Migraine: to be cured or not to be cured........

Where has the Ugly Beast gone? Still frightened by the prospect of Botox? Migraine Mum has had no migraine since last weekend (hurray!). Instead, I had a virus which gave me a thumping head and the shivers for 3 days, a bit like having a migraine (booo!) but I wasn't left with that horrible feeling of being drained and low (hurray!). I wonder if the Ugly Beast decided that the viral headache was enough for me this week and gave me a reprieve?! He normally visits me about 2 times a week!

So, on Thursday I had an idea that me and my family could spend Saturday going to a theme park. A big day out. We decided that we wouldn't mention it until we were sure we felt up for it (always a sensible plan when you're not sure if you're going to have a migraine or not, or if any of your children are going to be sick the night before!).......wow, what excitement in our house there was on Saturday morning!!

Anyway, I knew I was at risk of migraine. Big days out always present a few more challenges.
Probably because:

• I don't drink or eat as much as I normally do
• there is a tendency to eat rubbish
• car travel can make me feel worse
• the stress of dealing with 3 children on a long day out too can stretch me at the best of times. 
• the rides can make me feel icky which seems to provoke my head!
• excitement can bring on a migraine........and I was very excited!!
• tirednesss can trigger a migraine too

So I went in prepared, drinking water, eating gluten free snacks regularly, always on the look out for rides which might make me feel icky and being prepared with the children with snacks etc. I stayed as calm as I could but screamed like hell on Vampire, laughed my head off in Bubbleworks as I got soaked and giggled to myself when I sat on Professor Fartawhatsits chair in Hocus Pocus Hall ( my children had walked off and I was left shouting "look I'm blowing off!" to a complete stranger! Can embarrassment bring on a migraine?!) We had a fantastic day!

Its success made me think......... I have finally accepted that I suffer from migraine. This may sound odd.......I have had them since I was 18yrs old and remember having sicky heads before that on buses or in cars. That's about 24 years of fighting the illness, believing that I would find a cure one day and it would all be ok. Of course I haven't found a cure and this has only made me feel worse in the past. Why can some people get cured by giving up tomotoes or seeing a hypnotherapist once......Well I've decided to do it differently.....I don't want to live my life feeling I should be cured but by accepting the Ugly Beast in my life, I can learn to live with it. And it seems that may be by learning to accept the difficult things in your life, somehow their hold over you is not as great, the dark thoughts lessen and you are freer to get on with your life. The Holy Grail Quest is I believe, to find effective ways of managing this illness, to find ways of increasing your threshold to migraine, and not necessarily to be cured........and may be then, the Ugly Beast may get a bit bored and decide to blog off for a little bit.....