Migraines and Me Saga Part 1: The Eternal Struggle

Today I wanted to chat a little bit about something that I have been struggling with for the majority of my life so far; Migraines.

Firstly, let me begin with a few facts that I found online about migraines in the UK: 

• Migraines affect roughly about 1 in 7 people that inhabit this planet which is a higher number than diabetes sufferers. 

• They more commonly occur in women rather than men which can often be due to hormones. 

• In the UK, roughly 190,000 migraine attacks happen each day so, if you are a sufferer, you sure aren't alone! 

• Migraines have also been ranked globally as the seventh most disabling 'disease'. 

So, we have established that they are very common and I fall into all of these statistics as a migraine sufferer however, my attacks are slightly more complicated. The type of migraine attacks I get are known as Aura Migraines and these are a lot less common, with less than 20% of migraine sufferers experiencing this kind. In Migraine terms an Aura is the name for symptoms that the victim experiences before the actual headache comes on, these early symptoms are also called a Prodrome. Now, these Prodromes can come in all different shapes and sizes but they mainly affect the victim's eyesight; My Aura starts off as a small 'spot' in my eye which kind of looks like a moving pool of water and this gradually gets bigger and bigger until eventually I can barely see. Once my vision comes back the headache usually begins, and by headache I don't just mean a tension headache and I will explain more about that side of it in a moment. This Aura can cause many problems for me as it means that I am unable to see, which can have an effect on things like work or if I wanted to learn to drive or even just being outside of the house.

Once the Aura has gone, the headache and sickness tends to kick in. On a really bad day, I will usually be sick with a migraine however, this seems to be happening less lately. My theory is that the sickness is created by the pain that comes from the headache. So, lets talk about the headache. 

Migraine headaches can often be dumbed down by people who have never actually experienced one, so let me try and explain what the pain is like for me. Most of the pain occurs around/behind my eyes in the beginning and then spreads further around my head, hitting my temples and even the back of my neck. The pain (apologies if you are squeamish) often feels like someone has take a very long, sharp implement and has stabbed it through my eyeball and is having a good dig around, whilst someone else is actually reaching into my head and hammering at my brain. My eyes also tend to get very light sensitive and looking at the light can feel like staring at the sun. Hopefully, this shows you that coping with a migraine is no walk in the park.

I plan to write a lot more about this subject and possibly my journey as I try to find some kind of remedy, but I'm going to cut this off here for now otherwise this post may become too long. 

Sorry for a bit of a miserable one, but if you suffer from migraines just know that you're not alone!

Thanks for reading

Bex

What I'm listening to: Broadbay - Part of Me

What I'm reading: Dorothy Must Die - Danielle Paige

What I'm eating: Mushy Peas

Websites used:
http://www.webmd.com/migraines-headaches/what-is-a-migraine-with-aura
https://www.migrainetrust.org/about-migraine/migraine-what-is-it/facts-figures/

Vegan Butternut Squash Pie Recipe

I've never posted a recipe before but I think it's something I would like to do more often and to start off I wanted to show you all a vegan butternut squash pie recipe passed on from my mum's cousin, yum.

You will need:

1 butternut squash
2 cloves of garlic

1 thumb size chunk of ginger
half an onion (red or white)
150g mushrooms
1 red pepper
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
half a teaspoon of paprika
400ml of coconut milk

A pack of Jus Rol Shortcrust pastry/or your own pre-made pastry

Method:
Peel, cube and roast butternut squash.
Chop garlic, ginger, onion, mushrooms and pepper and fry in a little olive oil until soft.
Add spices and the coconut milk.
At this stage you can add any other vegetables you may want to use like broccoli.
Once the squash has started to soften, add this to the mixture and simmer.
Add a little plain flour to thicken the sauce.
Line a pie dish with the pastry (about the thickness of a pound coin) and bake blind for 15/20 minutes.
Remove pastry from the oven and add pie mixture and cover the pie with the leftover pastry.
Eggwash the top with a substitute mixture of soya/almond milk and maple syrup.
Prick the top to allow steam to escape.
Bake until golden brown.

And there you have it, a yummy pie that goes perfect with a roast or even some new potatoes and roasted veg for a lighter, summery dish.

Any questions then feel free to leave them in the comments below.

 BB

For The Oceans

My Top Album of 2014; More Than Life//What's Left Of Me

This was a reasonably difficult decision as there was a lot of good music to come out of 2014 however, there was a clear winner for me;

More Than Life - What's Left Of Me  
Released in April 2014
This was a highly anticipated album for me. More Than Life have always been one of my favourites and I was so gutted when they announced a split after their last release, Love Let Me Go in 2010, luckily I managed to catch them on their 'last ever European tour'.

When they updated their Facebook status in 2012 I was over the moon;

The first track released off What's Left Of Me was Do You Remember and at first I was unsure as the style was quite different in comparison to More Than Life's previous records however, I soon learnt to appreciate the song as it's own thing rather than comparing it with the likes of Daisy Hill or Brave Enough To Fail. The online responses to the new track seemed to be very positive and everyone seemed to be excited for the new album release.

What's Left Of Me was released in April and blimey, I was blown away. This album packs such a punch and each track is filled with emotion. The album is quite dark and seems to sound more along the lines of previous More Than Life releases. The lyrics clearly relate to real life experiences and this allows listeners to relate to the tracks and feel closer to the music in general. I bought the album on vinyl and listened to it on repeat for a few days; it is one of those albums that is not just background noise, it's an album that I will put on and just listen to without any other distractions. There is not a single track on this record that I dislike and I feel it was certainly a good move for the band. 

The cherry on top of it all was when More Than Life announced a couple of dates and I managed to grab a ticket for the show at The Borderline in London. The show certainly hit all expectations and the band were more than up to scratch despite having some time off. but you can read a bit about that in my 9 weeks 9 shows post! 

You can check out More Than Life on their Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morethanlifeuk?fref=ts

Or stream What's Left Of Me on Holy Roar Record's Bandcamp: http://holyroarrecords.bandcamp.com/album/whats-left-of-me

Do you have a favourite album of 2014?