Vemma diary: December 2008

Migraine miracle

The migraine started at 6.45am while I was having breakfast. By 7.30am I was out the door and walking to the office – an hour’s journey. It was the week before Christmas and with a busy schedule at work I couldn’t afford to be sick, so I took my medication and carried on with my day as if the migraine did not exist.

I may have been fuzzy headed, clumsy, my reactions slower than normal, and I may have mixed up words and struggled at times to put a coherent sentence together but somehow I got through my hectic day. I even had a little chuckle when I discovered that I had written ‘migraine’ instead of ‘migration’ twice in an email and in my diary.

By the time I got home I was feeling proud of myself and rather baffled. ‘It is a migraine miracle’ I thought. I have tried several times before to push through a migraine attack whilst at work but I have eventually given in and gone home to bed. So why was this time different and why did I not feel so ill? I have taken the same medication - Migraleve - for years. When taken as soon as the migraine begins (during the aura) these pink tablets combat the nausea and the headache allowing me to sleep if I so wish. So I’m wondering if Vemma could also be helping me. Has Vemma made my body healthier and stronger and therefore more capable of dealing with a migraine attack?

I’m also wondering if my mind is getting stronger at dealing with migraine attacks. By pushing through the migraine and carrying on with the day as normal, am I training my mind to believe that a migraine (if the right medication is taken) doesn’t have to be debilitating. I was certainly more determined than usual to get through the working day. I couldn’t let the migraine win - I had deadlines to meet. I did not allow myself to stop. Adrenaline kept me going and as a result my usual negative feelings of disappointment, failure and guilt of having a migraine did not have a chance to surface. Instead I ended the day feeling positive because on this day the migraine did not control me. I control it.

Happy 2009!