Like clockwork my migraine arrived within the predicted timescale, which is every month between 18th – 22nd. It started around midnight but as I was half asleep and I didn’t twig, I just thought maybe it isn’t as the pain wasn’t intense it just felt like my sinuses had become a bit stuffy. However by 2am it was clear with every passing minute the pain was becoming more intense. I panicked a bit thinking I may have missed my window of opportunity with the sumatriptan.

I am so thankful that I put my migraine grab bag together, it sits on a shelf beside the bed with all my medications. Inside is a bottle of water, a pint sized plastic cup, soluble paracetamol, soluble aspirin, buccastem and sumatriptan. Having it all in one place means I don’t have to fumble around trying to find various medications. It is all in one place, plonk the soluble tablets in the cup, tip in the water and then take them and the sumatriptan. Then shove the buccastem between my gum and my top lip. Turn off the bedroom light and go back to sleep. 

Previously I would take the medication I had, then spend the next couple of hours trying in vain not to vomit them all back up. By 4.30am my migraine had subsided to just a headache and I was up chatting to Jay, having a cup of sugary tea as my sugar cravings and crazy hunger kick in straight after a migraine subsides and vomiting is no longer on the cards. I did go back to bed at around 5.30am and slept a few more hours.

I really didn’t feel well all day, quite spaced out and didn’t quite suss out that with all the drama of having a migraine I had forgotten to take my morning medications. I was quite lucky in the withdrawal symptoms weren’t that bad I just felt unwell. 

The protocol I have been following with the supplements says that you won’t notice any change in your migraines ( severity or frequency ) until you have been taking them for a period of at least 3 months. So I was expecting to have a migraine this month. I had felt the warning side of a cranky bad mood ( to me it feels like bad PMT and feeling and getting angry with inanimate objects) the day before which seems to be the only warning sign that I get.  It always seems to be the day before that this strange mood hits where nothing is right and everything is conspiring against me. I have identified this now with the last two migraines now that I am tracking them with more detail. There is no food trigger as my diet is pretty similar each day to the next. With it always being within that date range I would say that it was more than likely hormone based. Despite the fact since coming off the pill in December 2019 there has been zero sign of any menses.

As usual my memory of Saturday is pretty hazy other than the fact I was ravenously hungry all day and extremely tired. I remember Sunday which is better than normal, as usually I lose a few days worth of detailed memory. Sunday I still didn’t feel 100% and managed to pass out whilst trying to get on the floor due to feeling like I was going to faint. Resulting in a bruised bum and a Labrador sitting on me refusing to allow me to get up again until he believed it was safe for me to do so. The signal that it is safe, is Dembe going and getting me a toy from his toy box and wanting to play. Until then he will prevent me from even sitting up but sitting on my arm or throwing himself across my chest. This isn’t something we have trained him to do but something he does instinctively and I am incredibly proud of our boy.

It is fantastic news that the sumatriptan  is working so well for me and it has taken away some of the fear that had been surrounding the next migraine attack after the one in May been just so bloody awful. I am noticing with the magnesium supplement that I am sleeping an awful lot better, which is great as for the first time in years I am not spending hours awake in the middle of the night. So it is positive news on multiple fronts for a change.