The other day I read a comment on the blog Thriving Chronicles – it immediately struck me as so simple and yet deeply profound: “I try to listen to my body when it whispers, so it doesn’t have to scream!”
My goodness – why hadn’t I thought of that!?!
This feels like the fundamental, unspoken, backstory to every migraine attack I have ever had.
I understand that migraine is a threshold disease; annoy my brain with enough triggers (fatigue, hunger, noise), and a migraine will eventually arrive. I know this. I get it. I look for obvious triggers (alcohol, low blood sugar, bright lights) and I avoid them. But it is the LOOKING that is emphasized – I look for this or that and then THINK this, that or the other about those clues…
I’m not LISTENING to how I FEEL.
Sure, I got good at keeping a trigger-tracker (here if you need one) – but there was something slightly after-the-event about that… if I had been listening to the whispers earlier, then I wouldn’t be recording the wailing that took place later.
I sometimes think of my migraine-brain-pain as a glitchy smoke alarm. Instead of waiting for the chips to catch on fire and the kitchen curtains to start burning before it goes off, a bit of burnt bread is enough to start the catastrophizing… and like an alarm, off it goes: weee-oooo-weee-oooo-ouch.
Which in a way is a sign that this ‘alarm’ has shifted to responding to the whispers not the screams… the tiny tendril of wispy smoke, not the full-blown flames and flying embers…
Which in turn, suggests that the faulty alarm-system is potentially on me.
Maybe if I had got a bit better at saying – “slow down” – earlier, then my alarm system wouldn’t have had to recalibrate itself to be so hyper-vigilant.
If I had listened to the whispers not the wails, I wouldn’t now be trapped in a land of whisper-triggers…
It’s giving “Catch 22” vibes to be honest.
So, if you’re still only troubled occasionally by pain – learn from my mistake and tune in now – listen to the messages your body is trying to tell you. Don’t wait until it screams “ow” at you so often that your inner-ow-detector starts to become permanently turned on… don’t let the neuroplasticity of your brain work against you – keep firing those pain signals too long, and you’ll end up with permanent (apparent) pain.
Hmmm… this post has tied itself into a confusing Gordian Knott in its attempt to clarify things… sigh… it’s time to cut away… and say shhhh….
Good luck people – pain is tricky – I HEAR you – I FEEL for you – I am you.
Take care taking care, Linda xox
The Mindful Migraine 
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