*whimper*

[rivka]

I've got a headache.

The sheer pain isn't so bad, but it's a weird-featured headache. I just had to take the fluorescent yellow and pink post-it notes off the edge of my monitor, because they were hurting my eyes so badly. I'm dizzy and nauseated. And the floor in the hallway, which is special non-skid stuff with a pattern of raised circles, made it impossible for me to focus my eyes.

If I were a person who got migraines, I would think this was a migraine... except that the pain qua pain is bearable, and I've been led to understand that migraine pain is more along the lines of being stabbed with an icepick.

I want to go home, but I don't think I'm up for taking the bus. I left messages for Michael about a half hour ago, asking him to come get me... oh, good. I just called again and he was home. He's on his way.

Then I'm going to crawl into bed and never come out again.

Comments

[mittelbar.livejournal.com]

IME, having a migraine is more along the lines of being lovingly crushed by a bus.

However, some people get very little pain at all, and more ocular symptoms.

Dizzy and nauseated is a special talent of migraines.

{pet}

[brooksmoses]

Migraine pain is, I gather, typically more along the lines of being stabbed with in icepick -- but migraines are also known for often being very atypical. For instance, I'm reasonably sure I've heard someone describe having migraines that didn't hurt at all, but just produced some of the visual effects.

Hopefully this goes away soon and doesn't come back!

me! me!

[annaoj.livejournal.com]

the four migraine-like things I've had, that's exactly it--I get visual symptoms (aura) but it never turns into a headache.

Re: me! me!

[rivka.livejournal.com]

If that happened to me, I would probably think it was a drug flashback from my misspent youth.

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

I have a friend who gets migraines like that -- the visual aura and sometimes nausea, but no headache.

[kightp.livejournal.com]

Ocular migraines. I get 'em, without any pain at all, and my ophtalmologist says they're nothing to worry about and not precursors to the full-blown head-splitting kind. They're pretty common, especially among women. Some people never have more than one. Some people have them frequently.

They're weird and annoying as all get out (especially if I have to look at the computer), but mine never last longer than about 20 minutes. I tend to get them when I'm underfed and/or dehydrated.

Silly brain tricks. Hope yours vanishes soon, rivka.

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

my migraines are just super uncomfortable. everything is too bright and too loud. i can't read text, the letters get all jumbly. and i can't watch teevee either, as the screen is made of light and light is Bad in those circumstances.

the best thing to do is go home and take a nap. this nap might be three days long. usually, it's just an afternoon.

feel better soon. :/
n.

[wiredferret.livejournal.com]

I hate those. That probably is a migraine, or at least migraine-esque. The nausea is a big tip off.

[jenett]

It sounds very much like a migraine aura thingy. Pain is not always a necessity.

(And honestly, I've often found the aura stuff *much* more annoying and life-disrupting than the actual pain. And pain, at least, it's obvious you're suffering and stuff.)

Go home, do whatever de-stress stuff you think would help, and I suggest a dark quiet room and non-nausea inducing food.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

It was obvious enough that I was suffering that my boss offered to drive me home. But yes, the dizziness and visual stuff was much worse than the pain. Although the pain was definitely there.

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

I've had migraines of both types -- the ice-pick in the eye type, and the extreme sensitivity to light and color and nausea type. Personally, I think the latter are just as bad as the former, but then I tend to get really really nauseated.

Sleep usually helps.

I hope you feel better soon.

[jinian.livejournal.com]

Yes, like everyone else says, that could well be a migraine. That's a lot like what mine are usually like. Napping is good. I've found that plain aspirin actually works best if there's not a ton of pain, but of course you're probably totally different on that. Oh, and if you feel more overwhelmed than you otherwise might, that could be physical too; I often get depression with visual symptoms.

Poor thing, headaches are never any good, and migraines are awful.

[mamatiger.livejournal.com]

Ack, I'm sorry. Is the pain on one side of your head only? I've heard that's a defining feature of migraines. Here's hoping a pain-killer-of-your-choice works quickly!

[oursin.livejournal.com]

Even that is not a reliable indicator - I've had migraines with the pain located dead centrally behind my forehead. And all the other symptoms were there - e.g. the nausea, the general debility.

[nellorat.livejournal.com]

Others have a;ready said what I was going to say about the variability of migraines, so I'll just tell you that you have my extreme sympathy.

Yes, indeed, migraines do vary a great deal...

[dakiwiboid.livejournal.com]

Often, mine feel in the early stages as if someone is taking my brain out in chunks with a plastic-tipped baby spoon. The rest of your symptoms fit nicely within the very wide parameters of migraines. I got fobbed off for a ridiculous number of years with what I later found out was the nonexistent diagnosis of "allergy headache". Don't let that happen to you.

[minnaleigh.livejournal.com]

The first 2 times I had a migraine, I thought that I had a detached retina or something because I had weird visual stuff going on. KB finally asked if I had a headache with it because it sounded like an aura and I said, "Well, yeah, but it can't be a migraine because it barely hurts!" I was eventually diagnosed with occasional migraines but I've never had one that hurt as badly as a tension headache.

*gentle hugs*

I hope you feel better soon.

[roadnotes.livejournal.com]

A voice behind me says, "Actually, that does sound like a migraine; sometimes migraines don't hurt at all."

My sympathies. Dark room, rest.

[submarine-bells.livejournal.com]

Sure sounds like a migraine to me. I get migraines that have been diagnosed as such by several different doctors and that respond to migraine meds in the classic fashion. And sometimes I get migraines that don't hurt. They do a bunch of other stuff, much as you describe - but the actual pain level of my migraines does vary widely. I often think that if I *just* got the pain and not all the other symptoms, they'd be a lot more tolerable. But it's the nausea, mental fogginess, visual hypersensitivity and general grogginess that make them so awful, for me.

If I were you I'd go see a doctor at some point and discuss the subject of migraines with them. If you can get a migraine abortive drug that will head off the worst of the symptoms before it really gets started, you should find that helps a lot. (It doesn't totally fix them - I still get some of the grogginess and mental fuzziness even after taking them, but it's a lot more manageable, and ends a lot quicker.)

In the mean time - going to bed is good. Crawling into a dark hole and not coming out until one feels better is the traditional way of handling migraines, after all.

Good luck, and I hope it eases soon!

[geminigirl]

Sometimes my migraines hurt a lot-so badly that my eyes tear, and sometimes they hurt but the other symptoms, like nausea are so much worse.

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

I've had "bearable" migraines. I hated them.