The Mindful Migraine

Sometimes it can feel like you’re living in an alternate reality to everyone else, like the movie The Matrix.  This is not, however, the sort of Matrix I want to talk about today.  There will be no advice on how to bend spoonies, for example.  (As an aside – if I did wake up and find myself in a simulation-machine, I would go full ‘Karen’ mode and demand a refund for my glitchy-brain experience!)

What I want to talk about is the matrix that we can make out of mapping Triggers versus Tolerance (or resistance) to those triggers.  If you look at the pictures above, you can see that the aim is to reduce triggers and increase tolerance. But to truly benefit, get in the ‘green zone’ and get a smiley face, we need to do both simultaneously.

Some triggers are potentially obvious to you and can be deliberately avoided or minimized (for me, it is bright/strobing light, alcohol, skipping meals or sleep).  Some triggers are almost entirely beyond our control, all we can try to do is be aware of them (such as genes, hormones, weather).  But there’s a massive ‘grey zone’ of triggers in between that might not be obvious, but are still at play (nutrition, gut health, depression, lack of genuine rest).

Similarly, in terms of tolerance, we can ‘fix’ several factors, such as developing good routines around food and sleep, exercise and mindfulness.  But life is rarely as ‘routine’ as we would like it to be, so there’s also a ‘grey zone’ where tolerance can be affected without us realizing it (I’m looking at you stress).

Because of the ‘quirky’ nature of both triggers and tolerance, what creates a migraine today may not be a problem tomorrow. 

For example, if I’m relaxing on a lazy Sunday afternoon, I’m in a good mood, feeling laid back, nothing seems to be of concern.  I feel resilient and have a high threshold to pain and inconvenience.  In this instance, eating chocolate or cheese, the sparkle of light on water, or someone’s loud music doesn’t seem to have any major effect on me.  Sunday is a funday; no migraine.

On another day, even the very next day, however, there might be a deadline looming, maybe I’m feeling a bit more anxious than I’d admit even to myself.  I have a very low tolerance for ‘shenanigans’ or ‘mischief’.  On these sorts of days, I’m much more sensitive to light and noise, and the idea of cheese feels intuitively ‘dangerous’ (chocolate however, I’m prepared to risk).  The triggers haven’t really changed – my tolerance towards them has.

Sometimes you can just feel it; you know it’s going to be ‘one of those days’.  Other times, you wake up feeling fine, then something happens, and you go ‘uh oh’.  Even on good days, a migraineur can only tolerate so many triggers.  Our sensory ‘balloon brain’ starts floating upwards on the matrix, and we can only hold so many inputs, so much ‘huffing and puffing’ before it ‘pops’ and the pain ‘explodes’. 

On that lazy Sunday, for example, everything might have been going ok until you became dehydrated, or a cold wind blew in that made you scrunch up your face, or if you’re very unlucky, a car drives past at the perfect angle for sunlight to bounce off the windscreen and send a beam of light, like a laser, into your eyeball.

The trick is to keep trying to minimise triggers and build up your tolerance.  By learning how to reduce stress and increase joy, improve your posture and breathing, become increasingly self-aware of the relationship between warning signs and causes, will all help. 

On good days, be brave and get out more.  On the days where you’re feeling ‘fragile’ take less risks.  On really bad days, bunker down, but don’t give up, just tweak the day in small ways to prevent additional triggers, boost your mood, improve your pain threshold and reduce your suffering. Keep aiming for the ‘green zone’ and a smiley face.

Good luck team and take care, Linda.

(Don’t forget to always consult your health practitioners before making any major changes to your lifestyle.)