This past weekend, my husband had his 20 year HS reunion. I was quite nervous about this, since I had only been mostly headache free for about a week... and found that if I overdid things, that the headaches came back with a vengeance still.

I kept myself on regular doses of advil, and did far better than I expected... Friday night was a "small" class gathering of about 60 people. We stayed much later than I expected, but I did ok, mainly due to choosing the lower salt and lower sugar foods I believe. Saturday by mid afternoon, I was done, and needed sleep badly. After a 3 hour "nap", I felt much better! That night was the large reunion party (over 300 people, since the reunion covered every five year milestone from 1942 on!). It was held under a tent and was quite noisy, but I managed to find ways of coping....

The main problem was not headaches, but just a sense of being completely overwhelmed, and nearly in tears.... I took several walks to alleviate the feeling, using deep breathing and relaxation techniques. On the times i couldn't walk away, I found giving myself something physical to focus on really helped. During the dinner, my go to was digging my nails into the palm of my hand... not enough to damage the skin, but enough that my attention was drawn firmly to that instead of the cacaphony surrounding me. Another technique, when things got much louder, was to hum loudly. It was so noisy, no one else could hear my humming, only me, but it was the perfect help...

I don't know that I would recommend these techniques to others, the best technique is to avoid the situations that trigger you, I understand that... but sometimes, you feel a need to still live life, and for me, this was one of those occasions. I am quite tired this week, and today am experiencing some light headaches, but nothing like what I was expecting.... I suspect my ability to cope and the fact I have not had horrible headaches is more due to the fact that I am finally beginning to recover, but I did find that giving myself something to focus on was a big help during those times I couldn't just escape....