Take the tags off of the dogs!

My migraines often arrive in the early morning hours. If I'm exceptionally sleepy and warm under my down comforter, I'll sometimes procrastinate getting out of bed to do anything about the pain. I roll over, hold my head, and hope against hope that it will go away by itself. Of course, this never works so it's quite strange that I still try it. Actually, it gradually gets worse, giving me no choice but to get out of bed and do something about it before it's too late.


If I get a migraine during the day, I usually feel it coming on gradually so I take an Imitrex pill for relief in about an hour. At night though, the pain is usually severe by the time it wakes me so I use Imitrex injections. I have my routine down to a science - I pull myself out of bed, grab two washcloths - I use two so I can alternate and always have a cool one available - and run cold water over them in the sink while I set up the injection. I sit down, put the self-injector on my leg, push the button, grab the washcloths, and quickly head back to bed - no dilly-dallying as the injections begin working quickly. Initially, they make my migraine worse before it gets better so I prefer to be back in bed with a cold washcloth on my head before that happens!

This morning at around 3am, my aching head and neck forced me out of bed and into the bathroom to follow my standard routine. Though this usually works, it didn't this time. By 6am this morning, I still had no relief. I got back up and went through the entire routine of giving myself an injection again, yet with no more success than the first time. Around 7:30, my wonderful and understanding husband brought me a strong cup of coffee and kept the house as quiet as possible - this means, of course, taking the tags off of the dogs. The sound of dangling dog tags during a migraine penetrates my skull and pierces my ears! After a cup of coffee, a very long, hot and steamy shower, and the passage of several hours, my head still aches. At least the severity has lessened. The dogs are still running around naked, just in case!

After a spell of doing well with my migraines, I've had chronic daily migraines again for a least a week now. Imitrex is one of the few things that have worked well for me, I'd hate to think I'm building up a tolerance! Either way, one thing that will probably help at this point would be to walk away from this computer for awhile. It's worth a try!