Things to do at 3 a.m.

I'm up at 1:30 and still at 3:40 a.m. battling a migraine. I'm now wide awake thanks to the ice pack I had on the back of my neck to help relieve pain and the caffeine coated aspirin that I take when ever I get one of my lovely migraines.

But here's my point in all of this, I no longer view migraines as punishment for whatever trigger I tripped to get this. I now have a routine and step into action as soon as one starts or wakes me up. It's kind of like my mornings...wake up, spend a few minutes getting my mind ready for the day, my feet hit the floor and I start my routine. Just like I've got a nighttime migraine routine. Sad but true. 

What is interesting is once I get a handle on the migraine what the beverage of choice, a ton of water, Gatorade or coffee, meds and migraine yoga does to my mind and body then makes me feel like I want to do a full days worth of work while the rest of the world sleeps. So far this morning I've folded laundry, started a load of laundry, re-arranged and dusted some things on a shelf, knocked down cobwebs, dusted the top of doors and windows. If I lived alone I'd be a lot more noisy and accomplishing more. But out of respect for the other occupants in the house, both two and four-legged, I'm just tip-toeing around and trying to not be obnoxious. I'd go out for a walk but I don't want any neighbors who also may be up to look out their window wondering what is going on! So I just quietly accomplish small things and hope I can hit a normal schedule at 5 a.m., stay awake until 9 or 10 p.m. tonight and get back to a normal sleep routine, otherwise it will trigger another migraine. Ugh!

I've accomplished quite a bit on some of my middle of the night headaches. And while I'm not sure this what I should be doing, the feeling of euphoria from the caffeine and the relief from the pain of my migraine has me feeling pretty happy and good. My senses seem to be heightened! Like I notice things, a cobweb hanging in the corner, the fact that my kitchen counter needs to intensely be cleaned or small details like going through my boards on Pinterest and getting rid of things that I don't need or finding a new recipe to make when the rest of the world or at least my household wakes up and it is an acceptable time of day to be doing those kinds of things! If I've got a new breakfast recipe in the oven at 5:30 a.m. it is a good bet it was a migraine night that had some recovery time. 

I also plan and organize when I am on these "highs"! What I'm going to make or give for someone's next birthday or remember who to text next. I try to stay off of social media as it will suck me in and does more harm than good for my health and mental well being. I contemplate what to do with a wingback chair in my room, paint it, try to re-cover it or find a slip-cover on amazon. Currently the amazon option is winning out as I'm not sure about painting upholstery along with the cost, re-upholstery just sounds like a lot of work and the slip-cover sounds the easiest! Whew, I've got that situation under control.

Other great accomplishments...making a mental note to break out the hot glue gun to glue the little rubber foot to my laptop cover. See, I tell you great things are accomplished when I am on these middle of the night on one of these recovery jags. 

But don't get me wrong, I'd rather be like this than experiencing some of the worse pain of my life with a full blown migraine headache. And I contemplate the trigger or cause of this migraine...too much time in the direct sunshine, allergies from mowing lawn, the one alcoholic drink I had last night, the onion that was on my kabob that I did not eat but was toughing the meat that I ate or a host of several other migraine triggers I've discovered over the years. Who knows?

If I knew I would not wake the whole house I'd be cleaning out and moving closet contents, but I will be courteous and respect other's sleep and just accomplish small things... I think I'll go heat up that glue gun now and maybe clean the kitchen sink while I wait for it to get hot....I tell you this euphoric high is real...I understand how much multiple coffees each day keep me going! 

I'm off to quietly accomplish great things until this lets me sleep or I start having coffee and just keep going for the day on four hours of sleep. Regardless I'm just happy to be on this side of a migraine and not in the middle of that nastiness.