Well hello again, fellow migraine sufferers. If you've stumbled upon this article (not to be punny but this was on stumble upon so) I can only assume it's because you've at some point in your life suffered from a migraine. And, like me, you probably sat there and said "well, i'm screwed." Sometimes you think it'll just go away, but then it's three days later and nausea is hitting you in the face and stomach and you can't breathe without your head feeling like it's about to split open. Man, do I have an article for you.
Step 1: Cry it out.
Look, let's face it. Migraines really hurt. No, you aren't weak for wanting to crawl into fetal position in the top corner of your bed and stay there for the rest of your life. You've simply accepted that you do, in fact, have a migraine. And, it's totally normal for you to sit in your bed and cry about it for like a half hour. Hey, we all do it.
Step 2: Push away all responsibilities.
I'm not kidding. That paper you needed to finish, the speech you were almost done perfecting, the excel spreadsheet you need to submit to your boss? Push it all away, because it won't get done. Between wanting to throw up everything in your stomach and wanting to take a sledgehammer to your forehead, you just won't be able to finish anything. It just needs to be accepted, so you can start healing the problem at hand.
Step 3: Sleep and Sumatriptan.
The 2 S's. (And no, Scotch doesn't count as a third because alcohol makes migraines worse.) Maybe you have a different prescription from your neurologist or you don't have anything because you're too afraid to go to a neuro - hey, we're all in this together. I didn't go to a neuro for three years before I finally gave up, that's three years of suffering with migraines on a weekly basis. But take whatever pain killers you have, and try to sleep it off. Even for a half hour, doesn't matter, just try to sleep it off.
Step 4: Soup.
Now that you've hopefully been able to rest a little bit, it's time to put food back into your system. We can't really eat anything too pungent or spicy, just some bland chinese broth with a lot of white rice is usually on the menu for me. We all have our own remedies, this is one that I usually can hold down, so do whatever works for you in form of food.
Step 5: Literal darkness.
Submerse yourself in darkness. No light, very few sounds, and go ahead and drop that thermostat down a few degrees. Dark, quiet, and cold - literally the best environment for someone with migraines to thrive in. Invest in a sleep mask if you can't manage to get your home to the proper level of darkness - it's an art form that's perfected over time.
Step 6: Take the L.
We lost. We lost the game, okay? Whether it be from getting upset and emotional the day before (guilty as charged) or a sudden shift in your living situation that threw you off, or literally anything. We didn't win, but we did survive. Well, almost. It'll go away in time, but hopefully with a few of these steps, you'll feel better about it.