I battled migraines as a teen and thankfully, as the years progressed, they were fewer and far between.  As I entered my 30’s, they would only hit every 2-3 years.

More frequently, however, I get ocular migraines.  It’s basically a migraine in your eyeball- no pain, just aura- vision changes.  Dark areas, sparkles.  They go away just about as fast as they come on and only last about 10 minutes or so.

Several weeks ago, I sat down at the computer and noticed my vision was if I’d looked at a bright light or reflection…like when you are outside in the bright sun and come inside and it’s dark?  Or you look at a bright reflection on water (or a car windshield) and when you look away you still have that shadow burned image?  Yeah, like that.  Except I didn’t look at anything bright and it wasn’t fading away.

Uh oh.  I took 2 Ibuprofen, drank two glasses of water, ate a banana, and did my best to lie down for a few minutes (as possible as that is with 5 kidlets running around).  I wasn’t able to lay still for long, so I got up, my vision was getting better, but I was feeling worse.  I could feel a mild headache.  I took 2 Tylenol, drank a small can of Dole Pineapple juice (the real stuff), took 1 more Ibuprofen and about 5 minutes later- BAM!  Someone dropped a ton of bricks on my head.  Oh…..no…..

I still had another 2 hours of work to go!!! I muddled through that first hour, trying to take it as easy as possible, keeping myself quiet and calm, laying on the floor with the kidlets….but I realized I wasn’t going to be able to keep it up for the last hour of my workday. Normally I’m off at 4:15, but on Wednesdays I work until 5:15.

I called my mom to come to the rescue and wrap up the daycare for me.  She arrived shortly after 4:30 and I went straight to bed.  I was feeling slightly nauseous, but not bad.  I climbed in bed, fully clothed, and shut my eyes.  I slept off and on (my house is noisy) and when I woke up at 6:30 I felt better.  I took 2 more Ibuprofen and 2 more Tylenol, ate a granola bar (I was hungry!) then fell back asleep until 7:30 or so.  Woke up then- felt pretty darn good!  Still “off” and with a headache, but not a migraine.  Riley made pancakes for dinner, brought me one, then came back at 8:00 so we could watch a TV show together.  That seemed fine- didn’t bother me.  When it was over, though, I fell back asleep and slept all night long!

SO…. I’m thinking a couple things here might have helped….

1) Taking the Ibuprofen when I first saw the sparkles and shadows- giving it time to kick in before the massive headache.  Next time> I will ALSO take Tylenol along with it and not wait until I actually have a headache.

2) Pineapple juice.  Rumor has it that fresh pineapple helps cure migraines, although more articles state that pineapple can actually cause migraines in migraine-prone people.  Hmmm…  I don’t stock fresh pineapple and there would be no time to go to the store, but I think I will continue stocking the miniature Dole Pineapple juice cans so that if this happens again, I can do that again.

3) Water and bananas.  Hydration is important.  Potassium is important.  I will do both of these again next time as well.

4) The next time I see sparkles and shadows that don’t go away and I sense a migraine coming… I’m going to get backup care lined up right off the bat- or call all the parents and give them an hour to pick up.  I thought I could make it until the end of the day- but I simply couldn’t.  Migraines and childcare do not go hand in hand.