Hello World, and welcome to the in my footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund. Coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and this is episode 74. This is the monthly bonus episode, a shorter episode where we take one topic and do a deep dive into it. This is one of those subjects that I've wanted to talk about for a while but had to kind of find a proper spot in the itinerary of the podcast. So overall, this is going to be my dealings with suffering from migraine headaches for more than 40 years. Obviously, I am no doctor, I am no scientist I am nothing like that. So as far as the proper medical definitions and such as far as headaches go, I might not have all the info. So this may fall more into my opinions and my personal dealings with migraine headaches, headaches in and of themselves. Everybody suffers from at least at some point, tension headaches, sinus headaches, you can get headaches when you're dehydrated. Migraine headaches are different. They are a medical condition medical diagnosis. And I know this because I was diagnosed with them way back when I was two years old. So a migraine headache. It's a headache that causes severe pulsing, and throbbing, usually on one side of the head. This is from the Mayo Clinic website. So it's not like I'm just creating this, I'm reading it from their site. The throbbing and pulsing of a migraine is usually accompanied by sensitivity to light vomiting, nausea, that it's not fun, especially the really bad ones. And these can last for hours. You can even get some that it's called a cluster phase where you get several over many days, which is a whole lot of fun, especially when you're an adult and you can't just be a kid and go to bed and stay in bed for days. When you actually have responsibilities and jobs and such. It's rough dealing with migraines. Way back when I was obviously two years old. That's when I was first diagnosed with migraines. Like I said, Well how did that come about? So the story from my mother is that I was getting these headaches. But being a child, you can't really verbalize the pain that you're in. So what I was doing was, wherever my head was in pain, I was taking my fists and punching myself in the head to try to get rid of the pain because I didn't know how else to deal with it. And like I said didn't know how to verbalize it. So my mother had to take me to the doctor and have me get a CAT scan inside the hole, the tube there, which I'm sure had to be, you know, terrifying for a young parent, to have their child have to get a CAT scan and you're wondering if it's a brain tumor or something like that. So I guess theoretically, being diagnosed with migraine headaches was the least severe of what it could have been. I don't know if any of you out there listening suffer from migraine headaches. I mean, everyone gets headaches in general ones that could be not that severe, where you can kind of go about your daily life. I always say if I have a headache that originates in the back of my head, I can deal with daily life. The pain is, you know, I've got a high tolerance for pain thanks to having migraines for over 40 years. Some of the headaches that I get would cripple most people. So when I get one that's really bad. I could only imagine what it would do to the average person. And that's not saying like, Oh, I'm so tough because I can deal with migraine headaches. It's just I've gotten used to it over decades. Sometimes they start with warning signs, sort of like tingling in the side of the head, or if it's going to be a full-on frontal one like in the eyes area. It's not quite a tingling in my sinuses, but it's something like that. It's a weird weird feeling that if you were feeling it the first time you might be worried. With me. It's just like okay, one is coming on. So we just got to be prepared for it. I remember when I was first in elementary school, and being diagnosed with migraines I had prescription medication So back in the early to mid-1980s, there was a drug called fiorinal, which I don't believe is still around, I believe it was like a first generation and they've kind of evolved it since then. But I can't say for sure, but I think I was the only kid in elementary school that had prescription medication in the nurse's office for me. And my teachers knew that if I had a migraine headache if I had one coming on, I could go to the nurse's office, pop one of these fear and all, and lay on the padded table. And they kind of made it into a bed for me to lay and I would miss, you know, an hour, they'd want me to lay there and let the pills take hold. And there was pain relievers, in the fear, and all there was caffeine. And did I know for sure, I remember that was the way that I could tell the fear. And all that entered my bloodstream was that suddenly I was hyper, even laying down with a headache still. So it was a weird mix, where I wanted to get up and run around on the playground, but my head still hurts. So I had to kind of lay there and just wait for the pain to die down. And then even when it did, I had to go back to class. There was a trust thing when it came to me and my headaches and the fear and all where it wasn't like I was skipping class and faking headaches. But believe me, I was a good student, especially back then I was like the 99th percentile, not to humble brag, but there wasn't any way that I would skip class because it was, especially through all the way through middle school, it was easy, everything was easy. So I had little worries. So the headaches were real. And I would get them at least several times a year in school that is, in general, it was there will be times that I would have a week where I'd have them every day several times a day. And still to this day, when I get really bad migraines, I now know how they look. So I can show people I get these. It's terrible. If you can picture it, I get these veins in the side of my head. Because they throb, you can see them very pronounced, it looks like something out of a horror movie. Later on probably in the late 80s. They switched the headache medication from Fiorinal to Fioricet. The major difference between Fiorinal and Fioricet is that Fioricet has acetaminophen while Fiorinal contained aspirin. And aspirin would treat the inflammation and swelling. This is stuff I'm reading. I'm not I don't just pull these facts out. But that's the main difference. So I don't know if that means that Fioricet was a downgrade, maybe it was a cheaper option. I do know at some point, my prescription was switched to that when I was a kid. I'm also seeing that Fiorinal is considered a controlled medication because it contains Butalbital, I believe is how you pronounce it. And that can help people feel relaxed. So I don't think it's really muscle relaxing, but it's something similar, which would explain why when I took Fiorinal I had to lay down for a while, but it's considered a controlled medication. So that's an interesting fact right there. Have any of you out there ever taken Fiorinal or Fioricet or any sort of prescription headache medicine? Just curious because there are times when I get migraine headaches or when I did over the years that I felt that it was I was different than everyone else. Whereas other people get, I guess traditional headaches you would say, tension headaches, ones from dehydration. But rarely did I meet anyone that was diagnosed with migraine headaches. So I felt like I was kind of on an island, trying to explain to people especially as a kid growing up why I got these headaches and why I had medication in the nurse's office and why I had to go to the nurse and lay there. There were plenty of times growing up when I would mention the headaches and people would joke about, oh, maybe you've got a brain tumor or something. And it's like, well, it's not really funny when you're dealing with consistent pain like that all the time. When I was I think I was 14 years old I ended up being in the focus group for a headache medicine out there today called Imitrex. I'm not sure if you've heard of it. It's along the same lines as fear and all Fioricet, I can tell you honestly, I don't remember how I got into the focus group for it. It wasn't something that I sought out. I am guessing that my doctor asked my mother if I would be a part of it. That would sound right. What ended up happening was I got a journal. I got samples of the medication I had to write down when I got headaches if I knew of any triggers that caused them. And then what would happen when I took the Imitrex how it made me feel what it did for the headache. So it was like having more homework. I would have to go down the street from where I live to the local medical center, and bring my stuff with me and have check-ins I think I would ride my bike down there with my backpack with my little binder of medical research. I can't be sure, but I know I did. The focus group. I don't remember if I got anything from it, like I might have gotten paid something like 100 bucks to be a part of it. But I thought I would have gotten either a lifetime supply of Imitrex or something like that, but I know what didn't happen. If any of you out there ever heard of Imitrex or taken it, I know it's still around. Today, on the off chance that I get migraine headaches, I have Excedrin or Excedrin migraine, which is basically the same thing as regular Excedrin, which was a fun thing to find out. As I got older, the cluster phases of migraines went away, per se, to a degree. I've gotten more headaches from being hungover or dehydrated in the last 15 years than traditional migraines. Although I'll get the pressure change, headaches, which that's something I joke that I'm like the old man sitting on the porch, saying that it's going to rain because I can feel it in my knee, it's sort of like that, I'll get these slight changes, where I'll feel something in my temples right around that area. And it usually signals that some kind of pressure change, weather is coming. And I don't know if that is strictly related to migraine headaches, maybe some of you out there that don't suffer from migraines get those kinds of pressure change headaches. I remember being in school, specifically elementary and middle school where these were at their peak. And I would go to the nurse and mention that I had a headache. And they would usually ask me where it hurt. I don't know if having one in the side of the head, temples, forehead sinuses, what the difference is, like I said, I'm not a doctor. But I got into this habit of shaking my head, side to side or up and down to kind of trigger where the Pain Center was. Which I'm sure looked weird doing it in front of nurses just like shaking my head around. And then I could point to where it was. I think if I did that. Now I still do it every now and then to kind of pinpoint. But I'm just saying if I was now in my 40s and I'm just standing outside just twitching and shaking my head find where the pain is. It's not as cute as when you're like an eight-year-old little boy and trying to show them where it hurts. One thing I know my mother told me not too long ago was that I think the doctor at one point I told her that my cluster phase migraines were caused or at least partially caused by MSG. And he was asking her if I consumed a lot of MSG and that was when she realized that my love of Doritos which are just loaded with it could help contribute to the migraines. And I love Doritos so I think I ended up not giving them up. So partially the migraines especially later on in my teen years were caused by myself, like sitting there eating Doritos and having my Fioricet in my hand waiting for the headaches to get triggered. A typical migraine for me would start usually in the temples or the side of the head. I would know something was up but it was a matter of knowing how severe it was going to get. Because fear and all fear a set those weren't cheap they were prescription. So I would try to use aspirin ibuprofen or something like that to get rid of the headache first. I would usually lay down put something over my eyes whether it was a cool wet cloth or something over my eyes because that was where the pain would usually if I get a headache in my eyes in the sinuses that's where I can't function because light become super painful, you get a hazy glow sound any sound becomes amplified. It's sort of the opposite of the ASMR sounds that kind of give you meditation, these are the opposite, where any little thing just hurts like hell. But if the ibuprofen and aspirin didn't fix the headache, I would have to pop one of these prescription pills. And I was out of it for several hours, if I fell asleep, that was even better. But if I stayed awake, I could kind of feel when the medicine would take hold, because the squeezing pressure in the sides of my head would start to alleviate. And I would be tired, tired from the pain, if that makes sense. Because that tension in your head in the blood vessels in your brain that just a squeezing pressure, that takes a lot out of you. Like I said earlier, I've got a pretty high tolerance for pain from dealing with these headaches for decades. But even I get some that just knocked me out. I had one several years ago when I was working, still cooking. And it hurts so bad. But I couldn't lay down, I couldn't go home, I had to just deal with it. And I was telling one of the guys I was working with that I would love to just slam my head into the counter until I knocked myself out. That's how bad it hurt. And like I said, people that don't get migraine headaches, they won't get it they'll be like, so what I think some people just grow out of those phases with the migraines, others that come from lifestyle changes. I get, you know, maybe a quarter of the headaches that I got when I was younger as far as frequency goes. And I haven't changed my lifestyle that much. I mean, I don't eat Doritos every day like I did in high school. But still, some things have changed so I don't get them as much. It is weird though. Because I get these things that are just can be crippling, painful, but you can't see them. So if you say to someone, I've got this horrible headache, you have to hope that they have sympathy and empathy, because you can't see it. Well, I guess when I get the really bad ones and the veins pop out, then you can see it and that's not pleasant. I look like something out of a horror movie. I'm very sympathetic when people say they have migraine headaches, even if they're just full of BS and trying to like they could be pretending. But I'm very sympathetic because I went through it and I still occasionally go through it. But today like I said, I've only got ibuprofen may be Excedrin migraine that, you know, it does what it does. But that's really the story of my life and my experiences with migraine headaches from getting a CAT scan as a two-year-old little boy because I was punching myself in the head where it hurt to having different prescription medication in the nurse's office when I was in kindergarten through eighth grade, basically, to the cluster phases, where I get several in a week that would just ruin my life where I couldn't do anything fun hanging out with friends, to being in focus groups for new medications because that's how bad my migraines were. They wanted me in on the ground floor with those to growing up getting to be an adult and just learning how to deal with severe pain because when I get bad ones, it's not much you can do. So you just learned to deal with it. Now I'm at a good place in my 40s though, where I rarely get bad headaches. I'm more so get the pressure change ones now, which they're annoying as hell, but easier to deal with. So thanks, everyone for tuning into this special bonus episode. I hope I did not pretend to come off like a doctor or a scientist with medical knowledge. It was more of my own experiences. And hopefully, if you've dealt with migraines, you can relate. If not, I can't explain how they are any better than I did really. If you go to something like the Mayo Clinic website, or WebMD, they can give you better descriptions of symptoms better than I can describe them. It was something I wanted to talk about on the podcast for a while. As you can see though, it's better suited for a bonus episode where I have a little more time to dive deep into it. Rather than trying to cram this into say a 10 minute segment on the podcast normal. If any of you have any questions about migraine headaches or about any of the medications I took, you can always shoot me an email at Christopher setterlund@gmail.com You can find me all over social media, Twitter her Instagram YouTube, the in my footsteps podcast blog, my Facebook fan page, my website Christopher setterlund.com. Be sure to come back Tune in next week for episode 75. It'll be a normal full-length episode I'm going to talk about what could be my worst author event ever. Who knows you be the judge. We're going to take a road trip to the small town of Nahant, Massachusetts. We're going to go way way back in the day to look at the Lee J. Ames series of drawing books. If you don't know what those are, I will explain them. There'll be a brand new top five, that's going to be the top five highest-grossing movies of all time when you take into account inflation. So it will actually be a top five that goes in order for once. And of course, there'll be a brand new this week in history and Time Capsule all coming up next week on episode 75 of the in my footsteps podcast. Thank you all again, to everyone who's been tuning in. I recently passed 5000 downloads of the podcast, which is amazing. So keep on listening, sharing telling others I'll keep pumping out the content. Congratulations to my oldest niece Kaylee for graduating college that's coming up a few days from when this goes live. I knew I wouldn't forget. And I'll see you all again next week for episode 75. Until then, this has been the in my footsteps podcast. I have been Christopher Setterlund and I will talk to you all again soon.
