“This too shall pass.” Those words provide immense comfort when my migraine attacks are severe and disabling. They have carried me through many difficult years. As encouraging as this phrase can be, there’s a flipside to it: the difficult, trying times in life pass, but so do the pleasurable ones we never want to end. “This too shall pass” means that everything passes.
When I had migraine attacks last Sunday and Monday after having a remarkable few days, I was too busy panicking to remind myself that they would pass. My mind churned on my most fear-filled thoughts: What if my new treatment isn’t working? What if it’s making me feel worse? What if I will never again feel as good as I did these last few days?
Although I was 100% sure I was overreacting, that did nothing to assuage my fears. My worry settled a bit on Tuesday after I stopped the oxytocin (which was definitely a migraine trigger for me), but I continued to fret.
I didn’t remember that this too shall pass until Wednesday. That’s when I finally realized that detoxing from medication overuse headache and trying new meds mean I’m in a transition period. That should have been obvious, but I was so caught up in excitement—and then the fear—for the future that I wasn’t paying attention to the present. I’d forgotten that progress is not linear.
“Transition period” became a mantra of sorts in the last week. When I start to panic, I remind myself that I could still be detoxing from my meds (especially since I gave in to Amerge last Monday) and that the effects of my new treatment tends to build over months. Even more turbulence comes from experimenting with new treatments (Compazine, oxytocin, and some new-to-me preventives), changes in my meal frequency, and introducing new foods. I still have a ton of variables to work out. “Transition period” is now shorthand to remind myself that it will take time to sort out all these confounding factors.
It’s kind of an odd mantra, but I like its hopefulness. It tells me that I’m on my way to somewhere new, somewhere that could be great. (It could also be awful, but I’m not dwelling on that.) This too shall pass. I have no idea where I’ll be when it does. That’s a little scary, but it’s mostly exciting.
Learn more about my migraine medication detox: