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Janet Ruth Heller's avatar

Good essay! I used to get bad headaches when I ate certain foods, but now I know which foods I'm allergic to, so I avoid most headaches. I also experienced headaches before I got glasses because my eyes were straining to see the world. So I can sympathize with your suffering from migraines. I hope that you can find an effective way to prevent your migraines. Best wishes!

Sincerely,

Janet Ruth Heller

Author of the poetry books Nature’s Olympics (Wipf and Stock, 2021), Exodus (WordTech Editions, 2014), Folk Concert: Changing Times (Anaphora Literary Press, 2012) and Traffic Stop (Finishing Line Press, 2011), the scholarly book Coleridge, Lamb, Hazlitt, and the Reader of Drama (University of Missouri Press, 1990), the middle-grade chapter book for kids The Passover Surprise (Fictive Press, 2015, 2016), and the award-winning picture book for kids about bullying, How the Moon Regained Her Shape (Arbordale, 2006; seventh edition 2022).

My website is https://www.janetruthheller.com/

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Lev Raphael's avatar

I don’t look for prevention anymore. I live with them. And they with me. :-)

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Susan Oleksiw's avatar

I don't have headaches but I have great sympathy for those of you who do. They sound awful, and I hope you have fewer and fewer, and they lessen in intensity.

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Lev Raphael's avatar

Thanks. Sadly, they are almost always a response to storms, changes in barometric pressure. I keep a migraine journal and some months are worse than others. Some are better.

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Liz Gauffreau's avatar

I'm so sorry you have to suffer with migraines! They're just miserable, particularly when they come with vomiting. I suffered with them for years. I'm very thankful that I no longer do (knock wood).

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Lev Raphael's avatar

Thanks. Luckily I've never puked due to a migraine though I know people who have.

Flip side: They opened me up to writing about health issues and that gave me distance--and momentum during the pandemic as I went on to have over 75 personal essay publications.

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Richard Donnelly's avatar

Lev migraines are so unfair. For me it's two Ibuprofens (Advil, and never more than two, it's bad for your body) and four hours in a dark room. That usually fixes it.

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Nov 6
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Lev Raphael's avatar

Writing in the middle of the night has been a surprisingly wonderful experience. Migraines don't stop the words from flowing even though they may keep me from dining out, going to the gym, etc. So I'm lucky. And so are you getting help via surgery for your sinus headaches which I know can be crippling since a good friend suffers from them.

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