This is a migraine...

A lot of people have migraine and the 'headaches' are different from one person to the next. I can only describe what my migraines are like.

They come in 3 stages:

1 It's the end of a journey or a normal working week that I've enjoyed or a stressful time or even a holiday I haven't really enjoyed. I'm about to sit down and relax, when I  realise out of the corner of my eye I can see something. Out to my right, there's a wavy line. It's silver and it stands out because I can see the rest of my mental picture just as usual but with this wavy line across it. I shake my head or put my hand up to a spot in the middle of my forehead between my eyebrows and press hard, but it doesn't matter. I'm having a migraine. As usual, I'm surprised, like this was something new, although it has happened regularly for 40 years now. There's no avoiding it. I have medication. The best for me is Migraleve: a pink tablet at the onset and a yellow tablet or two every 3 hours. If you speak to me now, the chances I won't answer you. Either I won't understand you or my speech has failed and I can't answer. This lasts about 20 minutes.

2 I'm into stage two of the migraine now. What I most want is silence, the dark and a painkiller: just let me take a couple of yellow Migraleve, close the bedroom curtains and lie on my bed. And no noise - please. A ringing phone or doorbell will make me moan in pain. But the migraine hasn't finished with me. I can't speak at all now. I may not even understand when people talk to me. Worst of all, I may try to talk but what comes out is rubbish. I feel numb on the right hand side - hand, face, shoulder. The numbness moves across my body to the middle and then the left hand side. Then it goes away and I start to feel cold and shivery. This lasts a couple of hours.

3  I need about 6 or 7 hours of dark and silence at this stage. It may be sleep but it's so deep I think of it as unconsciousness. If there was a fire now, I'm not sure I would wake up. When I do eventually come to, I'm knackered. I haven't eaten for 24 hours now and still can't eat without throwing up, but I'm rational and I remind myself to drink water - maybe 2 litres - 8 glasses of the stuff in a short time. I've probably lost about 36 hours out of my life by now and I'm pretty depressed by that thought but I'll sleep now for probably another 14 hours. Then I'll get up and carry on till the next time.

Do I worry about how unpredictable migraine is? Or how casually other people treat it? What would be the point? Keep calm and carry on.....