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Posts Tagged ‘weather triggers’

Counting Down to Thunder

May 25th, 2009

In this season of thunderstorms, I am finding my head more and more like a barometer, predicting the electric activity in the atmosphere.  I hope you are enjoying your Memorial Day weekend – mine has had its ups and downs with the weather! I did want to share a poem of mine with you – it won an honorable mention in the Putting our Heads Together Migraine and Headache Poetry Contest this year.

Counting Down to Thunder

Counting down to thunder,
how many miles the storm lurks in the night?
Lightning pierces slumber,
grasp the shattered shards of sleep.

Where the welcome rain?
Where the soothing break in summer’s pain?

Storms without at last pile high upon the storms within –
thunder’s crash inside my skull tore life from many days.
Come tempest wash it clean again.

– Megan

Lightning image courtesy of Ian Boggs.

Tags: migraine, poetry, weather triggers
Posted in Communicating, Musings | Comments (0)

Keeping the Faith

May 18th, 2009

I haven’t posted in a bit and I find myself feeling a little guilty about it.  The past few weeks have been busy, but that’s not unusual, and they have contained several Migraines, but that’s not unusual either.  My life is more complex than I like.  If I was my own coaching client I might advise myself to simplify.  Since I can’t get outside my own head sufficiently I don’t know what I would suggest cutting out.  The fact is that times are tough economically, and my family is not exempt from that, and I have several businesses to keep up with, a family, a house, and several chronic illnesses, and it’s a lot.

I do know, though, what works.  I know I need enough sleep, though when I feel like I didn’t really have any fun time all day, it’s hard to put down my novel or turn off the tv, or tell my darling daughter (who is 18 and likes to talk late in the evening) I need to go to bed.  I know I need a walk or some exercise in the morning, though when I haven’t slept well it feels like I need the extra bit of sleep more, and when work awaits it’s hard to remember that I will focus better and have a better attitude if I exercise first.  I know I sometimes need a nap after lunch if I want to avoid a Migraine or fatigue.  I know there’s no point in sitting at my desk trying to force myself to focus if my brain won’t do it – a break: a brief walk, a brief snooze, a ten minute clean-up in the house or office, any of these will refresh me and help me return my focus, and time spent trying to force myself is time wasted.  I know at 5:30 I need to leave my desk and focus on my home and family.

I have to confess, though, that knowledge is not the same as action.  I know all these things, but I don’t always do all these things, especially in the face of my anxiety – over finance, over my illnesses, over my daughter leaving home in 4 months, you name it.  Doing the right thing, when I don’t feel like it.  Now that takes faith.

Some days we get up, and we have no energy.  Saturday was like that for me; weather triggers have become much more prominent for me this year and thunderstorms were threatening all day on Saturday.  I felt oppressed – I was in Migraine pro-drome all day.  And so (with some encouragement from my wise husband) I went for a walk.  I did not want to go for a walk.  I wanted to crawl under a rock.  The exercise helped to restore my perspective, raise my endorphin level, and give me the energy I needed to enjoy the day. Going for that walk was an act of faith.

Keep the faith! What do you need to do to keep yourself on track, even when you don’t feel like it?

– Megan

Tags: exercise, Migraine triggers, weather triggers
Posted in Communicating, Managing | Comments (2)

Snow and Hope

February 22nd, 2008

Our kids are out of school for a snow day today. It’s the first all year, and I don’t think we had even one last year. I wonder why a snow day makes me feel so hopeful?

Maybe it’s something visual – take a look at the view off my icy deck.

Snow is not as much fun as it was when I was a kid. I still have to worry about getting my work done to earn a living. I have to cope with clearing it off the walks and driveway. I have to cope with driving in it.  But I have always loved snow, and I still do, despite all the adult hassles it brings. Especially when it’s a novelty. I love waking up in the muted bluish light of a snowy morning, from the deep soft sleep the snow always brings. It must be the extra negative ions that make me sleep so well. But rational explanations aside, it just feels like snow magic.

One snowfall does not herald the end of global warming, but it makes the winter feel right, instead of off. If it’s going to be cold, it might as well snow. My overburdened migraine mind appreciates the peace and quiet, the way the day is simplified. (Shovel, cancel appointments, shovel, get warm, take kid to sledding hill, throw snowballs at dog.) I like the exercise of the shoveling. A good workout. I didn’t get enough sleep and may need a nap to ward off a migraine – lack of sleep is one of my surest triggers. But I know I’ll nap well on a snowy day!

I notice that the aches and pains index on weather.com seems to be low when it’s snowing.  Barometric pressure changes trigger migraines for many of us – so I wonder if the pressure is very steady while it’s snowing. I remember learning in Earth Science in high school that low pressure makes us hurt – because the pressure inside our bodies isn’t balanced by the pressure outside!  Are snowy days high pressure days?  Any meteorologists out there want to chime in?

Here is the big yellow doofus in the big white snow. Isn’t she cute?

Wherever you are, whatever your weather, I hope it’s treating you well.

– Megan

How can I do serious work on a snow day?

Tags: high atmospheric pressure, hope, snow, weather triggers
Posted in Musings | Comments (3)