Migraine Madness
4:11 PMThis day has definitely not played out the way I had in mind. It started out well, but right around 12:00, as I was driving out to my insurance agent's office, something went amiss.
I started feeling like there were blind spots in my vision. Which freaked me out, but not nearly as much as when a few minutes later the blind spots turned into shimmery bits on the periphery of my vision. Here I am driving, with my two kids in the back, wondering if I am experiencing a detached retina or something.
I call my eye doctor to come in immediately, but turns out they're on vacation until next week. Ok, so that's not an option! The receptionist suggested I go see my primary care physician. Which actually wasn't crazy because August woke up this morning with what I then suspected to be an ear infection, and I had made an appointment for him at our doc for 2:30. But right now, 2:30 was a long way off and here I am feeling extremely bizarre with my vision going wacky on me.
I make it safely to my insurance agent's office and, leaving the kids in the car (within my sight - such as it was at this point!), stumble into the front office. I manage to somehow focus enough to tell them what I was there for and then, just because I was at this time, utterly freaking out, interject their discussion to tell them, "Guys, there is something wrong with my eyes!" They immediately expressed concern, especially since I had driven there. I didn't know what to say! I managed to sort of focus on writing the check I came to write, then stumble back out to the car.
Kyle was on a photo shoot all day and I couldn't get him. I couldn't get my mom, either. I was really starting to panic! Should I go to the ER? What in the world would I do with Brooklyn and August?? Finally, driving back, things seemed to "un-shimmer" and the fractionality of my sight diminished. And Kyle called me. I explained to him, with no small degree of panic in my voice, what was going on. He didn't know whether he should come home or not.
And then, suddenly, as quickly as it had started, my vision cleared up. Kyle commented that it sounded like a migraine, but I don't get those. Or, I have gotten one in my life. Ten years ago. It was ghastly, an experience I hoped never to repeat.
So I get home, and within minutes, have googled retinal detachment, brain tumors and shimmery vision...and then I get a pinprick of pain deep in my brain, centered like an ice pick drilling into my forehead above my right eyebrow. It is, in fact, a migraine.
I quickly called Kyle and had him call my mom, while, in a matter of minutes, I begin to get nauseous, wobbly, sick to my stomach, literally incapacitated with pain.
I somehow manage to put on Mary Poppins for Brooklyn to watch. August had mercifully fallen asleep in the car and was asleep now on my bed. I stumbled upstairs, threw up and fell onto the bed with August. During the next half hour, Kyle managed to talk to a friend of his who experiences cortical migraines and identify my current situation as exactly what this other guy experiences. My mom brings me some Excedrin Migraine and takes the kids to the doctor for me and then to her house. I throw up some more...find an eye patch to block out the killer sunlight streaming in my 5 windows in the bedroom. I burrow under the covers like a mole and try to find relief from the pain.
And wouldn't you know it...of all days, my neighbor across the street is getting a new roof today. Every pound of the hammer was like nails into my skull. I just whimpered and prayed. And finally slept. And woke up about 3 hours later feeling SO much better.
The pinprick is there, but it's in the background. I'm praying it doesn't return. But I have to tell you, if I never get another one of these things, it will be too soon. For anyone out there who gets migraines, my heart goes out to you. They are horrendous.
Oh, and turns out August did have a horrible ear infection on one side and the beginnings of one on the other. And my retina is still attached. And I'm not dead despite my having wished it all to just be over!
1 comments
Sorry to hear about your day. I get migraines also, sometimes once a month, sometimes, twice a week. Thankfully (I guess), I get the warning signs with the flickering aura lights, then 1/2 vision, then numbness from my hand, to an arm, to even my teeth. I try to talk and the words are all jumbled. It's very scary and painful. I took medication daily for several years, but decided to fight it on my own as the frequency got longer between episodes. I have medication now to take at the onset, but sometimes the "after shock", i.e. a wierd feeling, isn't worth it. A few hours of total silence and total darkness and they usually subside. I am thankful you were able to get help with the kids and arrived home safely. We can talk more in detail the next time we are together. I hope you feel better soon./pam kanakis
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