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 |  is paved with good intentions... |
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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Hi, I'm Elle. I'm based in Auckland, New Zealand. I'm the mother of two young adults, the wife of an entrepreneurial gamer and the Queen of Unfinished Projects. This blog will contain poems, short stories, possibly photos and book reviews if you're lucky, and my thoughts on a variety of topics. Hope you enjoy it. |
| I am so behind in updating my blog. Last Saturday we went to Steve's parents' house for dinner. Steve decided he wanted to play cards (which we literally NEVER do) so we drove down the road, bought some cards, and they proceeded to teach me how to play Canasta and then Samba. I ended up paired with Steve's dad, and we kicked Steve and his mother's ass in the first game, and then they won the second. We were there until after midnight, which is crazy late for them, but we had a lot of fun. We decided to buy his parents a Canasta card set (they have the scores on the cards which is super helpful) and some card holders for Christmas. That was awesome, because I'd been struggling for present ideas for them. On Wednesday I had another migraine with aura. It was literally a week from my first one. Is it something about Wednesdays?? It hit me about 5:30-6pm. I was more attentive to it this time. Although the sparkles in my eyes seemed definitely only on my left, I could see them in the corner of my eye if I only had my right eye open, which means it was definitely NOT a retinal migraine and is therefore my brain not my eyes causing the sparkles. The sparkles lasted close to a full half hour. I was really struggling to describe them, then my sister said her boss had one the same day and described the sparkles as 'holographic tape' and I was like 'YES!' I was trying to think of 3D diamond patterns or something, but holographic tape is exactly what it looked like.  I also noticed a buzzing in my ears. Kind of like the buzzing you can hear from some electrical devices sometimes. The buzzing lasted the same amount of time as the flashy lights. I don't remember the buzzing from the first one. I tried to think of any factors (other than it being Wednesday!) that might have triggered it. I'd had several crappy dinners in a row and gone to bed hungry a couple nights before Wednesday. Perhaps not hungry per se, but I woke up hungry. I also had shit sleep according to my sleep app. So these were my scores for the week of the first migraine: Monday - 77% Tuesday - 84% Wednesday - 97% (went to bed early and had taken painkillers) Thursday - 79% Friday - 87% Saturday - 71% Sunday - 91% So no obvious pattern of sleeplessness prior to the migraine. And this was this week: Monday - 61% Tuesday - 68% Wednesday (fell asleep reading my book in bed so didn't turn my sleep app on) Thursday - 77% Friday - 84% Saturday - 100% So clearly Monday and Tuesday I had less sleep than normal. So on Wednesday I would have been tired. Not sure if that contributed or not, considering it doesn't appear to have contributed to the first one. I remember having a sore neck and shoulders, and being frustrated because I have stopped carrying a handbag specifically to try and get rid of that. I've started just carrying my phone, which has my bank cards in the phone case. It means less weight on my shoulder. But I'd figured that when I was still having issues, it must actually be my workstation setup at work, and I've raised my chair to see if that helps. But the soreness may be either a sign of an impending migraine or a contributing factor. 'Tiredness and insufficient sleep, shoulder or neck tension, poor posture, and physical overexertion have all been linked to migraines.' ~ www.medicalnewstoday.com I don't think I was dehydrated, but I had been having Sprite Zero. I wonder if I need to cut out the Sprite Zero. Maybe the artificial sweeteners are a factor? I've always been told they're bad for you. 'Artificial sweeteners have been linked in anecdotal reports to a variety of health problems for more than 30 years. But one of the more mysterious reported side effects is also among the most commonly mentioned, headaches. Migraine sufferers are often known to steer clear of sweeteners, if only to be on the safe side, and there is no shortage of medical Web sites spreading the claim. But according to various studies, the anecdotal evidence does not exactly hold up. Since the 1980's, about a half dozen studies have examined the link, and a majority have discounted it. Most of those studies looked specifically at aspartame, found in diet soda and consumed by millions.' 'Further, the International Headache Society recently concluded that no link existed, said Dr. Brian Grosberg of the Montefiore Medical Center Headache Unit in New York. Migraine triggers, he added, tend to vary enormously from person to person. "Is this a myth?" he said. "No. It's possible it can be a trigger of some people's headaches, but it is not something that is generalizable to other people." ~ The New York Times I had been extra-sensitive to noise and lights ever since the first migraine. I distinctly remember turning off the car stereo on Tuesday night when Steve picked me up because I couldn't handle the noise even after I'd turned the volume way down. The sensitivity seemed to come and go though, and wasn't constant throughout the week. I do feel like the migraines I've had previously (without aura) had been worse in terms of headache pain and worse in terms of sound sensitivity in particular. These ones with aura aren't so vicious, but the aura are pretty freaky. Yes, there's definitely a headache, but although I've had to give up reading and go to bed early in both cases, I definitely felt like the pain wasn't as bad as I've had before. Quite interesting. I guess we'll keep evaluating if I get any more! Steve said that one night in the week (I forget which) I was boiling hot in bed. I'm usually cold in bed, and tend to snuggle up to Steve, which he finds frustrating because he then over-heats. But he said I was so hot I was 'like a roast potato in the oven'. *shrugs* He speculated that maybe the migraines were linked to early-onset menopause and I was having a hot flush. Then he said that when I'd had my tubes tied, the doctor had warned that there was a small chance that I'd have early-onset menopause because I'd had the procedure done. I don't remember that, but a Google search does show that there is a very small percentage of women who appear to have early-onset menopause after a tubal ligation. Friday night I was having drinks after work, and I was literally sweating, sitting there in the office, and I remember looking at the guy across from me thinking 'He looks cool as a fucking cucumber, and I'm dripping sweat here!' So maybe Steve's on to something there. Only time will tell. I did read in my first lot of migraine research that menopause (while it lasts) worsens symptoms in people already prone to migraines. Anyway, I'll keep you posted! On Saturday Steve and I were having breakfast and decided we wanted to play cards again. Steve decided to go to Whitcoulls and see if we could find some actual Canasta cards. Not only did we find some, but they were a third cheaper than the ones I'd bought online for Steve's parents for Christmas!  Oh well, at least now we have a set too. We went round to Steve's parents' and played Samba again. Steve's dad and I lost pretty convincingly, and his dad sulked.  Then I cheered us up by playing David Armand videos on their TV.On Saturday night we went to Spooks and Sparks. Caitie took a friend, Amy (because we get an extra child for free with the family pass I buy). It was a good night. Fireworks were good. Set to 90s electronica kind of music. Like what Steve used to dance to in the clubs. I didn't have any noise or light sensitivity (and haven't since Wednesday) so that was lucky! I looked over a couple of times during the fireworks and Jayden had his head in his phone. Fucking teenagers.  He tried to convince me that he watched 99% of the fireworks and it was just bad timing when I looked over at him. Whatever.On Sunday afternoon, Mum and my elder sister came down. The plan was to do some indoor photography (the weather was shit) so they brought flowers, baskets, vases, vegetables, teddy bears and Christmas lights with them. It was a bit mad, but we made it work. My challenge at 52Frames this week was 'depth of field' and I managed to get a shot I could use for that.  It's actually not as sharp as I would like it, but oh well. That's the best one I had on the day. On Sunday evening, Jayden ended up joining us for dinner, which is a rare occurrence indeed these days. I literally can't remember the last time we all ate dinner together. I suggested we teach the kids how to play Canasta/Samba, so we paired up (Elle/Jayden, Steve/Caitie) and played two hands of Canasta, with Steve and I teaching the kids as we went. Jayden and I lost thoroughly, but it was an enjoyable evening. The first quality family time we've had in a long time. We definitely need to buy some card holders though! |
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