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...A blog about living a life migraine-free

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Traveling...another migraine avoided.

3/1/2013

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Traveling makes this migrainuer a little anxious.  There are numerous factors that can create complications with adherence to  my Migraine Plan when traveling.  I try to plan for all of these factors accordingly.
 
Factor 1.  Sleep changes: My flight left at 7 am in the morning, which means I needed to be at the airport by 6 am. 

--Solution: I set my  alarm for the latest possible time that I could in order to get to the airport and check-in on time.  This meant I  had my bags packed the night before with the exception of items I needed to use the morning of the flight.  My work bag was packed and ready to go, all chargers, phones, and laptops were packed up and all I had to do was put them in my car.  I attempted to get to bed earlier than usual to try to offset the early awakening.  This may have been a great idea had I been successful in getting to bed sooner.  My net sleep lost ended up being one hour.

Factor 2.  Airplane travel:  Flight travel means changes in altitude, barometric pressure, cabin oxygenation, and humidity.  Cabin humidity levels are usually 10-20% and normal indoor humidity levels are 30-65%.  My little migraine brain likes stability in all these things.  Changes in altitude alters blood oxygenation making my vessels compensate by constricting and expanding depending on barometric changes, potentially initiating a headache. 

--Solution:  I hydrated well in order to fend off dehydration and hoped for the best.  I avoid caffeine and alcohol while flying.

Factor 3.  Unpredictable food selections: When traveling on business or even for pleasure for that matter food options are different from those I keep in my home.  Meals are eaten out and I can't control whether or not lemon is squeezed onto my grouper or whether or not my spinach is cooked with parmesan cheese (I think I was tyramined and glutamated last night). 

--Solution: I pack snacks and try to pick the most migraine-friendly selections offered.  I stuck some snacks in my checked luggage and I passed on the alcohol last night.

Factor 4.  Being stuck next to a woman on my flight who overdosed on her perfume bottle.  I hadn't counted on this factor.

--Solution: I hold my breath for the 2 hour flight.  Ok, that wasn't a possibilty.  Lucky for me, I was wearing a scarf this day.  In hindsight, I may make this a travel staple.  I was able to pull my scarf up over my nose and create a barrier between myself and her offensive odor.  My need to be migraine-free trumps the need to look cool.

I did the best I could to prevent a headache from creeping into my trip.  As you can see it's almost impossible to control all the factors, but I did the best I could.  Around 7 pm on my travel day a headache started to appear and I immediately took some ibuprofen.  On day 2 of my trip I woke up without a headache and feeling good...another migraine avoided!
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    Maren

    A recovering chronic migraineur attempting to globally eliminate headaches via a website and possibly, one blog post at a time.

    contact me: [email protected]

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