Yes, Hades! Some of you may not be familiar with the term Hades, so I will gladly open your minds to the word's meaning. This will give an understanding as to why I chose this particular word to refer to my "friend". Hades is the realm of hell where the damned suffer everlasting punishment by being in a constant state of misery and torment. Hades is the simplest definition of a migraine...now you know.
Hades is constant. If he leaves me for a day or two without sitting in my head like the aforementioned bored drummer, I know without a shadow of a doubt that when he returns, the band has gotten over their setbacks and Hades is going to be playing those death metal drums full force. With every hit of the drums Hades will send tormenting throbs throughout my head. The constant pounding intensifies and speeds up to the point in which I can feel each beat of my heart in my temples and jugular vein. If I take a chance by looking in the mirror, I can actually see the rapid beating in my head and neck.i can feel the pain in my head like boiling bits of caviar. I know this may sound impossible but it is true.
Hades' misery does not stop there. Hades brings so many "gifts" when he's in full throttle. He doesn't miss one of Aristotle's traditional five identified senses: sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Sight is so intense that not only is light brighter but the colors of everything I see are more vibrant. My eyes can clearly identify every shade of any color on a color pallet. It may sound great to live in so much color, which by the way, I really need because spring colors make me feel alive. But this is both a blessing and a curse. Hades makes any and all light brighter than a perfectly cut, clean, sparkling diamond. "Gotta wear shades" applies to a completely darkened room. The most minute splash of light sends an ice pick through my skull. Forget attempting to drive during the day or night. The sun will blind me and surprisingly so will clouds. At night even the dimmest of headlights will turn their focus on me and shine like gold in the clearest of streams. These migraine auras include halos that you would want to see on the heads of angels but instead these are part of Hades' malicious gifts.
My sense of sound is amplified by a gazillion. Imagine the death metal drummer having a set of drums exactly like those of Tommy Lee of Motley Crüe and him striking every drum part at the same time as hard as he can with the cymbal going so fast that you can feel it in your throat. That my friend is what a migraine does to me. When you include the rest of the band playing their parts along with top of the lung screaming vocals you get what a migraine does to my sense of hearing.
While Hades is out and out visiting me, everything I touch sends tingles to my brain. Thank goodness, I have cats that are covered with the softest of fur who recognize when I am in agony with a migraine. They surround me with their softness. BabyG in particular has learned to curve his body around my head and purr to help ease the pain. I am not joking! He really does do this. However, just placing my head on a pillow hurts because my head is touching the pillow. Years ago, I drove when I was experiencing a migraine. During those times I could feel every tiny indentation in the slick steering wheel of my car. Imagine being able to distinguish every little notch. I suppose it's a good thing that I've never been around a porcupine during one of Hades' visits. Lol.
Geeez, my sense of smell during these times is unbearable. Even when my "friend" is not hanging around or visiting, my sense of smell is on heightened alert. I can distinguish between smells like a rabid dog on the hunt. Top on my list of migraine triggers are smells. A guaranteed visit from Hades is immanent if I come in contact with the following list of scents: diesel fuel, kerosene, emissions from the exhaust system of a damaged automobile, baby powder, people who take a "bath" in perfume or cologne, certain campfire smoke, candles, and last but not least, liquid shit fertilizer. I'm so sensitive to smell that I have changed the way I live.
When I was younger, I couldn't wait to buy one of those expensive name brand perfumes like rich people wore. Obsession by Calvin Klein was my first purchase of fancy perfume. I saved my five dollar a week allowance for months in order to make the purchase of one of the perfumes which was locked in a cabinet behind the local pharmacy check-out. I loved the smell. It was my signature scent. Easy, since I was only able to afford one bottle of perfume. My bomber jacket carried the scent with me every time I wore it even after I ran out of it.
As the years continued, my boyfriend now husband, showered me with gifts of every expensive perfume imaginable. Sadly though, as I aged, Hades became more prevalent in my life. My sense of smell intensified to the point where I gave every bottle of my perfume collection away to others. My husband had to give up his favorite colognes because I couldn't handle any smells. He and I both have had to revert to using only the mildest scents of deodorant. I even have to bath in non-scented body wash.
My sense of taste is also heightened during my "friend's" visits. I can even compare some foods to what I believe are their equivalent smells. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, when I have a migraine I can barely eat. The nausea is overpowering. Just thinking about eating makes me sick. I have learned the hard way to never eat one of my favorite foods while Hades is around. If I do, the meal is off limits to me in the future because of the sickening reaction my body had while experiencing a migraine.
Hades is not my friend even though he is continuously by my side. I wish there was a way to get away from him forever, but it is my understanding that he will always be around. Until medical research gives me the ability to break up the death metal band in my head, I will never be alone...Hades will be with me!
