tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48901122409549702742025-11-06T04:22:20.673-06:00Against The 'GraineMy migraine journey and the information I collect.<br>
This site is for my own empowerment, support, and insight as much as it is for others.<br>
If you find solace here, know that it is no way meant to be taken as official medical advice.AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-51386703831071382142020-02-19T15:32:00.000-06:002020-02-19T15:32:17.304-06:00Migraine Disease Is Not FUNny
via GIPHY
Suffering from Migraine Disease will never be fun. I guess I'm stating the obvious, for anyone who is suffering with this invisible disease. I've suffered with the disease since the early '80's and it has never been fun. With this said, I have always tried to find the funny in the world.
I spend too much timeAgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-64314124498314827672016-03-18T13:07:00.000-05:002016-05-09T17:57:17.460-05:00Migraine Catch-22
Say you want to be a blogger, but you have severe migraines 12 or more days a month. Maybe you want to be a teacher, but you suffer from 3 or more migraine days a week. Or what if you want to get into a regular workout schedule, but your migraines prevent you from getting into any kind of rhythm at all. Welcome to Migraine Catch-22!
[Catch-22
noun
a dilemma or difficult circumstance fromAgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-56315536572676659092014-09-15T11:33:00.002-05:002014-09-15T11:58:46.620-05:00Shooting the Gap
We've all done it. Finally we can move and we are able to amble slowly ahead and in the right direction. Have been in the same space for what may have been minutes, hours or even days. You're not able to take off and just go because you know there's more blocking your way ahead. You're not able to move past on the right for fear of falling off the edge. There's absolutely now way you would AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-77439723788676328462013-12-17T17:26:00.002-06:002013-12-17T17:26:48.862-06:00What Part of Migraine Do You Not Understand?
I've wanted to write an article similar to this, for quite some time. Especially when someone tells me that they had a migraine once. Or, that they usually only get sinus or stress headaches, but this one headache was so bad it must have been a migraine. I just want to yell, "What part of migraine do you not understand?"
This is not a story that is singularly mine. Every migraineur has AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-8697453666163650352013-11-23T12:53:00.000-06:002013-12-27T18:28:56.693-06:00But I Don't Look Disabled!
I have all my fingers, all my toes. I have both arms and legs as well as a torso to go along with them. If you see me out and about I don't need a wheelchair. So how can it be that a good looking man like myself can be considered disabled? This is the conundrum of having an invisible illness!
If you you were to visit my home for a week, you would see how my migraines affect my life. AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-61771700535515658462013-10-12T17:17:00.001-05:002013-10-12T17:17:19.159-05:00Migraine: Are You Listening?
Please listen with your eyes to this article from my sweetie:
Migraine: Are You Listening?
Within the past
year, I was fortunate to have met an exceptional gentleman through an
online dating site. We hit it off rather well. Both were looking
for the same ideals, family, morals, acceptance of extended family,
and both the same age. He was from far across the US, and I was in
the Northwest.&AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-90108605872630853442013-08-08T18:45:00.000-05:002013-08-08T19:31:28.833-05:00Migraines Are NOT Convenient
"How Convenient". I've probably heard that phrase a million times or more. My family notices when I miss dinner with the in-laws, going grocery shopping, making dinner or cleaning up the dishes, Church, picking the kids up from piano practice as I promised, and going to work just to name a few. But, how many times do they notice when I miss going to the movies, bowling, shooting hoops with AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-14916406316348827222012-04-12T17:34:00.000-05:002013-08-08T19:30:11.814-05:00Migraine or Hangover: How Do You Know?
hangover (Photo credit: xooorx)
As well as the dreaded alcohol induced hangover, it is possible to have a migraine hangover or postdrome, that is affected by a migraine.
It should be obvious if you tie one on (drink heavily) the night before and wake up in the morning with light and sound sensitivity, dizziness, nausea, and a headache, you are probably suffering from a hangover and not a AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-9036082071660867472012-03-28T15:23:00.001-05:002013-08-08T19:31:49.692-05:00I Blame My iPad
To say that I have not published in a while would be a gross understatement. I haven't published since November and really had to push myself to jump back on the horse, so to speak. I've been thinking about my blogging the whole five months.
I could blame the holidays and a slow start. I could blame laziness. I could blame the increase in migraines I have experiencing or the depression it AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-78003496457702679262011-11-16T10:30:00.000-06:002011-11-21T10:41:54.961-06:00Migraine And Keeping Your Sanity
Migraine makes keeping your sanity feel almost impossible. We work so hard to keep our sanity and migraine works just as hard to keep us from it. Here are some ways that might help in keeping your sanity while dealing with migraine. This list is not all inclusive. They are just the beginning in 'keeping sanity' despite your invisible illness. See "Migraine And Living Life", and "AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-87222535357133047982011-11-14T10:26:00.000-06:002011-11-14T10:26:27.647-06:00Migraine And Living A Life
Having a real life (and not a maybe or abbreviated life) can be difficult even without having migraine disease. It may seem that life and the world around us is passing us by. We get knocked down, and when we are able to get back up, our family and friends have moved on to another calendar day and other activities. It's hard not to stay depressed and question ourselves. Here are a AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-13904172404128631322011-11-11T09:28:00.001-06:002011-11-11T12:38:53.601-06:00Migraine And Work
Migraine and work rarely go together. Working with migraine on a daily basis, is hard on a migraineur. We work so hard to balance our sanity, our jobs and our life at home . Here are some ways that aid in keeping your job. This list is not all inclusive. They are just the beginning in 'working' with your invisible illness.
Contact your HR department and do what you must to get FMLA.&AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-16619324944724228582011-10-26T16:57:00.000-05:002011-10-27T08:41:41.220-05:00Migraine Ninja
I have a few ninja skills when it comes to my migraines. You wouldn't know it to look at me. You're not supposed to be able to see or know that someone is a ninja.
The ninja to the left is my daughter. Unfortunately she also suffers from migraine, but not as bad as mine. Her ninja skills are not as developed as mine either. I am in this photo, but I'm invisible to the naked eye.
I can/AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-45827879017426185192011-10-10T09:00:00.000-05:002011-10-10T09:00:07.268-05:00How To Plan A Migraine
Planning a migraine is a lot like planning wedding. Albeit without setting a date, eating cake, inviting any guests, getting flowers, booking a reception hall and doing the "Hokie Pokey".
You want to make sure you are ready when your migraine presents itself by having a plan.But, ...
Even the best laid plans of mice and men can often go astray.
Always plan ahead. If you areAgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-75171610018594166702011-09-30T09:00:00.000-05:002011-10-03T07:20:03.936-05:00Migraine; You Scream, Ice Cream
It's true. Some migraine sufferers are finding relief in eating what we used to scream for as children. Ice cream, no matter what flavor, when eaten fast enough, may alleviate the head pain of a migraine.
Ice Cream headache, known as sphenopalatine ganglioneuralgia (betch ya can't say that 10 times fast), means "nerve pain of the sphenopalatine ganglion" and is caused by a sudden AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-51249132657507130072011-09-29T09:30:00.001-05:002011-09-29T09:30:58.188-05:00Migraine And The Abbreviated Life
There are so many people that have suffered from migraine, or other invisible illness, for much of their lives. I myself have dealt with Migraines for over 30 years. That is about 60% of the years of my life. That's means that for more than half of my life, I have been suffering, been forced to stay in bed, cancel plans, miss some of the milestones of my children's lives, and too many AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-38439278958851456692011-09-19T15:57:00.000-05:002011-09-19T15:57:07.786-05:00Easing The Burden of Migraine
An invisible illness is a beast of burden. You carry it around day and night, day after day. But, many of the people that see you around, don't know that there is a huge weight upon your shoulders. I know your pain, as I deal with migraine on a daily basis. I have learned over the 'many' years that there are things we can do to ease the onset of migraine while I try to live my life. Here AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-61290501335982986842011-08-24T17:47:00.000-05:002011-08-24T19:56:39.131-05:0025,000+ Migraine Views
Today, I have hit a milestone. I think 25000+ views of my blog is pretty special. When I started in November of 2008 I was very discouraged. I had the belief that "all you have to do is build it and they will come". Well, anyone writing a blog today, knows how funny that is. It takes a lot more than building it. It takes advertising through Twitter, Blog Surfer, and Facebook, just to name a AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-76746245140341302042011-08-16T09:53:00.000-05:002011-08-16T09:53:01.875-05:00King Of Pain
Each migraine sufferer can show just cause as to why they are the king (or queen) of pain. We, the migraine sufferers, know as much about pain as those with other pain illnesses. I am not bashing other illnesses. There are too many illnesses that cause extreme pain. Pain can vary from person to person and from attack to attack.
So, how do we measure pain in a way that takes into account AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-11751861270660074962011-08-08T11:00:00.003-05:002011-08-10T18:30:28.045-05:00Migraine Sandwich
I've had many types of sandwich over the years. One of my favorite restaurants being Macado's, a sandwich shoppe with a location in Radford, VA. I very rarily find a sandwich that I don't like. But there is one sandwich which never fails to leave me with a bad taste in my mouth. The migraine sandwich is always bad news.
How do you make a migraine sandwich? Well it's not made with your hands, AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-666260547563153262011-07-26T14:26:00.001-05:002011-07-26T14:26:34.998-05:00Decrease Migraine Down Time
Who wouldn't prefer a natural remedy for their migraines? Here are five life changes that could naturally reduce the number of migraines in your life. The practice of living a healthy lifestyle is difficult if you try to take it all on at once. So, adjust one item at a time. Altering some bad habits may be what is needed to decrease the number and severity of migraines inAgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-21472675641320118332011-07-13T12:07:00.000-05:002011-07-13T12:08:03.653-05:00Back To The Migraine Grinder
More than a month ago I started a journey with my father in-law who was seeking a lung transplant. My week with him at Duke went rather well for me physically. I went the whole week without a migraine problem. My father in-law did not have a good week at all, with all the testing as well as a complication that had him admitted for two of the five days.
We recently found out that he has been AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-87666814306493018902011-06-29T15:47:00.000-05:002011-06-29T15:47:40.472-05:00Longing For ItI've had migraine disease for over half of my life. Sometimes I can barely remember what it was like without it. It is only now in the past few years, that research has sought drugs that work on curing the disease. We still must settle for management no matter how much we long for the cure.
Just when I think I have it bad, I see others that I know with less hope in a cure for their ailment, thanAgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-72353982084869068992011-06-16T14:19:00.002-05:002011-06-16T14:23:10.895-05:00A Mere Shadow Of MyselfThe last couple, three, weeks have been very eventful for me. My migraines have been persistent throughout. In addition, I had a very bizarre appointment with my pain doctor.
I woke up that morning with some pain in my left chest and back.I really was sure that it was not heart related. But, really thought that it was muscular. Well, I went to my appointment and the nurse did the usual AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4890112240954970274.post-85874346621646661272011-06-06T12:04:00.000-05:002011-06-06T12:04:39.973-05:00Oh, To Be Migraine FreeLast week was rough. It started alright, but by morning on Tuesday, I was sporting the scowl of a migraine. In addition I have somehow sprained or tore something in my chest and back. I spent most of the day Wednesday sitting in the emergency room. I left my pain doctors office and headed to the ER on his insistence. They took blood, did an EKG, x-rayed, and CT'd the heck out of me. They did not AgainstTheGrainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17902344903491989100noreply@blogger.com2