A lot of the blog entries that I’ve been making lately have been more “article” than “blog.” I think the main reason has been because, I’ve been able to avoid a bad migraine event for the past couple months. Well, my streak of good luck ended this past week.

I’ve been suffering from migraines for a lot of years now, and it still amazes me that these things can sneak up on me. I chalk it up to really not wanting to know that a migraine is on the way. Anyway, over the past couple weeks, I’ve talked about prodrome, aura, and postdrome—as karma would have it, I got to experience all of them again, first hand.

The day started out uneventfully. The day at work veritably flew by. I had an early departure planned due to a previously scheduled appointment with my primary care doc. Just prior to my departure, I stopped by to visit with some coworkers that are working on a special project that I have a vested interest in.

Now, this crew has a great sense of humor, but I rarely leave them laughing so hard that I’m nearly busting a gut. That day, however, we were nearly doubled over with mirth. I was nearly manic. (Cue the screeching tire sound.) Did I say “manic?”

Yeah: manic. Definitely one of my prodrome warning signs, as was the general good cheer that I had been feeling for the past day or so.

I was off to the doctor’s office, then, with my good mood in tow. At the doc’s, I had the oddest feeling. It was as though the skin of my scalp was trying to separate. At the same time, the hair on the top of my head felt like it was standing straight up (not that there’s that much up there).

Ok, it may not be flashing lights in my eyes, but the tingly scalp is an example of the aura that I sometimes get prior to a migraine.

I somehow managed to ignore the tingly scalp feeling all the way through the visit with my doc. He asked me how the migraine management was going, and I told him that the migraines were under control. “Haven’t had one in a couple weeks, Doc!”

I might as well have been spitting in Karma’s eye, for on the way home, the headache began.

At first, it was gentle enough that I managed to delude myself into thinking that it wasn’t a migraine. By the time I walked in the front door, the familiar throb behind the left eye was there. By dinner time, I had dissolved a Maxalt on my tongue.

This migraine wasn’t going to go gently into that good night, wasn’t going to go down without a fight, however. I ultimately had to switch to my secondary abortive, Midrin, and fought the migraine for more than 24 hours. When it finally broke, I felt like I had gone a full twelve rounds with a prize fighter, and all I wanted to do is sleep. Unfortunately, all my baby daughter wanted to do was play.

The good news is, this one’s over. The bad news is, they usually stalk in groups.

Talk about your surprise migraines in our message boards.