Christmas morning in San Jose was especially clear due to the high winds. It’s during times like that I know not to go outside. Bright sunny mornings always give me migraine headaches. Of course having sunglasses helps greatly, but I forgot my pair. I should have acquired some new sunglasses, but most places were closed and I thought I’d just chance the consequences.
I was exposed to the sun two times. First for fifteen minutes loading the car with gifts. Second for a 20 minute drive to our cousins house. We were spending the whole day there for a really fun party. A really loud, fun party. The noise was getting to me and I first noticed the migraine an hour and a half into the party. The pain was annoying but didn’t get debilitating. An hour later there was something new.
Most of my life my secondary migraine symptom was static vision. Imaging a spot, near the center of your vision, of static. The kind of static you see on a TV channel where no one is broadcasting. This spot would get larger and larger until half my vision was gone. The head pain would get worse and worse and after a while I would vomit. After that I’d be functional within the hour with several day of lingering pain. As I got older the visual static would become less and less and the migraine pain would hurt less and less. Now my migraines almost never contain any visual symptoms or debilitating pain.
On christmas day, after my head started hurting, I started hearing an echo. At first I thought it was the house I was in. But I had been there may times before and there was nothing new that would have created an echo. But then I remember some sufferers experience auditory problems. I think that is what was happening to me.
The echo is really weird. It’s like hearing everything three times. First in the center of your head, like normal. Then again in your left ear, with a little flange applied, and again in your right ear with a little less flange.
This lasted christmas day and all day Friday. Today, Saturday, it’s finally gone. But my head still hurts but that is usually the way it works.
I must remember not to forget my sunglasses.
