that leads to a migraine. Fun times! Also, sleep is a big trigger for me, and as a full-time student, part-time employed, part-time internship, and then trying to have a social life, I don't sleep enough sometimes, and then pay the consequences. Right now there's nothing I can do about it (homework MUST be done) but once school ends, I am going to re-regulate my schedule so that there are even fewer migraines in my life.
Answer the question: What is a beautiful, positive, fun, endearing thing that your nervous system could be, that you could want to care for? Think of a better image for your nervous system. Think of 5 better images of your nervous system. Write them down.
1. I love the little flowers that only bloom in the morning - they are white and kind of trumpet shaped. They used to grow on my driveway growing up as a child and I adored them. I would pick them and then within a few hours they would close up and have to wait for the morning to rebloom.
2. I could also think of my brain as a toddler. They need firm rules and guidance, but also need to be very loved.
3. Along the same lines, putting my hair into a ponytail is somewhat the same. It has to be done tightly in order to stay in, but if I pull too hard it'll hurt and make my eyes water.
4. Oatmeal in the microwave is dangerous! If you cook it too long it'll boil over and make a huuuuuge mess, so you have to cook it to only a certain point.
5. Batteries need to be changed sometimes. When your remote dies, you put in new batteries, and don't think twice about it (unless you don't have any batteries!). When you brain "dies," I need to give it a rest and let it recharge.
Great exercises, Megan!
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Permalink Reply by Megan Oltman on -
I love your images, SarahLiz. Are you thinking of Morning Glories? One of my favorites too - and the metaphor is great - love them while they bloom, enjoy every moment of their blooming, and have faith that they will bloom again!
The oatmeal image makes me giggle - but it's very true, too!
- Megan
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Permalink Reply by Ellen Schnakenberg on -
Stress itself is not considered to be a migraine trigger, but it lowers your resistance to other triggers. For me, I have some mild adrenal issues. Stress causes many things to happen inside of our bodies. A normal person's system is built to handle these stressors which is protective, and good. When they are gone, the normal body returns to "stand-by" and life continues. Stress causes cortisol issues with me, imbalances in my endocrine system and stress has been shown to increase endorphins, which I have found are important for me. When the stress is released, cortisol and endorphins fall too low and I crash. My nervous system turns into a hair trigger. The difference between a kitten and a tiger.
What am I giving up, that I will miss or mourn for? What would it look like if I let myself mourn?
I smile when I read this because we have chit-chatted on other boards before where I have talked about this specifically, telling of my own experiences. I had allergies. i got angry, said a tearful goodbye to many things, then put them away. I got thyroid illness and can't eat out without a ton of trouble. I went out, ate what I wanted as a last hurrah, got sick as a dog, and never turned back. My migraine issues have been severe. When you live your life in such severe pain that you begin to understand there are worse things than death, giving up Pepsi is not a big deal. You say 'goodbye", you cry, and like any other loss, you go on. Each day it gets easier, but the feeling of loss is never gone. Like an addict, I struggle with the desire to break the rules each moment of every day.
What am I giving up? Just look at my list! I live like a drug addict afraid of falling off every proverbial wagon there is! LOL! I don't even drink tea! My indulgence is sugar (a bad trigger), which is beyond difficult.
What does it look like? I imagine standing in my meadow, surrounded by the horses and family that I love. They are doing their own things and don't notice me, but I pick a dandelion, notice how beautifully it is made and I touch it, and then let the wind slowly blow it away. When it's gone, it's gone. Time to go back to my family and my beautiful horses. It was beautiful. I have a picture of that moment in my mind, but I know it was the last, and that's okay.
What is a beautiful, positive, fun, endearing thing that your nervous system could be, that you could want to care for? Caring for my mare is like caring for my nervous system. She is an Arabian- an incredibly sensitive animal, hot as fire, but beautiful and soft, and nurturing. Everything she does is over-the-top. One moment she is hot as fire, tail flagged in the wind as she snorts the air, so powerful she could kill me with the single strike of a hoof, she touches noses with me and we share each other's breath. She's more powerful than anything else I've ever touched, yet so thin-skinned she's easily injured and great care must be given to her. She doesn't nicker at me, she neighs in my ear (LOUD!) and holds me to her side with her neck like a foal. If given her choice of eating whatever she wants, she would kill herself, so much of her care requires restricting her and watching out for her. Without this, she would be dead. Caring for her is very hard work, but also a joy tho, and I'm so happy I have her, even with all the effort. This is how I picture caring for my own nervous system.
This is my mare, Sammy, giving birth for the first time. She refused to lay down until we arrived...
Megan, I'm glad I did this today-- I needed to remember these things, revisit them.
Thank you!
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Permalink Reply by Janeen on -
Exercise 3. What do you have to give up to avoid triggering Migraines? List what you are giving up. Let yourself mourn the changes you must make to be healthy. Answer the question: What am I giving up, that I will miss or mourn for? What would it look like if I let myself mourn?
Stress does something to my body that triggers migraines. I don't know what it is, but I know it's there. Too much tension? Not enough sleep? Too much running around and not enough quiet time? Something in my body responds to that and responds badly. I can feel my body starting to react to it and that's when I need to slow things down. Even if it's around the holidays, I have to learn to let things go and stop trying to be "super woman" or I will pay for it later. And that's hard for me. I want to be "super woman" or at the very least "super mom". But I know I can't do it all. It's taken me a long time to come to that realization. And some days, I still don't deal with it well.
Exercise 4. We are given the term trigger to describe what happens to our nervous system in a Migraine attack. I took that term to the logical conclusion and brought you the picture of a cocked gun. What more positive image could we use for our sensitive nervous systems? Answer the question: What is a beautiful, positive, fun, endearing thing that your nervous system could be, that you could want to care for? Think of a better image for your nervous system. Think of 5 better images of your nervous system. Write them down.
A positive image of my nervous system could be a sweet, tiny baby. It needs to be cared for and loved and taken care of. But even little babies can be over fed, over loved and over cared for and they get cranky (like my nervous system!). It's a lot of hard work to take care of a little helpless baby but it's well worth it in the long run. To me, nothing is more wonderous or rewarding.
I love your flower analogy that was just perfect!
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Permalink Reply by Megan Oltman on
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Janeen I think the baby image goes a long way to dealing with the stress issue. Yes, our systems are more sensitive and vulnerable to stress than "normal" nervous systems. We care for a baby to keep the stresses of an adult life from them; they are not ready to handle them. At the same time, we nurture the baby so it can grow in strength and capability. Now there's a hopeful image!
- Megan
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Permalink Reply by Megan Oltman on
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Ellen - Thanks for sharing those beautiful images of Sammy! (The one in words and the one in the picture.) These words seem particularly appropriate to our Migrainous systems: "She's more powerful than anything else I've ever touched, yet so thin-skinned she's easily injured and great care must be given to her."
It sounds like you have traveled a long way on the acceptance road. I love your image of standing in the meadow. That is the kind of image you want to focus on going forward. Thanks for sharing it!
- Megan
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