Today I had a headache.
Well, it was actually a migraine.
Usually when I get a migraine, I wake up with it. Either I ate something the previous day to trigger the pain or the pressure from an incoming storm causes my sinuses to react. When I wake up with a migraine like this, I have a routine that I hope will take care of it.
First, I get ice cold water and boiling hot coffee or tea. These temperature extremes help to calm the pain for me. Then, I apply pressure to my face, right behind my eyebrows, on top of my cheeks, and at the back of my jaw. This light massage coupled with the temperature can be so soothing! Finally, if I don’t feel much relief or if I don’t have time to stay in bed longer to rest, I take an Excedrin and try to go about my day as normal.
But today I didn’t have the migraine when I woke up. In fact, I had already run errands, come home, and gone to a coffee shop to work before I felt the dullness creep into my face. It began slowly, but within an hour I was feeling intense pain. I began to wonder what I had done that would cause it. Did I eat one of the foods that trigger me? No. Is there a storm coming soon? No. Am I overly stressed about something in particular? I don’t think so.
Some things just can’t be explained, no matter how hard we try. Some things can’t be understood. This is perhaps one of the worst things about life, in my opinion. I like to know what’s going on; I like to understand it all. When I embark on new experiences, I like to research and gather as much information as possible.
The problem is that there is just too much to learn for me to understand everything! I could spend all my days learning, and there would still be more to learn. So I have to choose what I will be okay with not knowing and what I will put my energy into learning. I’m not typically one for comparison, but in the grand scheme of life, I’ll be satisfied with not understanding all my pain. I would have to study biology, chemistry, nutrition, and weather patterns to understand what I already know about my migraines before I could even begin to wonder about the mystery trigger from today.
If these headaches become a more regular problem, then I will wonder. But for today, I will just not understand. I will not try to explain. I will just accept the problem in front of me, not giving it any more power than it has already taken without my permission.
Today I had a headache.
I don’t know why, and that’s okay.
3 Responses
I’m sorry to hear you suffer from these headaches, but found what works for you. I don’t, which I’m grateful. Mostly my headaches are due to dehydration, lack of good sleep, let me know where I can find some of that! Or extreme weather changes!
I love your mindset of not allowing it rule your day! Blessings!
Hannah, as a fellow sufferer, I don’t know what’s worse. Having it come out of the blue in the middle of the day or waking up with it. For me, it’s usually wake up with it and barometric pressure is typically the culprit. I try and stay away from the foods that get to me…bananas and pretzels.
Sudafed (behind the pharmacy counter), Mucienx, and Excedrin Migraine are my go tos. Rarely does this combo not work. But when it doesn’t, an ice pack on my forehead–remove at brain freeze-reapply when the freeze lessens and repeat definitely helps. Hot tea with ginger in it can also help. Other than a dark cold room, that’s all I got. Hope you get some relief.
Gina
I’ve not heard the ginger tea remedy yet! I use ginger and mint for nausea/stomach issues and seen success, so I’ll have to try it for my head, too!