My return to calm and measured eating started over the weekend without much fanfare. It felt comfortable, like slipping into a pair of favorite shoes. I thought I might be skipping over the withdrawals I’ve had in the past until Sunday, when we went to Marina del Rey to celebrate my youngest brother’s birthday. I developed a migraine somewhere around Cypress. I’m not sure if it was related to my change in eating–the suddenly cleaner foods or the stress of saying goodbye my tried and true coping mechanism– or the strawberries I ate with breakfast (they sometimes give me headaches), but by the time we reached my brother’s place, I struggled to pretend I didn’t feel as miserable as I did.
The worst part of a migraine isn’t the pain, although that’s pretty terrible. The worst part has to be the nausea. I sat there on the sofa and willed my stomach in order while we waited for my parents to show up. When they did, I mustered a hello and warned my dad as he approached, “Don’t jostle the sofa.”
He landed across the pillows like he was taking the Nestea Iced Tea plunge. I did not feel good all over.
Not long after that, everyone got up to make their way to the restaurant. I tried. I really, really tried. Between the migraine and waiting too long to eat, I reached the end of my mind over matter. My mom and sister in-law took one look at me and suggested I lay down instead. I was too far gone to pretend the idea didn’t surpass other notable ideas like the cotton gin, plastic, and Craigslist.
I might have started crying and said I ruined my brother’s birthday, but that didn’t last long. I was asleep in under 5 minutes and dreamed of talking squirrels and the number 7.
I woke up when the Mister called about an hour later. I felt better–the nausea was gone at least–so he came back to take me to the restaurant. I ate a strip steak and arugula and in between bites told my sister in-law that her body pillow might have saved my life.
“It was perfect,” I said. “It kept me reclined enough to sleep, but I wasn’t sitting. You know how you can’t lay flat when you have a headache?” She agreed, and shared how she uses her body pillow to sleep.
“Well you know,” said my middle brother. “I recently bought a wedge pillow. I haven’t slept so well in forever.”
We talked about pillows and sleep and popped Lactaid before eating dairy.
There are moments in life that mark changes in time. They are signposts that read “Here. Here is where life changed.” Here is where you sat with the brothers who you once played G.I. Joes with and discussed jobs and health and a different sort of pillow talk.
Eeh . . . wretched migraines. They’re so wrong on so many levels.
And isn’t it funny how things change? They change, and yet manage to stay the same . . .
Glad your evening turned out swell. Have you tried excedrin migraine? It’s my savior. Whenever my eating schedule is off and my blood sugar gets wonky I take two of those and 30 minutes later I’m better!!! Good luck with your healthy eating this week!
In my experience (and maybe it’s just me), when I’ve got a migraine and no recent food in my stomach, the Excedrin Migraine gives a boost to the nausea. I think it’s the caffeine in it. Sleep, however, works every time – it’s just unfortunate that sleep is not always an option!
I was totally laughing at the “nestea iced tea plunge”. I could just picture it. Some people, men in particular, really just here the Charlie Brown wah wah when we talk.
Ah, Jules, I so hate the migraine and nausea associated with it too. I think the worse part is people thinking it’s just a bad headache so you shouldn’t be curled in the fetal position with the lights off and your ears covered to muffled any rogue sounds. Glad you are feeling better and what a sister for doing that drive! BTW, the Nestea reference had me in tears;)
I battled a weather-related headache all weekend.
My friends and I often catch ourselves discussing health care plans, 401K versus IRA options, etc. We stop, laugh, and try to reminisce about how we’d party it up all night. Then, we all agree that we’re so glad we don’t do that anymore!
Getting older and growing up. You notice it at the oddest times.
Had my first migraine in over 11 years last week – I believe it was work related. (The last one was too!). I only got the flashing lights in front of my eyes, and could barely see to get my contacts out; fortunately no pain or nausea this time around. Got 10 hours of sleep that night – round the clock ibuprofen and sleep is the only way I can get rid of them.
Migraines. Blegh!
My mother would get migraines and something us kids learned early on was that if she said she was taking a bath before we’d had dinner, and if no light was coming from under the bathroom door, then we’d better be on our best behavior for the rest of the night.
Now that I’m getting them too, I totally feel for any mother that has to navigate the symptoms along with maintaining a household. My last one sprung up on me (well, of course there were warning signs that I chose to ignore, *sigh*) while I was working at a drag show in a night club. I run the live camera feed and spotlight for the performers during the show. Bright lights, pounding bass, blaring treble, and not possible to leave my post or even really slack off. It was the first real eye-opener I’d had to how my own mom must have felt when we were young enough to not be able to abandon her duties as a caretaker and take care of herself.
Migraines are horrible, just horrible, just thinking about them makes me feel all nauseous. Glad you made it through, and got to be a part of the adult table :)
My little brother recently started seeing a woman who has a child, it is so odd to see him in the role of ‘father’, something I’m not sure I’ll ever really feel as a normal function of his personality. It is neat to see though, so grown-up.
headache = bad, really bad! ice tea plunge = great!!! I forgot about that lovely memory.
We all had a great time!!! It all turned out ok and it was so awesome to spend the day with you guys…xoxoxo
Take a magnesium supplement! Google it. I haven’t had a headache since I started taking it, which is a great relief.
Sorry to hear you are a fellow migraineur. Seems like many of the most interesting people I know are. I had a whopper on Sunday morning. And yeah–anything that will make it go away is on the same plane as craigslist and the cotton gin. :-)
My “little” brother just became principal of the high school he works at. This is the person who I used to read bedtime stories to, and later when he was older had to physically shake him to wake him up for school! It’s crazy how things change.