Books and Migraine

On the arm of the sofa has a lot of books on it. It’s always looked this way because there are so many books out there that I want to read that I can’t help but pick up new ones before I’ve finished what I’m actually reading. And so it takes me longer to get through books, but I’m like a kid in a sweet shop – what am I supposed to do.

No self-control when it comes to books is only part of the problem. The other regular on the arm of the sofa is my migraine medication, Sumatriptan. As I’m writing this things are not too bad, I nearly made it to two weeks without a migraine. But last autumn as I was averaging 15 a month. And that can seriously get in the way of reading.

Having that many migraines is no fun. Ever. But what makes the pain worse is that you can do nothing productive. Even when the migraine has pretty much moved on there’s still the hours of lying there while your body tells you that it wasn’t just your head that was fighting the battle, it was all of you. Sometimes you wonder if energy will ever come back. But it does.

For me this all started when I was 17 so I’ve got my migraine routine nailed down now. The first sign for me is that my concentration goes. So from the very beginning of this there’s no chance of curling up with a book. As soon as I feel my concentration evaporate I know what’s coming and it’s reach for the nearest pain killer, or if it’s too late for that (sometimes I don’t notice the signs) it’s straight for the Sumatriptan.

If I’m lucky I head straight for a darkened room and to bed. But if I’m working then it’s take a deep breath, and push on through.

The first thing that comes back online is my brain. I am never more productive as I am straight afterwards. I might be exhausted but I want to be up and doing. And that’s when I get frustrated. Because I can’t just bounce back and achieve all that I want to. But in the last six months I’ve discovered something that helps me feel like I’m doing something but without me having to move. Amazon’s Audible. It’s brilliant – I can read without having to use my eyes.

Over the next few weeks I’ll try and post about what I’ve been listening to as well as reading, and maybe some sneaky migraine cheats I’ve discovered too.