Well go lie down for a bit and you will feel better. What is the relationship between a migraine and sleep? Everyone knows that if someone has a migraine, send them to a dark room and let them sleep it off. Sadly it isnt all that simple. Migraines affect sleep in several ways. 1. The symptoms of a migraine are exhausting. The pain, the stress of inability and the medications wear down the body. Not only is sleep needed during a migraine, but it is very difficult to catch up after it is essentially cleared. When the pain is gone we should be ready to roll again because all we did was sleep. The opposite is true. After the trauma, the body craves the rest and recovery of sleep. 2. Although lying in a bed in the dark and dosed with medications, it is amazingly difficult to sleep during a migraine. Imagine trying to fall asleep while someone else elbows you in the head with every heartbeat. With enough exhaustion and medication it can happen, but it is difficult. Often a person in this situation will appear asleep and even fail to respond, but that doesnt actually mean sleep. Because the pounding is related to the circulatory system, any movement or even thought can increase the heart rate. In an attempt to slow the heart rate, a person will stay as still as possible to reduce the quantity and intensity of the pounding. Besides this, the severe delayed reaction that happens with brain function means that they often will not answer stimulus. All of this adds up to a lot of sleep but no rest. 3. If a person drifts off for short periods, it is usually induced by medication. The medications themselves are hard on the body in those doses and require rest to process. If a person does actually fall asleep, the pain does not necessarily go away. Im sure anyone with chronic pain can attest to this. Thanks in part to medications, dreams get very disturbing and often violent. Sadly the pain is often still there causing very traumatic dreams and fitful sleep at best. 4. Once the worst of the migraine has cleared, the recovery time starts. This is a very frustrating time for someone with migraines. They should be grateful for feeling better, but what they feel is guilt. There may be some chemical reason for this, but depression is often the follow up to a migraine. The feeling of uselessness both during the migraine and in the recovery time after is overwhelming. It can take days or weeks to get back to a normal psychological state. If the migraine returns before that has leveled, it simply keeps adding to the feelings of frustration and uselessness. Sleep is the only real help at this time, but it is the last thing you want to do. You want to make up for lost time but all you can do is lie there exhausted. What can be done to help a person with migraines? As I mentioned, they will not want to move at all that is sometimes harmful in that they cannot find the courage to take the extra pain in order to take care of themselves. They need a few things incredibly close to hand. 1. Fresh water probably at their preferred temperature. Hydration is the best thing for a migraine but the body doesnt want it. It is surprisingly difficult to drink water and sometimes to keep it down. 2. Other liquids with some nourishment. Juice, chocolate milk and mild shakes can help compensate for the lack of food that is eaten. Again, they are often hard to get down but having them handy makes it more likely. 3. Medications need to be at hand rather than in the bright bathroom in the messy medicine cabinet. 4. Open window and extra blankets. This is impossible to predict, but if they can handle it, fresh air will help. Any form of extra oxygen to the brain is a plus but it may require extra blankets as limbs get reduced circulation due to the trauma. 5. Small bits of tasty food. Eating is not usually high on the priority but nourishment is essential. If the food is extra enticing it will be more likely to be eaten. Have a bucket handy in case the body disagrees. 6. Possibly music. Sometimes the absence of sound is impossible. In that case, a predictable and varying sound like soft music can help keep the brain from focusing on unwanted noise. 7. Hot/Cold packs can reduce swelling or calm nerves. What is needed with depend and may change in minutes. Having an ice pack in the freezer at all times is essential. 8. Please be patient with us. We will try not to snap and be ungrateful but it might slip out. We know that you are trying to help and we will thank you later.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 16:01:55 +0000
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