Paw on Nostr: You know what. Up until now I only ever experienced the “fancy sparkling” ...

You know what. Up until now I only ever experienced the “fancy sparkling” (ophthalmic) migraines, and I thought I had a somewhat thorough understanding of what a migraine was.
… I’m sorry for my hubris and ignorance.

Still, it’s not like I was completely in the dark (ahah).
A typical migraine, for me, would start with sudden vision changes (aura), like an oily kaleidoscope explosion in one eye, then I had 15 min to find a dark room and a flat surface, maybe a shot of caffeine if I was lucky. Then there was the pain (excruciating and as if a burning metal thread was going from behind one eye, up my head, to my nape) for the rest of the day, and the next day I was exhausted.
Sometimes it happened twice a month, even.
So I thought I knew what a migraine was.

After a particularly scary neurological episode, a trigger was identified, I changed my diet, and regularly happening migraines were a thing of the past.
I felt wise and learned. (Insert: brushing my hand over my fictional white beard, nodding sagely)
I could tell people what a migraine felt like, because I knew what a migraine was.

Folks. Friends. I was arrogant. A fool.
I’ve just had my second Non-Ophtalmic migraine this month. It is not good. It is really really bad, even.
I had no idea what a “standard”migraine was.

I’m not saying it’s worse, but it is very different, especially the start. What do you mean there’s no visual aura? How do I know it’s coming then? How can I take meds in the golden window before the pain starts?
And this last one lasted several days. But it kept getting better and then starting again!
And the nausea. 𝘜𝘳𝘨𝘩. I felt on the precipice of being sick the whole time.
Of course there was the usual sensitivity to lights, motions and sounds, but when it’s the third day you have to wear sunglasses indoors and very carefully 𝖓𝖔𝖙 move around, it gets a bit old.

Anyway. I’m starting to tentatively feel better.
The nausea is abating slowly, the pain is mostly gone. Behind the sunglasses, it was an eye-opening experience.
At least I know what a migraine is, now.
… I think.

#Migraine #OphtalmicMigraine #Aura #Health