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Tuesday, March 4

Movies and Movies and Migraines

I had a migraine on Thursday.  It's been a while since I've had one start at work and felt trapped.  I get auras before my migraines.  In theory, this early warning that life is going to suck should be helpful.  I can start taking medications before my head is about to explode.  The down side, I can't see.  The aura blocks part of my vision (like when a camera flash creates spots) so I have to wait for it to pass before driving home and the prescription meds make me stupid so I don't drive while taking them.  I got home at 6:20 on Thursday (the aura started at 4:30) and by 6:30 I was asleep in bed.  I woke up when Mr. Lina came home and when he came to bed at 11 (enough to wash my face and pee) and slept until the alarm went off.  For me, sleep really is the best remedy.  I have no idea how people manage with chronic migraines.

My migraines are usually tied to stress.  I can't find a single common food, weather pattern, hormone that ties to my migraines.  I used to get them far more frequently with my last job, where I'd say most of my stress came from boredom and feeling penned in than stress in the typical fashion.  I spent two years knowing I needed to leave that job but not sure where to go.  I'd say this job has more typical stress to it, and yet I have fewer migraines.  Sometimes my migraines seem to be my body saying "enough already", like the week of migraines that was my honeymoon.  I held it together leading up to the wedding, but I fell apart when it was done.

I suppose this warrants some thought on my part because I feel very migraine-like today.  I started getting a headache as I drove to work, I took Advil for it.  The pain is not bad, but my eyelids feel heavy, I feel stupid for lack of a better word - switching words, more typos, forgetful.  Something for me to keep track of I think, just in case this is the start of a pattern.

More fun stuff...  movies.

Tasha and Friends is entered into a contest.  I gather that Hellion is looking for a short film that is going to be on a screen in their movie.  To drum up entries, they are running a contest with each week announcing an audience favourite.  T&F is part of week one.  Right now, it has 10% of the votes (top movie has 26%), you don't have to watch any of them, but if you have a minute, I'd appreciate your vote.

T&F is also airing at the Landshuter Kurzfilmfestival and we booked our flight to go.  We went last year and had a great time meeting other film makers including Richard Stanley.  Last year we didn't have a lot of vacation time to put towards the trip.  This year, I have an extra week of vacation and we know what we're getting into.  The plan is to visit friends living in York, UK first.  We'll fly to Manchester (which after reading two Peter Hook books I think of as Madchester) overnight on March 20th, take the train to York and stay from Friday to Tuesday.  I'm hoping we can do a little day trip to Scotland given that York is pretty far north.  Then on the Wednesday we'll fly to Munich for the film festival and come home on the Monday.  A little less whirlwind than last year.  We saw Munich last year and know Landshut well, so we're going to explore other parts of Bavaria, it's not far from Austria and the Dachau Concentration Camp.  But we will likely play those plans by ear.

Booking the tickets makes it seem so much more... real.

6 comments:

  1. Ugh - I hate that scrambled brain feeling (to understate things entirely). Do you take imitrex? For me, at a certain point the only thing I can do is sleep. Thank God my brain cooperates and lets me.

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    1. I was specifically thinking of you when it comes to managing with chronic migraines. I have no idea how you function. I have a prescription for Imitrex, and I used to take zomig. Both help with the pain but leave me a blithering idiot. Like I couldn't find a chip bowl in my own house while taking Zomig. All I could picture were cereal bowls. I mean, it's great for taking the pain away, but I can't drive a car or do any kind of analytics at work like that.
      I don't know that I could sleep 13 hours (without dinner, I didn't eat for closer to 18 hours) while feeling fine. Like you say, it is like your brain cooperates in that respect and lets me sleep.

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  2. I get the auras first too. At least it's a bit of a warning. Sleep is all that works for me.
    Stress'll kill ya'
    Trip sounds exciting!

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    1. I do appreciate the warning aspect of auras, particularly at home. When I started getting migraines I went to the eye doctor first because it was the aura that scared me more than the headache. They are pretty trippy. Sleep seems the common fix for everyone with migraines. You have to go with what works.

      Yeah... I found myself on Google yesterday looking at the area in Landshut we'll be in, remembering restaurants we went to last year. England feels more exciting because of the friends we'll see so it requires less research.

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  3. I am sorry to hear about the migraines. One thing I can say if it is stress related is try keeping some lavender around you. Light a lavender candle or drink some lavender tea. It really helps relieve the stress and relax you. I am not a huge advil advocate so I am all for trying things that are a bit more natural.

    The film thing sounds amazing. I love ventures like this and can't wait to hear all about the trip!

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  4. I used to have this neat roller ball do-hickey that had peppermint and lavender oils mixed and I could roll it on my temples or the back of my head. it was lovely. Haven't seen it in the store in a while and your comment reminded me of it. Generally lavender either makes me sneeze or fell kind of dopey.

    It will be a good time. Having been to the festival last year I think it's going to be nice to know a few restaurants and our way around the town. And where the fabric store is. :)

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Thanks for your comments, I love to have a two way conversation. I seem to be getting a lot of spam from anonymous users and am turning off the ability to comment that way. I really would like to hear from you so if you do want to add your two cents without an OpenId, email me at seraphinalina at gmail dot com.