Free my Brain from Migraine Pain

I'm Moving to www.freemybrain.com - Come Visit!

It's been grand here at Typepad for the last 10 months, but it's getting a little crowded!  So for more

I'm moving!  Please come see me at www.freemybrain.com where you will find the Free my Brain from Migraine Pain blog along with resources, newsletters and articles, relaxation teleclasses, and Migraine management coaching. Please update your browsers and RSS feeds to the new site!  Come over and pay me a visit and let me know what you think - it's kind of like a house warming.  You don't have to bring a gift but you could say "Love what you've done with the place!"

- Megan 

                                Elbow room image courtesy of Jessica R.

Migraine Prevention - Early Success

Shhh... I'm whispering so the Migraine monsters don't hear me and punish me... Oh yeah, that's kind  of like believing in ghosts. But I seem to be having some success with the topamax I'm on for Migraine prevention. I have a Migraine this evening, but I've been running six to eight days between Migraines, for the last three or four weeks. For a year and more before that I had been getting several Migraines a week. So the frequency is cut in half, which makes a big difference. These are early results - I've had good 3 or 4 week stretches before, so I can't predict whether this will continue. But I am hopeful! 

I'm still on the minimum topamax dosage. I would have increased it several weeks ago but for a switch in insurance carriers making it necessary to delay the glaucoma test Dr. Gerhardstein wants me to have before increasing the dosage. Now I am happy we have taken it so slowly. Clearly my body has had a chance to acclimate itself to the medication. I am not experiencing any of the side effects I had in the first couple of weeks, either.

The biggest surprise to me is that I have more energy generally. I am not exhausted in the afternoon and evening; I feel motivated and I am getting more done. The constant low level of head pain I lived with most of the time is just gone - it seems to me that pain may have been responsible for a lot of my fatigue in the last year. The last two weekends I have done yardwork and projects around the house that I have wanted to do for ages.

There is a downside, though. It's very easy to start feeling like Wonder Woman in contrast with how I felt before. So once again I need to practice what I preach! Along with my clients, and you dear readers, I need to find that middle ground! For over five years now I have known that to have balance and well-being, to keep my energy up and my Migraines minimized, I need to pace myself. I need frequent breaks, and shifts in focus. I need time off in the middle of the day where I truly rest. I need to pay attention when I feel myself getting wired, when my blood pressure goes up, when I start moving and talking fast, when I feel the muscles in my forehead and scalp begin to contract. These are danger signs for me. Not least because I enjoy them - I like that edgy feeling of moving fast and powering through. But that energy is inevitably followed by a Migraine crash.

A few energy management tips:

1. Take a break or shift your focus every 45 - 90 minutes. If you are at a computer get up, stretch and do something else for a few minutes.
2. Take "green breaks" where you go outdoors, look outdoors through a window, look at a green plant, or at the very least look at a picture of a green plant. 2 - 5 minutes can make a huge difference.
3. Take deep breaths to slow yourself down if you feel your energy or stress level mounting.
4. Be sure to take a real break in the middle of the day - don't work through lunch.

I failed at finding the middle ground today. I got a lot done, but there's a price and I'm paying it. And so I learn my lesson again. I'm grateful to have more energy and less pain, and I'm committed to maintaining my energy by using it wisely! Let me know how you're doing with your energy today!

- Megan   

November Blog Carnival: Art inspired by Migraine

Go over to Pain in the Head for the November Headache and Migraine Disease Blog Carnival.  Generally speaking, a blog carnival is a collection of links to a variety of a blogs on a central topic. The Headache & Migraine Disease Blog Carnival has been created to provide both headache patients and people who blog about headaches with unique opportunities to share ideas on topics of particular interest and importance to us. 

This month there are a number of posts containing art, and others about the relationship between Migraines and art. Many of us find creating art, whether with words, images or other materials, helps to soothe our pain and release our feelings.  I want to give another plug here for Migraine Chick's new book of Migraine Haiku, which I mentioned a few weeks ago. Migraine Chick can make me laugh, and some of this haiku does that, with its biting cleverness. Some of the poems hurt too much to make me laugh, but they still provide the "aha!" of recognition and the satisfaction of meeting with another mind that really gets it. So check out the art in that book, and I hope also you go over to  Pain in the Head and read some of the artful posts you find there.

- Megan Oltman    

Your Host Seized by Election Fever

I have to admit to a new illness - not a chronic one this time, but acute.  I have election fever.  I fear I will be good for nothing until the election results are in tonight, and that will be late.  Tomorrow I will be exhausted and probably have a Migraine from lack of sleep.  I could hardly sleep last night, and my dreams were full of voting booths and speeches, polls and impassioned arguments.  Yesterday I had a teary conversation with my parents about how they raised me, about the values of inclusiveness and democracy, remembering the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy in my childhood, my parents' deep despair at those events and how they explained the world to me around them, and how this election feels like a fulfillment of what my parents have stood for their entire lives.  Who else out there is as worked up as I am right now?

I already anticipated that I would not sleep much tonight; I didn't expect that I would have such trouble sleeping last night.  I didn't expect that my irritable bowel syndrome would flare up, as it did overnight and is today.  It's a good thing I live in a very small town because  a long line at the polls would not work for me today!  I plan to spend a few hours volunteering today, helping others get to the polls, providing rides if needed, as long as my body allows me.  

As a coach, as a chronic illness coach I should probably be advising you, and myself, to relax, to get rest today, to go to sleep tonight and find out the election results in the morning.  I don't think I would be capable of taking that advice.  We are human, and we must concede our humanity.  My Migraine Connection posted their poll of the week today - "Do You plan to vote regardless of a Migraine?".  Of around 120 responses so far, 94% said yes, they plan to vote regardless of a Migraine.  That's how important this election is to us.  The outcome here matters to all of us, wherever we stand politically and even wherever you live in the world.  I know many people who have devoted many hours to volunteering this election cycle; my illnesses make me unable to do as much.  I may feel very sick tomorrow, but I will know I have done what I can.

Be good to yourself today.  Vote if you can and you haven't already.  Help someone else if you can.  Let me know how you're doing!  I'll be back posting again when my fever has passed!

- Megan Oltman 

Kreativ Blogger Award

One of the great joys of blogging is the on line conversation and community that is formed between those blogging on the same or similar topics.  When I can't reach anyone on the phone, when there is no one in my day to day life to talk to, I can come on line and seek out the thinking of, receive the sympathy of, and offer comfort to my wonderful blogger friends.  It was a joy to me as I sat alone at my computer yesterday to get notice from my dear friend MJ of Rhymes with Migraine that she had awarded me with the Kreativ Blogger Award.

MJ is a bright and courageous young woman with chronic Migraine disease, great good sense, and a big heart, and I am blessed to have her as a friend.  Do go check out her blog for some really good writing.  Thank you MJ for the honor and the recognition!

The terms of the Kreativ Blogger Award are to list six things that make me happy, and give this award to six other bloggers.

Six things that make me happy:

1. Finding the humor in life, and laughing at it!
2. Taking brisk walks outside in the woods and fields.
3. Sharing ideas and having deep and intense conversations with family and friends.
4. The great love and support of my wonderful husband, children and family.
5. The creative, committed and compassionate Migraine and chronic illness advocacy and support community.
6. Making lovely things, with words, cloth, yarn, food, or whatever I can get my hands on. 

Six bloggers I want to give the Kreativ Blogger Award to (in alphabetical order):

1. Eileen, of My Life with Migraine
2. Kerrie, of The Daily Headache
3. Marla, of A Winning Life with RSD
4. Migraine Chick, of The Migraine Chick
5. Rain Gem, of Migraine News Network
6. Marijka, of Help My Hurt

Please check out their blogs for some good reading!

- Megan  

We've moved! Come over to our new site www.freemybrain.com for new content on managing life with Migraines and chronic illness.