telophase | (no subject)

Via Mind Hacks, a Scientific American article on new research and discoveries about migraine. (Which is good, as that stupid headache is back and currently lurking behind my left ear :P) I'm especially interested in this bit:

This finding raises the possibility that cortical spreading depression is fundamental to migraine but that only in some instances does it give rise to visual symptoms recognized as aura. Instead the process might generate less obvious symptoms, such as fatigue or difficulty concentrating.

because YES, YES, THAT. And also, a bit later,

Through its connection with the brain stem, the limbic cortex affects the functioning of the rest of the cortex—a fact that might explain how emotional and psychological stress could catalyze migraines, why mood fluctuates during migraine, and why there is an association between migraine and depression and anxiety disorders, both of which occur more commonly in migraine sufferers than in others.

because I can't get it across to people that I am not that much in control of my mood during a migraine. I can't just "not be that way" as someone told me once when I warned her I'd probably end up bitchy.

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People really don't understand about moods. Or concentration issues, which I have been having in spades.

Ugh, yes. I need to work on noticing that I'm bitchy or cranky and removing myself from the situation, but that's about all I can do at that time. :P

And I'll have to do or say something to people who drop in on my cube unannounced and wreck my concentration. But not today.

as fatigue or difficulty concentrating.

YESYESYESYESYES.

For *years* I thought the stupidity was part of the drugs. Nope. It's a migraine thing. And nowadays it's part of my early warning, along with extreme skin sensitivity. (Haven't been able to put on sunscreen or wear glasses or wash my hair for four days.)

Oh, yuck on the sensitivity thing. :/

I've noticed that it drives me mad to have earbuds in my ears during migraines, even the really minor ones, so listening to podcasts to distract me is Right Out. But I've got a teeny pair of speakers that plug into my iPod now, and used that earlier this week, so I think it's a good alternative.

I usually don't get much sensitivity to light and sound other than bad florescent or computer monitor light during migraines, but that awful one I had back in January rendered me unable to do anything but sit on the sofa with my eyes closed and an icepack on my head feeling sorry for myself.

I get skin sensitivity, hearing sensitivity, and loss of concentration. The skin sensitivity, however, isn't so bad as yours. Yikes!

Completely aside from the things that migraine headaches and menstruation do to your brain, it has always floored me that people don't get that that much pain, for that long a period, might just perhaps put one on edge. Even stubbing a toe tends to make the average person irritable, so the brain disconnect that has to happen not to realize pain=crabby and therefore headaches and cramps make one crabby is just...well, mostly misogynistic, honestly, but men get migraine headaches too, so it's not just that.

Even minor pains, for a long time, do things to you. This low-grade migraine I just had for five days was dragging on me. And I lived with an injured ligament in my back for 2 or so years, and not being able to stand for longer than a couple of minutes without pain affects you and your mood.

... I think I had another point I wanted to make, but I just answered a phone call and it's gone. XD

Exactly what I was thinking. I was never exactly a warm and welcoming person, but I'm pretty sure I was slightly less...abrupt before the Fibro kicked in.

I think that's a lots of the reason why elderly people have a reputation for being crotchety. A lot of things hurt, all the time, by that point ... .

Yes! That was one of the things I was thinking of when I commented, too. When so much of you has stopped working, and you know it's only going to get worse, I think that's a legitimate reason to be less than chipper.

Heh... the moment that issue arrived, my husband took it STRAIGHT to me and told the boys they couldn't swipe it until Mom was finished reading. A day later my eldest, now in possession of the issue, piped up, "Mom, did you read this one on migraines?" My mother mentioned it a day after that. Yeah... when Mama ain't happy, ain't NOBODY happy. :D

Though they didn't get into "no-headache" migraines, which I've seen discussed elsewhere -- all the symptoms of visual aura, fatigue, nausea, mood swings, etc., except for the actual spike-in-the-skull pain. Both my sister and I have those sometimes, though we get the classic kind too.

Ever since I found out about abdominal migraines, I've always wondered if I have them, because I have always had myriad stomach problems. Hrm.

Oh, great article, thanks!