Good Thanksgiving

I had a nice thanksgiving. Unfortunately the long car ride to my cousin's house didn't agree with me so I ended up with a migraine and neck pain for the next several days. I guess the rainy/snowy weather didn't help much either! I try not to limit traveling to visit family and friends even if I know I will pay for it later. If I didn't go I think I would end up very isolated. So for my own good mental health I have to sacrifice my physical comfort for a few days. Small price to pay.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving To All!

Bad Weather=Bad Erika

The weather is supposed to take a real turn for the worse here in the north east. Rain is supposed to start tonight and then it will snow. The weather channel had it snowing until friday! That usually means I'm not going to be able to function for several days. I am very much effected by changes in barametric pressure. I can feel a storm coming on up to 24 hours in advance!

I started to feel sharp pain in my neck last night which is always the precursor to my storm nightmare. Today I am really off balance- I fall into just about everything and my swallowing is worse (I have trouble from time to time swallowing anything- pills are my biggest enemy). Right before the rain starts I will feel a pressure in my head and a throbbing behind my left eye. Usually I need to go lay down and usually end up falling asleep. Once the rain/storm hits I either feel better or launch into a full blown migraine. I haven't figured out exactly what conditions make me worse and what makes the pain go away but I'm betting 4 days of crappy weather is a migraine starter. Who knew that when I went in for brain surgery I would come out with Doppler Radar in my head?!

Perfect Example

Today I was going to take a ride to some stores to do some holiday shopping. I try to get everything done before Thanksgiving because I just can't handle the crowds, long lines, pushy people etc. Shopping, which once was a hobby for me in my healthy days, has become a huge, exhausting hassle. Looks like I'm going to have to put it off for today- I'm not feeling up to it.

One of my many symptoms that has not gone away since my surgeries is dizziness. Some days are better then others. Today is a dizzy day. I don't drive on dizzy days. I usually try to take it easy because you really can't get much done when the room is spinning. Maybe I will try to do some cleaning....See? I can't do nothing have to accomplish something.

Going Well

Things are going well in my new home. It is quite a bit harder living on my own now then before my surgeries and disability. The one thing that I have to learn to do is pace myself. I'm really bad at that. I used to be the Type A personality that has to get everything done just right. I had a list every day of things I was going to accomplish. Now I'm just not physically able to do all that. The first several months I lived here I paid for it dearly by trying to do too much. I still make my lists but now I cut it in half and try to do that. I still get frustrated when I can't get it all done because my body just poops out on me. I'm slowly learning to let it go.