#migraineur

[softgritspoonie]

People don’t understand chronic pain.

They think it’s like a pulled muscle or a bad headache — temporary, fixable, visible.

But chronic pain is like gravity: always there, always pulling, even when you smile or function or pretend it’s fine.

It wears you down in ways people don’t see. And when you try to explain it, you’re met with confusion, disbelief, or silence.

To everyone living in a body that hurts more than it should — I see you. You're not alone in this.

[nonbeans]

Today's one of those days where I allow myself to just cry about how unfair the US healthcare system is. Even medicaid. It's disgusting. Imagine how many ER visits they wouldn't have to pay for if they just listened and approved what the fucking doctors prescribed.

[cambriancrew]

I really hate being disabled in the USA. I can work, mostly, but I get sooo many migraines (5-6 a month) and my doctor is being a pain about wanting so many things done before he'll fill out FMLA paperwork so I can get time excused from work. I have tried a med that actually works wonders at stopping a migraine, but insurance is refusing to pay for it even with a prior authorization from my dr and without insurance it's more than $130 per pill. (Cheaper to go to Urgent Care and get a shot of toradol, which costs me $90. Multiply that by six a month though? Oof it's a LOT.)

I've used up all my sick, personal, and vacation time for the year too so missing work means not getting paid too, so add that to the cost of a migraine.

Not all of my migraines are severe enough for me to miss work, but a lot of them come with nausea and due to trauma, nausea is my breaking point.

And that's just ONE of the things that causes me to miss work. I dislocate joints really easily - pulled my shoulder out pretty badly while sleeping last week and had to take a day off because the pulled muscle made me unable to use that arm, couldn't lift it. And even now it's still sore but usable. I haven't had one in awhile, but I get flares from fibromyalgia that make me basically nonfunctional - can't think, can't move, everything hurts even loose clothing and breathing and sometimes even blinking. And as is I'm mildly foggy brained and everything hurts but I can push through to a certain extent.

And heaven help me if something makes me miss a dose of my antidepressants. Like throwing up from a migraine soon after I've taken my meds for the night. Or like what happened recently when my local CVS closed and I didn't find out till I was almost out of my rx and getting it changed to a different CVS took some time. When that happens I get basically a fibro flare on steroids: everything REALLY SEVERELY hurts, I get nauseous, I get actively suicidal, it's NOT a good time. I've tried other meds to help with the fibro and depression and nothing works half as well as what I'm on, I just cannot miss a dose whatsoever. I've even tried splitting the dose, taking half in the morning and half at night, that makes it much less effective. (And I'm much more likely to not be consistent on the times I take it which doesn't help.)

Basically this just REALLY sucks. Rant over.

[gigglesnortbangdead]

me when my migraine hurts and makes me uncomfortable instead of not affecting me at all

[wordsforrain]

The winter solstice is on December 21, 2024 in the northern hemisphere. As of today, November 17, we are five weeks out from that date, which means we have officially entered the darkest 10 weeks of the year. We won’t emerge until January 25, 2025.

So if you’re feeling shitty and down and depressed, anything might be causing it, but the overall lack of light probably isn’t helping.

This is a reminder to give yourself grace for the next 10 weeks. It’s going to be rough. Try to get some sunlight each day if you can, and try not to make any big, life-altering decisions if you can, because you might very well feel differently about life once the sun starts showing its face some more.

One big thing I notice, as someone with chronic migraine, is how hard the angle of the sun is on my eyes at this time of year. And how awfully bright other cars’ taillights are, because so much more of my driving takes place in the dark.

Posting this as a hug to myself, bc I’ve been in more pain lately and bummed about it. But also as a hug to you, bc this shit is hard for anyone.

The sun will come back. We just gotta give it some time.

[bluetheoutcast]

So this morning I decided to put on music while I was putting away the dishes. I heard a song I really like and haven’t listened in a long time. I got happy, i jumped a bit, big mistake.

Two little jumps. That was all that took to trigger a migraine

[chronicpainlife]

[chronicmigrainesurvivor]

"For a chronic migraine, there are no triggers, life is my trigger. For chronic migraineurs there are no cures, there are only patches that will get you through to the next bout. Have we tried, acupuncture, herbal remedies, diets, standing upside down on our heads? Yes. The answer is if we have gotten diagnosed as chronic migraines then we have tried anything, and if by chance we have been able to get up and put our mask on that day please let us wear it, under our sunglasses and large hats. It took a lot to get there, and ain’t nobody got spoons for that."

- Emily A