I was fascinated by Jerome Groopman's article about migraines in the Aug. 11 issue, having been a sufferer myself.
My experience was different than Groopman's.
When I was a teenager, I would sometimes get headaches that were so excruciating that I would have to lie down on my bed with the room darkened. I would fold a clean white handkerchief over my eyes, held in place by my glasses, and lie perfectly still because if I moved my head even a little it would be wracked with pain. Eventually the pain would go away, and I'd be fine. I was still under the care of my pediatrician, who attributed the headaches to my sinuses, which were spectacularly bad at the time, but I have come to wonder if they were migraines.
In my thirties I definitely had migraines. One frightened me terribly. The pain was excruciating, but it was also accompanied by vomiting and diarrhea. Again, eventually it went away. It had come on after my parents had driven me back to Philadelphia on a cold winter Sunday, and I thought perhaps the headache had been triggered by the dry air of the heat in the car. From then on, my mother rode in the back seat and I sat up front with my father. I don't remember why I thought that would make a difference.
I can't now remember how old I was when I seemed to have "grown out" of migraines, which my facial pain specialist told me can happen, but there are still a few, widely scattered attacks. Paul will remember I felt one coming on while we were returning from Lightning Flat on the Road Trip. By that time I knew what I had to do to alleviate the pain. I had to ask for a stop to use a restroom, get some caffeine, and get a painkiller. I knew the caffeine would help, and I was sure there would be individual packets of painkillers by the cash register. I bought one of those little packets with four Advil caplets. Paul told me to take all four, as that was the prescription dose. I did, though the four seemed to upset my stomach a bit, but between the Advil and the Coke, the pain was relieved.
I can't remember now the last time I had one of these headaches, but when one comes on, I go right for a cup of coffee, a decongestant (which also seems to help), and a painkiller, and I go back to bed. (An activity that shall remain nameless also seems to help, I presume because of chemicals it releases in the brain.)
