Migraine Tales

Yesterday, I woke up in the Marriott in Baltimore, MD., and coffee smelled great and tasted better.

Today, I wake up at home and coffee has (once again) become unbearable; both the smell and taste are abominable. I can't describe the smell; something of a cross between a burning, chemical odor and something rather more indefinable, and I can't say what it is, but the overall effect is horribly nauseating.  I love coffee and rely on it to banish morning brain fog, so to not be able to tolerate it is a bit of a concern; not just because I will miss drinking a nice, hot cup in the mornings while watching the farm come to life, but because I don't know if this malady, called parosmia, will linger and make itself a permanent part of my existence.

The same thing happened roughly six years ago, and it happened in exactly the same way. I woke up one morning, and for the next several months I couldn't be in the same room with coffee. At all. My ENT doc did a work-up and never really reached any definite conclusions; nothing seemed amiss physically. He did suggest I take Alpha Lipoic acid because apparently there have been studies that indicate it is efficacious for smell disorders.

Whether it was the ALA or the disorder (as I experienced it), was self-limiting, the outcome was that coffee eventually began to smell as it should, and we were restored to our previous happy relationship.

This is not to say that my sense of smell was entirely normal over the intervening years; although I experienced no further episodes of parosmia (before today), I did experience phantosmia from time to time; I would smell cigarette smoke, typically during the evening hours, and of course, no one in this house smokes. It wasn't overpowering; more like what you would expect to smell if you were outdoors, approximately ten feet downwind of an individual with a cigarette (clearly I have given this some thought). It was a bit disconcerting, but not alarming. The episode would last about a half-hour or so and then it was over.

Published medical literature on the subject suggests that smell disorder episodes are a part of a cluster of symptoms related to migraine. I am a migraineur, and have been for years. The word is typically defined as "someone who suffers from migraine headaches," but I disagree. Migraine is not a headache. The majority of people who suffer from headaches are, in spite of feeling uncomfortable, able to continue to function; to participate in activities, work, endure noise and light, eat, drink and sleep. I know. I have had headaches. Headaches, however, are not migraine, nor are they in any way comparable. I know this because I also have migraine; or more to the point, migraine syndrome.

Migraine is supposed to fall into categories:

A. some people get auras and no other symptoms;
B. others experience auras and the accompanying head pain, nausea, etc.
C. still others do not experience auras but are treated to the rest of the migraine menu
D. some people experience all of the above

Correct Answer?
For me: D. All of the above

Case in point: Yesterday I woke up with an aura. Thankfully it never progressed beyond that point. It could have, but it didn't. Why it didn't, I have no idea, just as I have no idea why it sometimes does.

Migraine is also not only excruciating head & neck pain, nausea, photosensitivity, etc. It can also apparently manifest itself in other ways, and one of those ways is by distorting or disrupting one's sense of smell, although just why this should be the case is unclear. Olfactory disruption can also be an indicator of seizure activity, but that was ruled out (in my case) years ago.

I suppose I'll order another bottle or two of ALA and see if it helps, even while I wonder, somewhat uneasily, exactly what is going on inside my head.

Of Neighbors, Dogs & Chickens

I think I have to vent - a little. This is the THIRD time - the third, mind you, that our neighbors' dachshund has escaped their backyard and assaulted our chickens. Last week, he killed three of them and injured a fourth in a most gruesome manner (nature being what it is), and now, after finding yet another mini-explosion of feathers at the entrance to the barn (and witnessing said neighbor in our barn, trying to wrangle the dog), one of my new guinea fowl is missing. I don't know yet about the hens; they scattered into the woods and several were attempting to make themselves inconspicuous in the long grass on the hillside; I will have to wait to see who comes back to the barn later - and who doesn't.

Not being a redneck myself (but a true urbanite cast adrift on the hinterlands in an experiment in sustainable living that has been rather less about sustainability and more about renovating a dwelling that had myriad undisclosed issues), I am not inclined to seek the redneck remedy to a nuisance animal; however, my chickens and guineas are defenseless, so this can't go on, right? Our animals live here at our invitation, so to speak, so we owe them our protection.  I suppose something will have to be done. Maybe a call to animal control? Or maybe we should give our neighbors one last chance to keep the dog at home?

I don't know. I don't want, and have tried to avoid, feuding with the locals over anything, much less animals (in short, I have been patient), but really? You know your dog has predatory aggression, and yet, you are ever so casual about keeping him contained?

Update as I write: Guinea MIA has been found. She had flown up to the top of our front porch. As for the others, I won't know until they come in this evening. Yes, our chickens free-range, or rather, pasture range, in the truest sense. They live their lives in the sunshine and fresh air, running about here and there on our property, doing what they do best: Being chickens.

That's not about to change.

We have photos of the hens lost to last week's attack; we will document any further losses.

Back to my giant floor mosaics.