Migraine symptoms vary from person to person. They can vary from a sensitivity to light to feeling tired or experiencing some tension or slight discomfort over your eyes. Even blurred vision or slight nausea, or a general feeling of tiredness can be tell-tale symptoms. More serious effects can be pain in eye sockets, pain in the jaw area, even a throbbing in the head which feels as if it might burst. Some people find difficulty in speaking or stringing sentences together while others can’t even think and feel exceedingly tired and weak.
I know that not everyone who gets these side effects will suffer from migraines. However, everyone has warning signs that a migraine attack is likely to be developing. It is by recognizing these early symptoms that we can use them to our advantage.
Most people find themselves unable to work during a migraine attack. All they want to do is rest and many people find that lying down in a quiet place, somewhere where there is no noisy music or chattering of voices can help ease the pain and shorten the duration of the migraine.
As soon as we know or suspect an attack is imminent, we can take steps to lessen the effects or to enable us to cope as best we can until it is over. Sometimes a painkiller, taken during the early stages can ward off or delay the migraine long enough for us to take steps to deal with it.
Serious sufferers of migraines will need to have strategies in place like a friend or family member who can respond to a phone call. It means looking at the structure of our days and planning them so as to avoid stress where possible (or the triggers to migraines that we experience). Migraines can be very distressing and limiting to us but, knowing the symptoms and organizing backup, can mean we live as near trouble free lives as possible, without letting migraines isolate us from our everyday lives.