#NMAM June Is Bustin' Out All Over!

What's the best tip you can offer others for having some summer fun despite Migraines? Be prepared! Pace yourself! Always know where your sunglasses are. Keep a small balanced snack with you in case of delays. Carry your medication with you. If you have problems thinking or communicating with your migraines, have a card that explains what you need, that you can give to others if you're not thinking well. Stay hydrated, but don't forget your salts and electrolytes! Emergency, disposable ice packs are amazing. A microwavable rice sock is good for heat-relieving muscle tension. Ear plugs are good for noisy restaurants, and movie theaters that think louder means more exciting. Know thyself, and prepare.

For the longest time, I couldn't enjoy summer. The light, the heat... even if the weather was nice out, the day-star made me feel like a vampire. It's awful driving down streets where the trees cast shadows across the road, and the sun flickers in and out of my vision like a strobe light. The WORST is being stuck behind that guy with the perfectly reflective rear window, so that it's always like your staring into the sun. Can't take your eyes off the road, so you can't shield yourself from the mirrory-car-of-DOOM. Agony!

Summer nights are wonderful... if they get cool enough. Some places are so miserable that at night all it does it get dark. I remember living in the Mojave desert. My mother told me to take a cold shower, an old trick from when I lived in the Midwest, the days back before we had air conditioning. I had to inform my mother that in the desert, even when it's piped in from underground, "The water doesn't get cold, mom..." During the day, it would be 120*F (easily), and the wind that blew off the desert was hotter. There was a small window of time between 3 and 4 in the morning when it would actually get cool. Those were the only times to exercise or do any vigorous activity. And you could feel the heat of the sun before it started to get light out. It would come off the desert in waves.

In contrast, with a migraine, I'd happily freeze to death. I've walked through below-freezing temperatures, wind chapping my face, body bundled and head bare, relief spreading over me as the cold put the pain to sleep. In the cold, the migraine pain can't grip tightly. It tries, but the cold won't let it. The pain falls prey to the numbing effects, and it doesn't hurt as much. In the summer, it's difficult to find such an environment unless you have access to a walk-in freezer. The cold isle in the supermarket is a close second.

"National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com."