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Click here to read everyone else’s replies to this week’s question and here to see the full list of topics for the year.
I’ve talked about living with a food allergy previously on my blog, so the topic I’m picking for this week’s prompt is migraines.
Migraines are a painful neurological disease that can do everything from make you temporarily go blind to mimic some of the signs of a stroke if you have symptoms like trouble speaking or numbness or weakness on one side of the body.
(Not everyone has the most severe forms of this disease or these symptoms, of course, but anyone who has migraines or knows someone who does should be aware of all of the possibilities).
I’d talk about all sorts of things in my speech:
- When to go to the emergency room for an attack
- How to tell the difference between a migraine (which isn’t generally dangerous unless you’re throwing up too much and get very dehydrated) and a medical emergency like a stroke or brain tumour
- Home treatments to help avoid an ER or Urgent Care Centre visit when possible
- Vitamin and mineral supplements that may reduce how common and how severe your migraines are
- Which supplements don’t currently have scientific data supporting their use for this diagnosis
- The neurological link between migraines, strokes, epilepsy, and seizures and why more people should be aware of it
- How to help someone you love who is having a migraine
- How to help an acquaintance or stranger who is experiencing a migraine in a public place
- Food and drinks that are triggers for some people
- Food and drinks that may reduce symptoms
- How to respond to well-meaning people who think migraines are a fancy term for tension headaches
- How to have patience with less amenable people who don’t understand invisible illnesses and think you’re being dramatic
- Other triggers, both common and uncommon
- Why getting enough sleep and eating meals on a regular schedule is vital for us
- Your chances of passing this disease onto your kids if one or both parents have migraines
- How to complete necessary life tasks when you feel another attack coming on
- Why resting during the postdrome phase (right after the migraine ends) is so important
- The latest research on what causes this disease and possible new treatments for it
And so much more.
(I feel like someone else in the WWBC community has migraines, too? Was that you, George? If so, I’d invite you on stage to talk, too).
I love this, Lydia! I get migraines, too and when they’re really bad I can get nosebleeds. They’re horrific. I take a medication that greatly reduces the frequency called Pizotifen.
Thank you, George. I’m sorry you get nosebleeds with them. That sounds awful.
One of my coworkers has migraines. I had no idea how many things could be triggers!
I’m sorry your coworker has migraines. Yes, there are so many things that can be trigggers.
I don’t know! I don’t often get any kind of headache any more, but I used to. It used to be axiomatic in my immediate family that “Aunt Dotty” got migraines and we only got stress/tension headaches: Mother and me with post-menstrual anemia or virus infections, natural sister more often starting at age 3. We could work through ours, after a fashion. We might feel sick but wouldn’t make an actual mess with it. Right. So first Mother and then I learned ways to cope, made them go away. But I still occasionally see a Scintillating Scotoma that reminds me that it might be the weak form of the migraine gene, after all.
Very interesting, Priscilla!
Fyi–the topic I can give a speech about is even less pleasant than migraines but people have asked for it specifically. It’s coming along slowly, Microsoft fighting me at every turn. It’ll be up soon! But I don’t blame anyone who may not want to read it. Link-a-rama!
I’m heading over to your blog now to read it.