About a year ago, I started going to a neurologist to diagnose my constant migraines. He did wonderful work. I had several brain scans and blood tests. All sorts of things.
He laid out a plan that was like playing chess - pawns in the front to help guard the more important pieces, then stronger pieces guarding the King.
The pawns in his regime for me include: drinking water, getting enough sleep (I have a constant awful time with this piece of the puzzle), and eating fairly well.
The knights or bishops of my regime include high doses of Magnesium Oxide: 400 mg and Vitamin B2: Riboflavin 400 mg.
The Queen is the one low dose medicine he has put me on.
Before he put me on this regime, I had a constant migraine. It varied in pain from about a 2 to an 8. But it was always there.
After starting the regime with him, my migraines went down to about 1-3 per month. If I get one, my first order of defense is to take Aleve. Most of the time, that solves the problem. If it doesn't, he has a caffeine medicine for me to take. I rarely (basically: never) need to take that medicine. I keep losing and finding that bottle. I don't know where to keep it, because I don't use it!
This past week, my personal life stress has been through the roof. One of the things I have done is gotten my resume together and also started to apply for jobs. I was turned down for about 10 jobs.
My personal life is just overly stressful.
As I was staring at the computer, making my resume and applying for jobs on indeed dot com, I realized that it was easier for me to read if I took off my glasses and shut my eye. (The habit of how I have read, my whole life.)
So, I did that. I didn't think much of it.
At the end of the day, I was telling a friend that I had a bad headache. My friend asked me if I had worn my glasses that day much. I confessed that I had hardly worn them at all. I had been staring at this computer for most of the day.
"Aha!" My brain said.
Ok. Notes to self:
1) wear glasses
2) take breaks
3) try to remember to keep both eyes open when reading
4) don't keep staring at the computer for an entire day; look out the window and focus far away
5) palm (to palm is to cover your eyes with your hands and let your eyes have a rest. They aren't bringing in any visual information. This allows your body to relax).
Maybe when I start to feel a migraine, I can slow down, let go of the tunneling stress that I do inside my body, and breathe. Check and see if I am wearing my glasses. Am I shutting one eye. Do I need to palm? Should I drink some water?
There is a lot to learn. I am so grateful for the good people at my vision therapy setting me up to succeed! They are teaching me solid life skills that I never had, growing up.
I feel like I am starting to get my feet on a good trajectory.
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