Monday, February 18, 2013

Passing on pain....



            Migraine headaches run in my family.  My aunt gets them.  Her brother, my uncle gets them (her other brother, my dad, has been spared).  My mom gets them.  My sister gets them.  And I get them.  

      I have suffered from headaches for as long as I can remember.  Mine usually come in clusters.  I will get one and then for a week or two afterwards, I will continue to get them at fairly regular intervals.  But then, I can go months without one.  

       For the past week, I have had one headache after another. Even between headaches, I could feel one sort of lingering – ready to hit full force.    My migraines come accompanied with nausea and sometimes that is more bothersome than the actual pain.  I have found that if I sit very still with a cool damp washcloth over my eyes the worst of the headache will usually pass without medication though.  Overall, it is manageable for me.  And I realize there could be much worse afflictions.....

           Sadly though, my son gets them too.  As bad as mine are, his upset and bother me more.  There is nothing worse than watching your children suffer.  I usually try to treat his with Tylenol as soon as he starts complaining because I hate to let it get too bad for him.  But he is a trooper and he tries to tough it out without medication most of the time.    

      There are just some genes you wish you could avoid passing on---the gene for prematurely gray hair, the gene for puffy bags under the eyes, and especially the gene for migraine headaches.  Unfortunately, we don't get to choose and like the gray hair and bags under my eyes that I inherited from my parents, the legacy of migraines has continued to another generation.....   :-(

4 comments:

  1. Kari,

    I am so sorry to hear about your headaches, and your son's too. I know what you mean about passing on bad genes. We suffer from allergies... hayfever, eczema, asthma. It's hard because we know exactly what our children are going through. But they do get our good genes too. I bet some of your children inherited your beautiful hair. You said you have the premature grey hair gene but I do love your hair's texture! Mine is so straight and ordinary.

    Do you think there's such a gene as a writing gene? I've been thinking about this a lot!

    God bless!

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    1. Sue- Your comment made me smile! I wonder about a writing gene also! My oldest son loves to write and wants to be an author when he grows up, my oldest daughter claims to hate writing, though she is very good at it. So, who knows?

      Thankfully, our children do get good genes too! All of my children have beautiful curly hair, and three of them have their daddy's gorgeous blue eyes. They are all creative and artistic in one way or another, and I do think that must be passed on. Tim's mom is an artist and writing is very creative so I am sure my children were blessed with genes from both sides for that.

      Hope you are doing well. My kids and I have had a very busy week of outside activities, so I declared it an officially unschooling week for us for school. No workbooks just enjoyable, real life, hands on learning. I've been thinking of you a lot as we enjoy this week of fun!

      God Bless, Kari

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  2. Kari, I really feel for you! I don't normally get headaches but, over th summer, I had a sinus infection and the pain gave me a glimpse of what suffering migraine and cluster headaches causes.

    I agree that our children's pain causes us even more suffering. One of my children has epilepsy and the aftermath of a seizure can affect me for days - until, after she has recovered herself.

    God bless, Kari:-)

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    Replies
    1. I can only imagine the fear and upset an epileptic seizure could cause! I will pray for your child- and for you that god will give you the strength to accept that suffering with grace.

      Thanks so much for stopping by. I am so glad to see you are back to blogging! I will have to find the time to sit down and check out all your new posts- so far I have just stopped in briefly to view your gorgeous photos.

      God Bless, kari

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