Migraines and a Meal Plan

Last night a kinda bad tension headache snaked north and morphed into a migraine that laid me out.  I think it’s the worst migraine I’ve ever had.  It was not preceded by an aura, which is my “normal” and which usually allows me to avoid the worst of the headache pain because I can hit it with mega Advil and hide in the dark.  Once the Advil kicked in and I iced my head for awhile, I did feel better and went to sleep, since it was bedtime anyway, but wow, did I feel terrible while the headache had me in its grip.

Unfortunately, that means I will be nursing a migraine hangover today in hope that I won’t trigger another one.  This is the first migraine I’ve had in quite awhile, and I can pinpoint the triggers that brought it on:

• Yesterday was HOT.  It got up to 32 degrees C here (yes, that’s hot for where I live), with enough humidity that it felt more like 40 degrees (that’s 88 degrees F and 104 degrees F).  Now, I rather enjoy the heat, but it can definitely be a migraine trigger.
• I sat out in the sun reading for a lot of the afternoon.  Bright light and reflected sunlight can be triggers.
• It was so hot that I had a very light supper consisting mostly of vegetables.  Skipping meals is considered a trigger, and I know from my history that if I don’t eat enough, I can get a migraine.
• My cycle.  Eh, what can you do?

Today is going to involve me focusing on eating a healthy diet, staying cool, avoiding sunlight, and staying hydrated.  I’m watching my kids and my nieces today, so I’m trying to come up with activities that will keep them out of my hair and keep them (relatively) quiet.

I was going to post my meal plan last night, but that didn’t happen so here’s my plan now, somewhat belated:

Wednesday

Lunch: grilled cheese sandwiches, vegetable soup

Snack: banana blueberry smoothies and pretzels

Supper: honey garlic chicken skewers (which will involve me throwing cut up chicken breasts in a 50/50 mix of honey and soy sauce with a couple of cloves of minced garlic), leftover basmati rice, grilled mushrooms

Thursday

Lunch: soy butter and jam sandwiches, baby carrots and cucumbers

Snack: snack mix made with popcorn, cheerios, and dried cranberries; yogurt or milk

Supper: grilled beef tenderloin steaks on spinach with blueberries, chives, feta, cucumbers, and pomegranate vinaigrette

Friday

Lunch: leftovers

Snack: fresh cherries, apple slices, baby carrots, and After-School Dip

Supper: Grilled Chicken Thighs, quinoa, grilled baby carrots (I have a barbecue basket)

I’ll be back, hopefully later today, with an update on my workouts and some exciting travel news!