Category: Migraine
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Online High School
My son struggles with multiple health issues: migraines, cyclic vomiting, weak immune system, allergies, eczema, depression, and anxiety. The newly defined spectrum syndrome ALPIM (Anxiety-Laxity-Pain-Immune-Mood) describes his constellation of symptoms, but does not yet give us answers as to how to cure or treat the underlying genetic disorder. Monday, August 31st would have been my…
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ALPIM (Anxiety-Laxity-Pain-Immune-Mood)
Thank you, Blahpolar Diaries, for informing me about ALPIM in her blog post nudge nudge link link. I tracked down the original SUNY press release, which I quote here. In the study, published in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, the researchers proposed the existence of a spectrum syndrome comprising a core anxiety disorder…
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Still Exhausted, But Relaxing
Still exhausted, but on vacation in Waldport on the Central Oregon Coast. When we arrived in Portland, before we drove out to the coast, we stopped at the Willamette National Cemetery where my brother-in-law is buried. The cemetery is beautiful, surrounded by trees with a view of the Cascade mountains in the distance. We said…
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Too Tired to Write
Living with mental illness while parenting a child with chronic health issues is a balancing act. When my son was very young, I tried working as well, and ended up hospitalized. I could only juggle so many roles. Recently I’ve been exhausted. Too involved in attending to my son’s health and educational needs to have any…
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Chronic Illness is Chronic Illness is Chronic Illness
Chronic illness is chronic illness is chronic illness. I so wish that I had a magic wand that could make my son better, that would stop his migraines, asthma, eczema, allergies, depression, anxiety, GERD, and stop him from getting every single virus that comes to town. But, I simply cannot. I’ve taken him to numerous…
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Prayer for Healing
My son has been sick WAY TOO MUCH this year. He is sick again, this time only with a cold virus, but resulting in another school absence. This year seems to be a record year for pollen and viruses. Add to that the stress of beginning high school with a challenging course load and a…
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Migraines – What a Pain! #MondayBlogs
So, it is May – Mental Health Awareness Month, and I’m not motivated to write about mental health. Not mine, at least. Instead, I find myself drawn to write about parenting a son who has suffered severe migraines since he was a toddler. My son’s earliest migraines involved gastrointestinal symptoms, but no headaches. When he was…
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My Kid Gets Migraines
My son has suffered migraines since he was at least two years old. I would regularly get phone calls from daycare to pick him up because he was sick again. We did not know what was happening. We thought that he was getting gastroenteritis, aka “the stomach flu.” Then my sister observed that when we celebrated holidays with…
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Fear of Loss
Thursday night I saw my psychologist over the disaster that was Tuesday. First I had her listen to the distraught voice recording I made that night. I told her about my son’s recurring gastroenteritis. He’s suffered from migraines with vomiting since he was a toddler, has gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and gets gastroenteritis regularly during the…