Tapioca Dance

A revelation came to me today: I have found the cure for my migraines.

Finally! I have been suffering from migraines for over twenty years. And trust me, I suffer! Luckily, my migraines typically last about eight hours (a lot of people’s last for 24 hours or more), but I throw up the entire time, I have vision spots, my head feels like it’s about to explode, and the only thing that has helped in the past is sleep. Even after it’s gone, I feel fragile for days. And I’ve tried it all - except prescription medication, because I don’t want to treat the headache, I want to prevent them from even happening.
So I am happy to report that I have been migraine-free since February! Seven months of no major headaches* (I used to get them once a month, the day before my period started). Not coincidentally, February was when I started getting monthly craniosacral massages for my lower back pain (which is also gone).

I have been extremely fortunate to receive monthly massages from the best massage therapist in the world (my humble opinion). Her name is Pam, and if you want her number, I will gladly pass it along to you. When I first started going a couple years ago, I never knew how good a massage could be - all the ones I had in the past paled in comparison. Pam starts the hour-long session off with me resting on top of a hot water pack, and finishes with heated blankets covering my entire body. And each time, I get so relaxed that I catch myself snoring. So embarrassing.

This past winter I started experiencing excruciating back pain. It got to the point where I couldn’t even put my pants on, and turning over in bed took five minutes. I’m pretty sure it was caused by stress, because I started noticing it soon after Dan and I agreed to expand our business (and a lot of people put financial stress in their lower back). So I told Pam, and she suggested trying Craniosacral therapy.

Craniosacral therapy isn’t scientifically “proven” to fix what ails you - hardly any Complementary and Alternative therapies are. In Craniosacral, the therapist just touches different parts of your body along your spine, which helps unblock nerves and gets the energy flowing properly again. It doesn’t hurt, I can’t feel anything move or unblock inside me, and actually, the first time Pam performed it on me, I had no idea she was even doing it. It’s a holistic approach for sure, but I trust complementary medicine far more than Western traditional health care.

After my first session using that technique, however, I thought I was going to die. My back hurt so bad I was crying all night. I shook my fist and cursed the day I let alternative medicine into my life! Why can’t I just take Tylenol like most people? I told myself if I woke up in pain the next morning, I was going to the ER. But guess what? I was completely fine in the morning - I could bend down and touch my toes!
Luckily, I haven’t experienced one last major migraine. And now that I’ve written this post, I’ll probably get one tomorrow. I’ve always kept an open mind when it comes to holistic approaches - I think that’s actually part of the success rate - but part of me is still skeptical. I’m sold, however, on massage therapy. Plus, it just feels so nice!
*I still get weekly headaches, but they’re the minor allergy, tension and stress ones. I can handle those, no problem. That’s what naps are for!