Ugh!

There they were on the shower wall, glaring at me - those moving spots.

I tried to shake it off as being overtired or dehydrated, but in my heart I knew exactly what was happening - the onset of a migraine.

I quickly finished what I was doing and headed for the medicine cabinet for the ibuprofen. If I could stop the aura, maybe I could stop the freight train.

This wasn't a new experience for me. The first train arrived when I was in the first grade and, despite my efforts to explain their onset to other people, I can never quite do the "aura" justice.

When I saw the aura one week ago today, I took the required medication to knock it and then followed up with the migraine medicine to knock myself out.

As I woke from my medically induced stupor hours later, I started wondering if I could somehow photographically represent what I consistently see right before the tidal wave of pain rolls in and knocks me out for the better part of a day or more. Once I felt human again, I headed for the studio computer.

Sometimes the aura is just as bad as the migraine.

The dictionary describes an aura as "a sensation, as of lights or a current of warm or cold air, preceding an attack of migraine or epilepsy."

If you've never had one, consider yourself blessed.

I took the above photo of Caitlin last month. I love this photo of her but after one "aura" edit, I can't even look at it for fear it will throw me into another headache.

If you look at the bridge of her nose, you'll see a "C" shape. Suddenly, as you look around the photo you'll start noticing "C"s appearing everywhere.

That is what my migraine aura usually looks like. The only difference between this photo and my reality is these shapes are constantly moving, causing nausea.

If you get migraines, I'm sure you're all too familiar with this phenomenon or something similar.

Sometimes I get lucky and I get rid of the aura and never get the headache. Other times, I get both and it feels like a freight train through my skull. Sometimes it's somewhere inbetween. You take the meds, find a dark corner (migraine sufferers may experience sensitivity to light and motion and, in my case, it's both) and lay your head on an ice pack until it passes.

Migraines can be triggered by various things - stress, weather, foods, and so on.

Can you function with a migraine? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

I found a neurologist who provided me with a magic bullet about six years ago, so thankfully I'm down to about two or three migraines a year, rather than two or three a week which I had experienced in the past. 

I have a deep sense of empathy for those still seeking their magic bullet for migraine pain or any chronic pain - either physical or emotional.

I can represent a part of my pain in a photo. Others can't.