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Anyone who suffers from migraines knows that they have a set of stimuli that can, but not always, ignite a dreaded migraine. These triggers can be visual, flashing lights or patterns, taste, consuming the wrong sort of food, tactile, a sensation that sparks the terrible pain, olfactory, a powerful scent can trigger one for some people (marijuana prompts one for me), or auditory, a particular sound, set of sounds, or sometimes sounds in the just wrong frequency.
Sounds are my bane; for me the noise created by chewing or speaking with one’s mouth open can start a migraine. As a child, without a diagnosis for my condition, one of my criteria for true wealth was having a place to eat where I never would hear anyone else chewing. Along with the food noises, sounds at the high frequencies can also be trouble for me.
The trouble with migraine triggers, or at least mine, is that they are terribly inconsistent in causing the headaches. What might set one off on Monday is utterly benign on Tuesday. I can say that sounds at the treble end of the stereo might start a migraine but that is not always the case. Which means while avoiding the triggers is preferable, even when I can’t, that doesn’t mean exposure is a pain sentence.
Last Friday I got some more experience in that department.
At the day job we were having our ‘All Hands’ meeting on Zoom where achievements were celebrated and the plans for the next very busy quarter were disclosed to everyone in the Medicare department. These large meetings can span two and a half hours or more, but having them on Zoom has been much better than the pre-pandemic routine of crowding into a massive hall for them. So, there I was, at my desk, headset on listening to the presentations when a new presenter came on and BOOM, migraine trigger.
This presenter’s mic clipped to just the wrong part of the treble frequencies. My head began pounding almost immediately. Their presentation wasn’t very long but the length no longer mattered. I held on for another 30 minutes or so, hoping, vainly, that once the trigger passed, I might slowly wind down from the migraine, but the inflammation in my brain refused to cooperate. I did not last to the end of the meeting before I had to crawl back home, double dose on my prescription medication, and suffer for another eight and a half hours before the cycle broke.
It is the inconsistency of the trigger that I find so maddening. If it always caused a headache, I could always avoid or take steps, such as taking my meds ahead of time, to stay safe. This works sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t. Still, I know I can count myself as more fortunate than many. My migraine do not come with visual distortions or powerful waves of nausea that many suffer, but still, the sensation of having my head split open and lava poured in is a less than pleasant one.
