Skip to main content

Hiding From the Sun


Even with my blinds closed. Even with my sunglasses on. Even with the doors closed to brighter rooms. I'm still desperately trying to evade contact with the natural light that pours into my apartment.

I have yet to discover a way to mount curtains around these awful blinds to prevent light coming through the sides.

Everyone LOVES summertime. I mean who wouldn't love the warm temperatures, tan skin, long days at the beach, fun alcoholic beverages... the list goes on and on.

I certainly would love those things if they didn't make everything about my condition worse.

The hot weather, and yes even 80 degrees is sometimes too hot for me to handle... forces my patterns of behavior to change dramatically.

If I want to run an errand? I better have 3 bottles of water with me.

The heat dehydrates me much quicker than normal.

The heat causes the pulsing sensation to get much worse.

Heat stroke? Oh yeah. Every time I get in my car, I come close to hyperventilating. It feels like my airways are simply closing up.

The heat changes my body too. My eating habits haven't changed, but I rarely have an appetite and my stomach is swollen... but I'm not bloated or anything, the heat just makes it happen.

I ventured out today to the post office. I had to wear longer pants because yesterday the sun hitting my bare legs in the car created a painful rash, worsened by exposure to heat/sunlight.

The 2 minute walk from my car to the post office door was dreadful. It was barely 76 degrees but the sun was beating down.

I needed to run a few more errands, but that short exposure has me calling it quits for the day.

Heat makes my fatigue much more intense.

I don't even try to count the amount of times I've simply just collapsed from being in the heat.

It happened a lot more in South Carolina. I remember almost dying because I was forced to wait on a table outside in the 110 degree weather wearing long black pants and a long black sleeve shirt. I quit that job shortly after.

But now here I am, living up north.

In case you haven 't been outside this month, the entire country was hit with a lengthy heat wave. Even here the heat index was well into the hundreds...

Of course I'll make some comment about how hot it is outside.

Yet, people talk about me as if I love this hot humid weather.

Its a constant "oh she's from the south she's used to this" or "feels like home, yeah?"

No.

I quite literally uprooted my life because I was sick of not being able to function properly for 6 months out of the year because of the heat.

So it being this hot up here, isn't good for me. Its painful. Its exhausting. And I can't seem to figure out how to just turn the sun down.

I wish I could enjoy this weather, but summer is one of the hardest seasons for me.

So here I am today, hiding under a pile of blankets and pillows, fighting off this horrid migraine (a storm is coming thank god at least it'll be cloudy soon) AC blasting. Perhaps I'll spend some time researching towns where the sun doesn't come out... I probably won't have much luck, but hey its worth a look.

P.S. Fall is in 51 days. Halloween is in 111 days :)

A.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Defining "Normal"

I'd be crazy to think that "normal" in terms of life as a disabled migraine patient should look anything like your "normal"... When I say this, I want you to think about your week. For the most part, you work your scheduled days, enjoy your weekends, and absolutely dread waking up on a Monday morning. That's your routine. Even as a student, Monday's are dreadful and suddenly you're halfway through the semester wondering how on Earth you've gone this many weeks and how this new semester's routine became so normal so fast. Each day brings a new attitude, because each day is closer to the weekend or a fun event. I have to admit, with football season pretty much being over, I don't know what day it is 99% of the time. That's crazy right? I think it is. My "days" exist in a bubble of I took medicine two days ago, so even though I need some today, I have to wait until tomorrow. I leave my medication on my counte...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tips and Tricks: Migraines Without Meds

We've all got that one thing that we know will make us be more comfortable, more ourselves. That little something we feel gives us an edge in whatever we're doing. It's that red pair of shoes that'll make us stand out from the crowd because there really isn't a wrong time to wear them, but they certainly aren't expected. It's that lucky pair of socks. It's the green scarf. It's our lucky pen. We want to be comfortable. But, when we've got outside forces controlling a pulsing sensation in our heads, comfort is about as far away as the sun we're desperately trying to avoid. And if you're in my position, reaching for the bottle of pain killers isn't always the right choice. To be completely honest, my pain meds scare me. Every time I get into some trance while I'm on them. Every time I feel myself coming down. Every time the pain sneaks back in. Some days I convince myself that the medication simply wore off and the br...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Time We Take

Life's made up of moments. Or at least that's the idea. When everything is all said and done those moments will float back through our mind. Certainly makes you stop and think for a second about what kind of moments we hope make it to our highlight reel. Maybe it stops us in our tracks because we open up Instagram only to see everyone else's highlight reel. We forget that their reels are full of moments we'll never understand, and we get stuck in this place where we're convinced that we aren't doing enough, or aren't doing the right things with our lives. Maybe you can pick out those moments that you wish could live on forever, even though there isn't a photo to have captured it and locked it in time. Maybe you've still got some old photo albums laying around full of memories and long lost friends. One of the things I'm striving for this year is to capture those moments. To live in them. So often, I'm so buried in pain or end...
Post a Comment
Read more