Yup, it was the first thing we checked when I actually got treatment. I’m sure that didn’t help, but compared to the pain of the migraines it was negligible. Having to refrain from pain meds for a while to make sure was a hell of a ride though. I lasted about three months. The doctor was satisfied with 1-2 but I wanted to be damn sure.

I give people the same warning nowadays. Don’t take that stuff more than once a week.

I’m kinda in this meme. I went through one of those big bottles roughly every 1-2 months for 20 years. Sometimes 12 pills in one day, with 4-8 acetaminophen on top (they do giant double packs of those too). Chronic migraines, but every doctor I asked for help just told me to lose weight so it went untreated and got worse and worse. Our health care suuuucks.

I did lose the weight. It didn’t magically fix my migraines, or affect them at all. Insurance dicked me around for another year and a half while my neurologist tried to help every way she could, but we finally got it down to only one migraine a week. I’m truly glad for that, but I still think about the years of unnecessary suffering, and how much better it might be now if I’d been treated sooner.

I try to minimize what I buy off Amazon, but I allow myself one bag of Frugra per month because I can’t get it any other way.

There’s a lot we do to give us a feeling that our future is safe, but it never is.

Learning to accept this seems like a normal part of growing older, but man is it rough - especially when the wounds are fresh. Therapy helps. Experience also helps: you survived it once so you can do it again. We can’t make ourselves 100% safe and it’s genuinely terrifying when you really feel it.

But believe in yourself. When you’re ready, you will find ways to feel content and fulfilled. Maybe you work through your trust issues and meet someone new, maybe you don’t need to because you have other things in your life that make you happy.

I’ve done both at different times after having the rug pulled out from under me at least twice now. The third time was almost a blessing because I’ve been down this road so much. It was like a chance to start a new chapter and find more parts of life I haven’t yet lived: new hobbies, new friends, and so many things to learn.

So this isn’t some generic platitude. It comes from sitting in the same place you are now. The only real security is your own ability to get back up and start again. You don’t have to want to. Just know that you can and will when you’re ready.