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/

Brighton & Book Writing

I'm back! Seriously, I am this time.

Did you all miss me? I certainly missed this, but I just didn't feel like I had the motivation/creativity to create posts with decent content that would keep you all interested. Luckily, I've recently had a burst of creative energy and in the last week I've actually picked up a pen & paper and managed to get some ideas together! So, here's a few things you may have missed whilst I've been 'away'. 

Firstly, I now live in Brighton and I could not be happier or feel more settled with my living situation. My flatmate is a total dream and is also vegan which makes my life so much easier! 

I'm still working at Lush however, I am in a better position now and working a lot more hours. As great as Lush is, I am still trying to plan my career path which will hopefully involve writing and animals. 

Finally, I'm writing a book! It's a fictional novel, and that's all you guys need to know right now. The plan is to keep up to date with this blog so that you guys can follow me on my writing journey.

That's all for now, thanks for your patience and expect to hear from me soon! 

Bex

What I'm listening to: Sugar - System of a Down

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

What I'm eating: Mint Choc Chip Almond Dream Ice Cream

Goodreads; Yes Please!

Ladies and Gents, I am always behind with the times as I seem to live in my own bubble and I would not be surprised if you all already knew about what I'm going to talk about in this post. My new favourite website; Goodreads!

I recently discovered goodreads.com and instantly created an account. I have made a conscious effort to read a lot more than I have over the last six months and whilst on my hunt for book recommendations I stumbled upon the incredible and exciting world of book blogging/BookTube. This was when I decided to incorporate more book posts on my blog. 

It was surprising how many of my friends are already using Goodreads and I'm not sure why I had never noticed it before! 

For those of you who may not know, Goodreads is a website that people use to document what they have read/are reading/what they want to read; People leave reviews and can recommend books to their followers. There is even a Goodreads app so you can input your reading entries whilst on the go.

I feel that this virtual book community is something that I have been searching for and I am 110% sure that I want to be part of it! I only hope that you, as my readers, will enjoy hearing about/reading about my literature interests as well as the usual posts. 

If you want to add me on Goodreads follow this link: My Goodreads 

I instantly set myself a reading goal for 2015 and as I've only just started, I've got some catching up to do so, I'm off to read!

Bex

Veganism meets UK Grime

I have wanted to write this post for such a long time but I just couldn't find the right angle to go with or the right moment. The time has finally come for my JME appreciation post.

If you are not a fan of UK Grime then this post may seem irrelevant to you but just hold on in there, it may well be worth it. 

A Grime artist with a big passion for animal rights; JME uses his fame as a platform to educate the masses about Veganism and how it can benefit us as humans, the planet we live on, and most importantly, the animals. I hold so much respect for him as I do anyone who uses their voice to speak up for those who don't have that option. 

JME mentions Veganism in his songs more times than I can count on my hands and he uses his Twitter account to spread the message far and wide; he is so dedicated to the cause and always educates fans that question him. 

So whether you are a fan of his music or not, if you have any interest in Veganism and living a cruelty-free lifestyle then I suggest you pop over to Twitter, find @JmeBBK, and hit that follow button cause this guy says it like it is and has got his priorities right. 

Personally, I would like to thank JME on behalf of the animals that he saves every day.

Bex

P.S If you have never listened to JME's music and want to try something new you can listen to his latest album Integrity under my 'What I am listening to this week' section. It's a banger.

Bloglovin' Account Change

Hello world,

Just quick one to say that due to my URL changing I had some problems with my Bloglovin' account and had to start from scratch so, to keep up to date with everything, please go follow me!

Follow me on Bloglovin'

Thanks

Bex

Reading is Cool, Drown me in Books

I finally finished a book! Now I can't stop reading.....

This is not a bad thing, I'm actually very happy that I have discovered my love of reading again. Reading helps my brain escape and my creativity expand. 

The book that fuelled this reading stint, that will hopefully last forever, was Submarine by Joe Dunthorne; Loved the film and the book was okay, but a little slow in some places. I think my main regret when it came to this book was that I watched the film first; this left nothing for my imagination. Regardless, I am pleased I read this book


because it has kick started my return to reading.

After reading Submarine I continued on and read The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer FINALLY! I am a huge Twilight fan and this was a part of that saga that I never got round to; I'm too happy that I read this book. It's a short, very easy to read novella that I could not put down. I just love Twilight and anything connected and now I'm sad that I've finished everything. it was so interesting reading from a vampire's perspective and I found that this book was a lot darker than the original saga. I've also lined up The Host by Stephenie Meyer to read next and am very excited as I have heard so many good things!

Finally, today I finished the first book in the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins; I know I'm so late on the bandwagon! I could not put this book down and read it in three days. I wont go into detail about the book as I'm sure most are aware of the story line but, what I will say is that I certainly preferred the book to the film as I feel like I got to know Katniss' character a lot better whilst reading. I have also purchased the next two books and am so excited to read them!

Love as always

Bex

Blog Resurrection

Hello world! 

If you follow my Twitter you have probably seen that I went on a bit of a blog hiatus; I had so much to be doing with uni and also I was having such an extreme creativity block that I just needed a timeout. So, apologies to everyone who said they miss me, you guys made me feel really special and I appreciate all of your support! 

Anyway, I am back baby! 

During my break I have had a good long think about what I'm doing, what direction I'm heading in, what I want for my future and what I want for this blog. This blog started to take a bit of an unexpected turn for me towards the vegan/cruelty free path which seemed to be quite a natural progression and I thought I was okay with it however, I do feel that sometimes writing reviews and what-not seemed to neglect my creative side. I have loved writing for a very long time and the main aim of this blog in the beginning was to showcase my writing abilities and also just to keep me writing; It is because of this that I have decided to make a few changes to the content of my blog.

TO ALL MY CRUELTY FREE & VEGAN BLOGGERS; DO NOT WORRY!

As I am extremely passionate about veganism and animal rights, I will not be giving up on that side of my blog. I will continue to post about these subjects however, the plan is to include some other subjects that interest me and also just some written pieces that I have come up with in my own little think box. 

It would be great if you could all stick with me and let me know what you think of the changes, give me some feedback etc. 

Just a little life update too: I'm still at Lush and I'm now Head of Campaigns for my store which I love!

 

ALSO, I may or may not be attempting to write a book so that could be interesting! Stay tuned! 

Love to you all

Bex