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Life With Vestibular Migraine: 16 Simple Activities You Take For Granted Before Losing Your Balance.

Do you remember the moment your doctor told you that you had vestibular migraine? If you were like me, you probably thought… “Yeah, but I don’t have a headache. I’m DIZZY!” (Only to find out later that migraine isn’t always associated with a headache.) Flash forward to before that moment. The time in your life when you could do just about anything without feeling as if you just got off the merry-go-round. Pssh, before your vestibular disorder, you probably recovered...

VESTIBULAR MIGRAINE AND LIGHT SENSITIVITY: HOW LIGHTS CAUSE MY SCARIEST SYMPTOMS

When you think of vestibular migraine, the first symptom that comes to mind is dizziness. And why wouldn’t it? Dizziness is typically the first symptom that creates panic. When your whole world is suddenly spinning, it’s all you can focus on. While dizziness was definitely the symptom that changed my life as I knew it, light sensitivity and migraine aura wasn’t far behind it. For me, light sensitivity is often the first symptom to be aggravated, and it typically causes...

A COVID CHRISTMAS: MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE CORONAVIRUS

When the Coronavirus began to spread worldwide, I think it’s reasonable to suggest that all of us experienced (and are still experiencing) some level of fear. The fear of it spreading to you or your friends and family and if you did get it, would you survive? Part of me was also in deep denial that it could happen to me. I’m not sure why when I had the last virus that swept the U.S. in 2009, aka Swine Flu....

6 Unique Gift Ideas For Someone Living With Migraine

This last year is such a blur. I feel like just yesterday we were looking at the memes of how your face progressively looked stressed as quarantine dragged on for continuous months. And here we are in November. Just days away from Thanksgiving and already thinking about what gifts to give family members this holiday season. My mom keeps asking me for a list, but with nowhere to go and not much to do in this state of the world,...

Pregnancy and Post Baby: My Current Vestibular Migraine Treatment Plan

It’s crazy to think that four years ago, I would first experience the dizzy symptoms of a life-changing disorder. Life how I knew it was about to change forever. I would have to leave my job, reevaluate friendships, see several doctors. All this while trying to tell myself I wasn’t crazy, undergo extensive testing, and be handed a treatment plan to help me feel “normal.” In four years, I’ve been through quite the ringer. I’ve tried various pill cocktails that...

5 Stages Of Grief In Accepting Your Chronic Illness

She told me that I would have to learn to mourn my old life to be able to accept my new normal.

How To Cope With A Vestibular Migraine Attack With An Infant

Prior to having a baby, I could easily kick my feet up, shut the blinds and pray for my migraine attacks to pass. However, I never understood how real parenthood was until I recently experienced a 10-day stretch of constant dizziness, light sensitivity and headaches. You know that Nyquil commercial where the parents are sick and go ask their child if they can take the day off? I relate to that commercial on a whole different level. I wanted to...

5 Tips On How I’m Managing My Vestibular Migraine Postpartum

Will my vestibular symptoms flare up if I have a baby? That question was something that weighed on my mind prior to getting pregnant and during my pregnancy journey. I had heard so many horror stories of women who were either diagnosed with VM after having a baby or experienced an increase in dizziness after having their VM managed for several years. Well, here I am 7 weeks postpartum, and I’m dealing with dizziness like I did when I first...

COPING WITH COVID-19 AND MY UPCOMING DELIVERY

I have known for a few months that my delivery wouldn’t be how I expected. I was diagnosed with a complete placenta previa (CPP) in November, and after a scary bleed and trip to the hospital at 28 weeks, I’ve been on moderate bed rest. I had accepted that the only way for our sweet boy to enter this world would be by a cesarean, and that was fine. The doctors have told me multiple times the risks I face...

How I Am Adjusting To Pregnancy With Vestibular Migraine

At 27-years-old I was diagnosed with a vestibular disorder, and while that was life-changing enough, it put my plans for pregnancy on hold. So many women in my vestibular migraine groups had talked about how they were diagnosed with VM during or after their pregnancy, and if they already had VM it was HORRIBLE during those long 9 months. The last thing I wanted to do was take this brand-new chronic condition I had just been experiencing and mix it...