I had an interesting dialogue with a friend the other day about doing things that were good for us, but not necessarily good for our migraines. She wasn’t sure if I would understand what she was talking about, but I could completely relate and maybe you can too.
Anytime you live with a chronic illness or in chronic pain, you are living in a state of diminished quality of life. The body decides for you, instead of you getting to decide what will be done (or what is possible to be done). For me, it created a sort of “fight” between my brain (or thinking/logic) and my physical body. I wouldn’t recommend taking that route, as it causes unnecessary stress (which for many, including me is a migraine trigger…ahhh, the cycle begins!).
But, back to this idea of doing something for you that may not be good for your migraine. When you have frequent migraines, or any illness frequently it is easy to label yourself as “ill” and allow the title to blanket everything you see yourself attempting to do. I didn’t want to make plans with people, because if a migraine came on I would have to break plans and I would look like a flake (as I often ended up breaking plans due to migraines). After being bedridden with migraines for so long I literally lost muscle mass, and literally didn’t have the strength or stamina to do most of the outdoor activities I LOVED. You get the idea, and I’m sure you can think of examples in your own life.
Sometimes I think it is necessary to remind yourself you really are a person. You’re not “ill”. . . you are a person with an illness. Sometimes it is good to go out and do something that feels great to you the person, even if it may not be the best thing to do to care for your migraine. Just to remind yourself a normal life is still there for you. Some of hers were snowboarding and kickboxing. Kickboxing could set off migraines for her, but was a great way for her to get out frustration built up over frequent migraines! One of mine is reading. I’m an avid reader, but I can’t read for as long as I used to be able to or I can get a migraine. Sometimes when I’m in the middle of a fantastic book, I allow myself to stay where I’m at even after I know I should stop because if feels so good to be to to swallowed up in an an amazing plot and characters. I’m also a sucker for live music. Everything from jazz bars to rock concerts. Every once in a while I indulge myself. I especially love live music in smaller venues. I’ve consulted with my neuro…I know it isn’t the biggest helper in my treatment plan (I even take additional preventitive medication before I go to try and stop a migraine), but my neuro allows me to indulge in activities I really enjoy every once in a while.
I do this now that I have my migraines under control. There is no way I could have done anything like the above when migraines had me bedridden. Then exciting normal people activity was eating dinner with my family. I’m not a doctor, just someone with a lot of personal experience. In my opinion, it feels good to go above and beyond to treat yourself every once in a while. Treats nobody has to understand but you (lol…a book excites me, but may sound extremely boring to you…that’s ok, it makes me feel great!).
Wishing everyone a healthy, peaceful day!
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2 comments:
make sure you're getting enough magnesium in your diet, of course! magnesium and vitamin B2 (source) supplements are key in helping naturally ease symptoms of migraines, or make them disappear completely!
CoQ10 is another supplement for prevention.
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