Kim's Life as a Migraineur

Hellooo! You may know me for my fun facts I do for Jean Luc and Nick.

I thought long and hard about doing a blog for them. Would anyone be interested in the writings of an overweight, 50-something, wife of a trucker who suffers from chronic migraine?

You have heard of the boys talk about the power of yes! So I am pulling up my big girl panties and am saying yes. (What have I gotten myself into?!:)

Did you know that migraine is the 3rd most common disease in the work and the 6th most debilitating? It affects 12% of Americans, 15% women, 8% men, 10% children and 2% live with chronic migraine!

What is a migraine?

It is a neurological disease that causes a variety of symptoms, most notably a throbbing, pulsing headache on one side of the head. It will most likely get worse with physical activity, light, sound and smells. It can last a few hours to a few days.

There are 150 different types of headache that are divided into two categories: Primary, which migraine falls under and secondary. The different types of migraines are:

• Migraine with aura - 15 -20% experience this.

• No aura - this is the most common

• No head pain - also known as a silent migraine

• Hemiplegic - you have temporary paralysis (hemiplegia) or sensory changes on one side.

• Ocular - loss of vision or pain behind one eye

• Chronic - they occur 15 or more days a month

• Brain stem aura - this is where you will get vertigo, slurred speech, double vision, ringing in the ears and or vomiting.

A migraine has four stages - the first is Prodrome or preheadache. This is where you can have irritability, problems speaking, problems sleeping, nausea, fatigue, sensitivity to light, muscle stiffness/soreness and my favorite and the one I get all the time is food cravings and inability to get full.

The second stage is Aura. This is where you may see lights or wavy lines or blind spots in your vision, tingling skin, ringing in your ears and or changes to smell or taste.

The third stage is the headache. This is where you are sensitive to light, noise and smells. You are nauseated and or vomit, loss of appetite. You feel warm or cold, pale skin, tired. Slurred speech, dizziness and blurred vision. You have tender scalp (allodynia).

The fourth stage is postdrome also known as the migraine hangover. This is where you will feel depressed, unable to concentrate and fatigued. You will not be able to understand things and can even have a euphoric feeling.

Now that I have given you the not so fun fact, I hope that by doing this blog that I will inspire and give insight into how living with a chronic illness, although very challenging, does not have to control your life. It will be full of tips, tricks and stories of my journey to wellness. So I will see you in my next blog. Tootles!