Over the next few years, the migraines became worse. I started getting them nearly every week on a Thursday, but what caused them? Why every Thursday?
I checked what I consumed, the food, drinks. I had nothing different on a Thursday than any other day. The only difference was that we had a double history class at the college I was attending, The Staffordshire College of Commerce in Wednesbury. I did not like the teacher, there was something wrong with him, I am sure.
I had been sent to have my eyes checked and prescribed glasses. These were later proved to be totally useless, as the optician put it, my eyes had 20/20 vision and the glasses I had been given were as good as bottle tops.
I had been sent to have a scull x-ray to see if I had brain damage. Nothing.
I had been sent to have an electroencephalogram (EEG) on my brain, which only sent the needles off the chart as I nashed my teeth together.
I was sent to migraine clinics. They found nothing.
I just had to get on with it and suffer.
Was it something psychological? I took myself off to a psychiatrist privately. He just talked to me, but made me realise certain things about the human way of thinking or seeing the world and people living in it. No pills, just talk.
My cousin Avryl, took me to a Spiritualist Church, and I had experiences which were very strange. You will have to attend my courses (www.nlpnow.net) to learn about these from my metaphors or stories I tell. But the strange thing was my migraines abated, they became less.
From the beginning I was given pills by my doctor to take when I was about to have an attack, but they did little to help. Stemetil, an anti nausea drug, and Amytal or Amobarbital, a barbiturate that is used for the treatment of insomnia (difficulty in sleeping) and as a sedative to relieve the symptoms of anxiety or tension.
I knew when I was going to get one as my vision started to go strange what is know as aura. I would miss part of my vision, perhaps looking at a persons face, I would see one eye and not the other, I had blind spots. That was the signal to get home quickly. Other sufferers have flashing lights and other vision defects.
There was nothing I could do but get to bed, with a bucket, and let the attack, the process, work itself through, until I vomited, at which time I would sleep for a few hours.
Upon awakening, I would be washed out, as if I had just got over the flu, but for some reason, I had a desire for a bacon sandwich, on soft white bread.
I have heard people say “Oh I have a migraine“, when all they have is a headache. There are many signs for migraine which will show more symptoms than a headache
A migraine is a severe headache that often has a number of associated symptoms, such as nausea, increased sensitivity, and visual problems.
On a couple of occasions when people have observed me having an attack, like when I was not allowed to go home from work as they did not believe me, soon realise how people can suffer.
It was after a number of years that the attacks started to become less frequent, so much so that they virtually disappeared, having perhaps one a year.
It is known that migraines occur mostly in the age range of 15 and 55, and of those sufferers, two-thirds are women, and may decease with age.
Whilst talking to a fellow NLP Trainer who is also a qualified chiropractor, I started a migraine, and I realised that for me that I had not been drinking enough water, was that a possible cause of migraine, dehydration. I drank lots of water, and the symptoms were eased. Perhaps there is a chemical imbalance in the body that is caused by dehydration?
My Chiropractor friend also helped by placing pressure in the small valley just above the left knee, which caused a sharp pain.
My NLP and hypnosis training, helped me visualise complete relaxation and to be pain free.
But my worse attack in recent years occurred whilst I was in hospital having an investigation for my angiogram. On this procedure the blood was thinned and other chemicals were placed in the blood stream, allowing the doctors to observe the blood vessels of the heart. Was it tension, worry, or the chemicals? I do not know, but the effect of the resulting migraine frightened me.
I took a tablet prescribed to relieve the migraine, (a Triptan), and went to bed, trying to sleep. To distract my mind I listened to an F1 racing broadcast on the radio, and as I listened, I knew they were talking about Ferrari, but what was a Ferrari? I knew it was red but in one mind I could see it, yet in another mind it was not there.
They were talking about David Coultard, but who was he? I knew I knew, but somehow did not know, and could not access the information, although I knew I knew.
Was I having a stroke or was it just my brain playing tricks due to all the chemicals swimming about in my body?
Thankfully, I have not had a stroke.
Lesson. Do not mix medications.
So, what is and causes migraines?
I was convinced from my own attacks it was caused by increased blood pressure, and imbalance of the body’s chemicals.
This has been the view also of the medical world.
Other causes can be:-
Stress. Tension. Major drop in estrogen. Alcohol. Monosodium glutamate. Chocolate. Coffee.
Skipping meals or fasting. Bright lights and sun glare. Smells. Too much sleep. Missing sleep.
Exercise. Weather. Medications.
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