Like Mother, Like Daughter
My precious child has inherited a lot of my qualities, good and bad. She's kind, but easily frustrated. She's musical and very creative and loves to write. But she's also just a bit clumsy. We have the same mannerisms and facial expressions. She has my nose, my mouth and my hair. She is not my spitting image by any stretch of the imagination, and her personality is all her own. But she is like me in a lot of ways. My stamp is on her. She is very obviously half me.
Unfortunately, there is something else she inherited from me that is very, very not good.
Migraine headaches.
I have them, my dad has them, my grandmother (Dad's mom) had them. And now, my poor child has them.
She suffered her first migraine yesterday. At around 9:30 yesterday morning my phone rang. It was the school's number, which always sends my blood pressure to the moon. I answered.
"Mom, something weird's going on. I can't see right."
"What do you mean, 'you can't see right?'"
"Well, my right peripheral vision is gone. I'm lifting my right hand now on the right side of my head, and I can't see it. And my head is starting to hurt."
I knew from the moment she said it what was happening. It's the aura part of a migraine. Anybody who has classic migraines will know to what I'm referring. There is a visual impairment that is the beginning stage of a full-on migraine headache. Mine takes the form of what I have always referred to as white shadows. You know when you go outside on a really bright day, and then you walk into a dark room and can't see anything until your eyes adjust? That's exactly what I see for my "aura." It lasts about an hour, and then the pain starts. Apparently, Emi's aura only affects her periphery.
I drove as fast as I could to the school. By the time I got there, I took one look at her and knew immediately she felt bad. She didn't say a word in the car, just held her head. When we drove up to the house, she took off, running straight to the bathroom, and threw up.
Then she went to bed. She wasn't there long until she ran back to the bathroom.
Luckily, I had some phenergen left over from her last stomach virus. I rubbed it on her arm (this stuff is amazing!) and sent her back to bed. The medicine calmed her stomach, knocked her out and allowed her to sleep off the pain. She woke up a couple of hours later feeling fine - and hungry - so I knew she was okay.
I'm sad that my child has inherited this from me. The only good thing about it at all, is that now there is medication that can help. When I was a kid, back in ancient times, I just had to suffer the pain until it went away, usually after I hurled. Emily's headache cycle seems a bit different than mine - she gets nauseated in the early stages, rather than at the end like I do. But there is no doubt that what she experienced was a classic migraine.
It's one thing I wish she HADN'T gotten from me.
Unfortunately, there is something else she inherited from me that is very, very not good.
Migraine headaches.
I have them, my dad has them, my grandmother (Dad's mom) had them. And now, my poor child has them.
She suffered her first migraine yesterday. At around 9:30 yesterday morning my phone rang. It was the school's number, which always sends my blood pressure to the moon. I answered.
"Mom, something weird's going on. I can't see right."
"What do you mean, 'you can't see right?'"
"Well, my right peripheral vision is gone. I'm lifting my right hand now on the right side of my head, and I can't see it. And my head is starting to hurt."
I knew from the moment she said it what was happening. It's the aura part of a migraine. Anybody who has classic migraines will know to what I'm referring. There is a visual impairment that is the beginning stage of a full-on migraine headache. Mine takes the form of what I have always referred to as white shadows. You know when you go outside on a really bright day, and then you walk into a dark room and can't see anything until your eyes adjust? That's exactly what I see for my "aura." It lasts about an hour, and then the pain starts. Apparently, Emi's aura only affects her periphery.
I drove as fast as I could to the school. By the time I got there, I took one look at her and knew immediately she felt bad. She didn't say a word in the car, just held her head. When we drove up to the house, she took off, running straight to the bathroom, and threw up.
Then she went to bed. She wasn't there long until she ran back to the bathroom.
Luckily, I had some phenergen left over from her last stomach virus. I rubbed it on her arm (this stuff is amazing!) and sent her back to bed. The medicine calmed her stomach, knocked her out and allowed her to sleep off the pain. She woke up a couple of hours later feeling fine - and hungry - so I knew she was okay.
I'm sad that my child has inherited this from me. The only good thing about it at all, is that now there is medication that can help. When I was a kid, back in ancient times, I just had to suffer the pain until it went away, usually after I hurled. Emily's headache cycle seems a bit different than mine - she gets nauseated in the early stages, rather than at the end like I do. But there is no doubt that what she experienced was a classic migraine.
It's one thing I wish she HADN'T gotten from me.
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