It’s enough to make my head hurt

Migraines.

I get migraines. It had been a long time since I’ve had one. Now I have had two in about two weeks. I had almost forgotten about them. It has all come back to me very quickly.

My mom had migraines. She would be in bed for a day whenever they hit. Usually, she would lie in the dark, or with one of those sleep masks over her eyes. We tried to be quiet. Usually that didn’t last long, and she would have to get up to handle some family squabble.  Her migraines stopped once she reached menopause.

I started getting them around the end of high school. I could usually suffer through them. During college, they got much worse. I tried many different medications. None really helped much. They became worse and more frequent. When I started taking birth control pills, they became more than I could handle. Sometimes daily, usually at least weekly suffering. I found it very difficult to get through them. I couldn’t stand it, and even though I tried many different brands and dosages, I could not continue taking the pill. Pregnancy was also a time when I suffered many migraines, which were made worse by the fact that I was limited in the types of medication I could take for them.

As our kids grew up, I usually tried to muddle through the headaches. There was rarely a chance to just stop life due to a migraine.  I tried all sorts of medications over the years, but finally gave up and just suffered with them.

I was always hopeful that one benefit of reaching menopause would be no more migraines. I guess I am just not that lucky.

The current headache came on during dinner last night. I immediately took some medicine and went to bed. This afternoon I am beginning to feel better. Earlier today, I had to work. It was quite a struggle. I came home and took a nap. As of now, after swallowing down several acetaminophen tablets and taking it easy, I feel as though I am coming around. By tomorrow morning, I may be back to normal.

The worst part of these is never knowing when they will hit. Unlike many other people who have migraines, I have never been able to pinpoint a trigger for them. They come out of nowhere. In the past, I have had numbness in one of my hands and one side of my face precede the headache. Usually it is just a visual thing, which makes my vision seem as though someone flashed a bright light in my eyes-like a camera flash. There is a spot of bright light that begins small, grows larger and stays in my vision as the headache progresses. The headache hits, with nausea and sensitivity to light and odors, and lasts from 24 to 48 hours.

While lying around with this headache, I’ve had a lot of time to think. One of the things I’ve thought about is whether I could be the President of the United States with a migraine.

Would my migraines preclude me from being President of the United States?  I don’t think I could make a major decision while in the throes of a migraine. I could not be a proper hostess to a guest. If I were in a place with bright lights, I would have to close my eyes, or at least look away. If there were an odd odor, I would likely barf.

So, no heads of state at diplomatic dinners for me. It would not be good to ask me if we should invade some pesky country. No television lights and cameras in my face.  And if you have body odor, watch out for your shoes.

Yes, I am sad to admit to you that I will never be able to be President of the United States.

I know that Michele Bachmann believes that she could be the leader of the free world. Even if I didn’t think she was unqualified in so many other ways, I have a hard time believing that she could competently handle the job while suffering a migraine. It’s my understanding that she believes that (her)God has called her to be President.  From my perspective, if (her) God wanted her to be President, He wouldn’t have given her migraines. Maybe He is trying to tell her something.

The only possible benefit I could see from that would be that perhaps she would support research into effective preventive treatment for migraine headaches. But I am not willing to entrust the world to her on that basis.

Just the possibility of her as President is enough to give me another migraine.

I’m going to lie down.

{Note: Another blogger recently wrote on this subject as well, but I can’t remember who it was. I would like to link to your post, so if you can let me know who it was, I will add the link. I am obviously not thinking clearly right now.}

Okay, now I have it. My memory banks have kicked in. Here is the link to  Nance at Mature Landscaping, who wrote on this subject recently. She writes much more eloquently than I, so check out her post, as well.

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