Ever since I hit puberty I have had migraines. Flashing lights, numbness, disorientation and occasionally but not always blinding headaches.
My Mum had them When she was alive , and my sister has them – my daughter had a couple at puberty .
I found that I couldn’t teach full time with out getting them. I had three miscarriages after my son was born before we managed to have my daughter. After which I had a series of really bad episodes. Migraines seemed to run into each other and I had to give up work more than once – I don’t know if these episodes were hormonal , stress , sleep deprived ( my daughter used to wake up 4 or 5 times a night until she was 2) .
I tried everything – acupuncture, reflexology , drugs, nothing seemed to work. I found through trial and error that Osteopothy , yoga , meditation and art , do help as does working part time.
The migraines always seem to come back – they mutate and the symptoms move. The last 10 years it has been much stomach related. I have found that being gluten and dairy free has almost stopped them – but stress is a big factor and lack of exercise.
I am taking a small dose of antidepressants everyday – this seems to knock the worse symptoms and the prolonged attacks on the head .
I had some food allergy tests carried out . The results mean that I should follow a very restrictive diet – which I can stick to at home, but as soon as I travel I get into trouble . Mass produced gluten free and dairy free foods have too many additives and chemicals in them .
It’s not all bad – I have lost weight living in Edinburgh – I decided that I was going to walk for 30-40mins a day, you can’t not walk up hills- so my heart rate soars and I find I love getting to the top.
I have journaled a page about my migraines using the self portrait I did of my self at 23yrs old.
I am finding looking into my health a lot less stressful than working on family issues- it is what I can do at the moment
tesswyatt's Blog 