I’ve had many headaches after the birth of my new baby girl, but the other day, I had the mother of all headaches. It started on the left side of my head in the afternoon, and by dinner time it was dead center with throbbing, pounding, and made me sick to my stomach. I called my husband to pick me up some Excedrin on the way home, but our local drugstore didn’t have any. I know they should all start stocking Excedrin by the new year, and after hearing that friends were able to get their hands on some, I was hopeful. My husband came home, I barely said two words to him, and headed to bed with my infant at 7:30pm. Usually, I stay up after the kids go to bed to get some work done, but this wasn’t happening today.
I laid down in bed with no TV, lights, or sounds. Everything was just too much and made me feel worse. Then I realized I had a full blown migraine. It had been a while since I had a migraine this bad. I attempted to text my husband to bring me ANYTHING for the pain (yes, I texted him from 3 rooms away… I just couldn’t get up- it was so bad!) The light from my cell phone was just too bright for me to handle, but I got a glimpse of the Excedrin app I downloaded a few weeks ago. I made a mental note to check it out in the morning, hopefully I would feel better by then.
Thankfully I was much better by morning and able to function. While the girls were still sleeping, I opened the My Migraine Triggers app and started going through the screens. My mom always told me to keep track of what I ate before migraines hit, so tracking this information wasn’t new to me. What was new was my triggers. I always thought chocolate was my trigger. I can live on dark chocolate and I’ve been known to binge here and there. I never thought twice to question any other triggers, since that one has always been a constant. When I looked through the list of potential triggers on the app, I realized I hadn’t had ANY chocolate that day. I also noticed that cheese was a potential trigger, and remembered that when I was at my mom’s house for lunch, I ate a few slices of deli cheese. Another trigger could have been a stress let down. I never knew what a stress let down is, and after looking it up I learned that it was the release of a stressful situation. This was another trigger I dealt with that day, having two very big deadlines which I completed that day after running around trying to get everything I needed for these projects. By the time I finished everything and came home, my project was done and my headache had intensified.
So, through the My Migraine Triggers app, I was able to identify two potential triggers to my migraine that day. If I had recurrent migraines that were more frequent, the app would be a great way to track, identify, and share with my doctors what my triggers were and how to prevent migraines from occurring.
Check out some screenshots of the app and how easy it is to use it:
Do you suffer from migraines? Make sure you head to THIS PAGE to enter to win an Excedrin Migraine Relief Kit which includes:
– Sleep Mask
– Noise cancelling ear buds
– Branded Stress Balls
– Herbal Compress
– Branded Water bottle
Disclosure: I am an Excedrin® Migraine brand ambassador. One iPod Touch to test the app was provided by Novartis Consumer Health, Inc., the makers of Excedrin® Migraine; my journey for a migraine-free experience is my own.
My Mom used to suffer from migraines, from the time she was 14 until she turned 50. She said that she never had a migraine again once she turned 50 (she gets headaches, occasionally), and that was 17 years ago.
I’m lucky because I’ve never had one. I get headaches A LOT though, mostly from stress (or lack of caffeine, lol).