When Crohn's Comes with Migraines

Yesterday started off as what one would consider a good day. It was pretty "normal" to say the least. I woke up feeling good. Got dressed. Got a bit of work done. Had a little meal. It was good. Simple. Just the way I like it.

Symptoms worsened as the day progressed

As the day progressed, I noticed a decline... In just about everything. From my mood, to how fast my body was operating. It felt like I was running on green earlier, and now I was slowly moving to a stale yellow. I paid it no mind. I had things to do and I refused to allow anything to get in the way of that. I chose to push through.

I picked up my niece from school and she also had a very mellow vibe about her. I began to wonder, "are we coming down with something? How is it possible that we're both facing the same difficulties on the same day?" I began to think that we just needed naps. I told her to rest in the car and she'll feel better. Little did she know, we were on our way to the ice cream shop! Wooo whoo!

My health declined both mentally and physically

I don't know why, but the moment we got there, my whole body hit E. That stale yellow quickly turned into a hard RED! My body was no longer functioning in the ways it should be. While my niece was now happy and smiling, I was now barely here: mentally and physically.

I'd never had an issue with migraines in the past. Not as a child. Not even in early adulthood. I never really understood just how bad it was or what exactly people were complaining about when they'd mention it. I thought it was simply: a headache. I was wrong. Within the past few years, I've had more, but I can still count the number of occurrences on one hand. And NOTHING has ever been like this before.

Pushing through the pain

I tried to hold on and keep "pushing through" for my niece, after all, that's what we do right? We continue to push our bodies to accomplish the nearly impossible to make those around us happy or at least satisfied with the outcome. I knew she, as only a small child, would not possibly understand the pain I was going through and even if she could, I wouldn't want her to have to.

We stayed at the ice cream parlor and I drove us to grandma's house where she'd enjoy a nice visit while I laid on the couch in agony. After about 30 mins of laying in one-stop, trying to fight the pain with closed eyes, my family begins to notice there is obviously something wrong. My grandfather comes to the couch and asks, "Are you okay? Do you need to take your medicine?"

Worsening symptoms around injection time

I get my injection every four weeks now and it is a lifesaver. Every month it is scheduled to arrive about a week before it is due so I will have it on-hand when the time comes. The shot was been in the refrigerator for about a week now! At that moment, everything made sense. I can't 100% be sure that this is how my body was responding to my med being due, but I will say, when I was taking it every 8 weeks, everything hurt when it was due.

So although I hate living with a condition that literally affects every part of my body, I am grateful for a family that knows me... At times, better than I know myself.