Feeling Alive

I am alive! My head is clear, and my neck and shoulders are nearly pain free.  I spent more time in bed yesterday than I spent out of bed!  After I wrote yesterday's post I did everything nourishing I said I would, but by 3:30 pm the migraine was bigger than ever and it broke the pain scale. I swear it was a 24 on the pain scale, and my pain scale only goes to 10. My neck, shoulders and back were so tight, there was so much pressure in my head, I thought it would explode. I went to bed and tried to sleep it off. I woke up around 6 to Sterling asking if I was okay. I had been holding my head in my sleep and probably looked like a train wreck.. plus I missed several of his calls and texts. He brought me pain killers and started rubbing my neck. I didn't end up getting out of bed until about 8 pm. After Sterling rubbed my neck and back the pressure felt released for a bit. I knew I had about a 30 minute window to get a few things done. So we ran to the grocery store and bought ingredients for soup, salads, meat, cheese, and crackers peppers and ranch, and gummy bears. I seriously went and bought all the food I was craving.. Not worrying about the price or anything. I just wanted to eat all the food.

Sterling helped me cut up the ingredients for soup and do the dishes as the migraine started coming back. I settled into the couch for some Doctor Who and alternated the heating pad, ice pack, and massages from Sterling. I swear I ate everything in the house last night.. but I woke up with a feeling of relief. The migraine has subsided.

The migraine started last Friday and had been eating away at me all weekend. The stress I put myself under didn't help one bit. I'm thinking the migraine started out from eating processed meat, which my body doesn't like. The migraine started out as a familiar "You ate something you shouldn't have" pain, and I felt like it would pass. So, I continued on my week. I was trying to get tons of illustrations finished so I could take that trip. When the trip didn't work out, my body still made sure I had a vacation... though this vacation was not enjoyable in the least.

I tend to carry my stresses in my shoulders and neck, which is what continued the outrageous migraine. That and my sensitive stomach makes me very prone to migraines. Every time I eat something that ends up giving me a migraine, I know that this journey of what I should and shouldn't eat will be a long, painful and expensive road.. Maybe by the time I'm in my 30's I will have a good understanding of the things I can and can not eat.. Because it doesn't seem to just be gluten and processed meats that makes me sick.

All week I was in a fog, barely able to get a thing done. I don't mean work, I mean anything. Taking a shower was hard work. But today I finally felt clear. And I kid you not, I woke up this morning.. stretched one hand into the air and exclaimed "I am alive!" And I woke up and made some art.

"Feeling Alive" 

Mixed Media on paper

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