This Type of Fatigue = Migraine?

Sunday

Why is it that after being extra busy for a week, and today I have little if any obligations, I feel like I got hit by a bus. Well, not the pain of a bus but more like a hangover, not an alcohol hangover but a life hangover. Could it actually be migraine symptoms?

Something I’ve taken note of recently is that I don’t notice I have a headache until I leave my house… I’ll be walking my dog or driving my car when it dawns on me that I do NOT feel good. Then I remember it was impossibly hard to get myself up and going that morning, zero motivation.

My awareness of migraine activity has gotten a lot better the past couple years. And that’s a big one I have noticed. Rather than me assuming I’m being lazy or depressed it is very possible that it is the beginning of a migraine ramping up. I’m pretty sure that’s my deal today. Also, people with migraines have learned to push the pain aside in order to do life. Our inclination is to ignore, deny, and power through.

I look forward to getting to a place in life where I can be busier and not feel completely dead and drained to the world shortly after. I would have loved to have played pickleball today but I couldn’t get myself out of bed early enough, and even if I could have I would have opted not to go because of feeling too busy all week. It still took me many hours today to realize I was probably having migraine symptoms. It might sound confusing that someone may not know right away that they are having or getting a migraine but hear me out. Migraines literally feel like you got hit by a bus and most of the time it’s so bad that you can’t even drive or walk much at all. People with chronic migraines (such as myself) almost always have some low level nervous system migrainous activity.

Luckily for me, the extreme pain has decreased over the past couple of years thanks to…drugs. Prescription medication to be exact. I don’t like that I take so much medication but good Lord does it help! I can now function almost every day. That is a miracle compared to how it used to be. I also get physical therapy manipulation techniques to my neck and upper back, helping the migraines. That is one non-drug tool that has helped tremendously.

Migraines Without Head Pain?

Another fun fact is that some migraines don’t even have head pain! And wouldn’t you know it if it isn’t my own brother that suffers with this, to the extreme. Another interesting thing is that him and I get the most relief from the same medication, Reyvow. He rarely if ever even gets head pain but he has all the other possible symptoms! He says that Reyvow is the only medication that makes him feel any better. I am new to taking that one and it works magically.

Being-Busy-Hangover and Social Threshold

I think today’s being-busy-hangover is related to my social and normal busyness threshold. This basically refers to the normal amount you are used to for socializing and/or being busy. If we are stretched way beyond our norm, it can feel frickin stressful! And this may be why we feel a need to recover by lounging at home and being a little lazy, to kind of balance it out.

Our bodies/nervous systems always want to maintain homeostasis. So we can’t expect ourselves to one day go from 0 to 100 easy peasey. Instead, (if possible) gradually increase your activity levels in order to not get whiplash. It’s 2:00 pm on the day that daylight savings time ends in 2025. And even though I had the being-busy-hangover I didn’t take the medication, Sumatriptan until about an hour ago. I feel better now that I took the medication. Definitely not 100% but quite a bit better so, I’m calling it a win.

The End of Daylight Savings Time

Wacky Wednesday

This week has gotten a little weird. I got stuck working 2 ½ hours longer than was planned… I got some news about my living situation that is not great. It was a shock but I am handling it well. Sorry no time for deets on that right now. I keep reminding myself and others that we just moved our clocks forward by an hour so, if we’re feeling out of sorts that could definitely contribute!

It seems like everyone in the world wants to be done with changing our clocks 2x per year but we have to wait for the Federal Government to pass a law saying we don’t have to anymore… I say we all go on strike and live our lives by standard time and the daylight savings time followers will have to deal with us showing up 1 hour late for 4 months out of the year.

Another annoying thing is my heartburn has been bugging me a lot this week. I still need to figure out if/when I’m having surgery for it (and other problems). I plan on getting a second opinion and going from there. It gets hard keeping up with all this medical and general life stuff, I could use a personal assistant sometimes lemme tell ya.The heartburn is not only crazy painful but it means I can’t do my physical therapy exercises that provide some relief to my left hip and lower back. So now that is killing me. Well, I can do 2 of the exercises since I remain upright for them rather than any amount of bending over or laying flat on the ground. When heartburn is happening laying down is NOT an option ❌️