Gay & Tired

Archive.org deliver a windfall of lost music.

Also the whole thing is super interesting?

Some cold, wet mornings, you’ll find the hornbill, sitting atop the termite mound that the Mongoose have taken refuge in over night,  waiting for it’s band of companions to rouse.  A little impatiently it seems, it sometimes taps on the mound, quite insistently.  Before long, the band of mongoose start to emerge from the warm interior, ready to start searching for a morsel or two.

As they forage through the shrubs and grass, the hornbill perches on branches above, snapping up any unfortunate insects, disturbed by the mongoose.  What does the mongoose get out of this, apart from a rude awakening?  Well, since the hornbill gets an easy meal, the mongoose gets in return, greater safety that the hornbill’s higher vantage point gives them.  Should the hornbill spot something dangerous, an eagle or another ground predator, it will utter an alarm calls, sending the mongoose scurrying to the nearest shelter.

To The Person Who Walked Past The Window - Jordan Bolton

migraine is a neurological disorder that involves a shit ton of different symptoms that might not seem related, but are often debilitating and can disrupt someone's life for days at a time.

not every person will experience every phase of this timeline with every migraine attack, not every possible symptom that can be associated with a migraine attack is listed, and many will experience phases lasting longer than what is listed here. this is just a helpful graphic to get an idea of what the timeline of a migraine attack can look like.

a single migraine attack can last a week or more!

PRODROME: this phase lasts a few hours to days. there are a ton of seemingly unrelated symptoms that can actually signal the start of a migraine attack. being able to identify prodrome symptoms is essential to navigating migraine attacks, as they can vary from person to person, and most patients have no idea that there can be warning signs like these up to days ahead of the severest part of the pain.

prodrome phase symptoms can include:

irritability

depression

yawning

increased need to urinate

food cravings

sensitivity to light or sound

problems concentrating

fatigue and muscle stiffness

difficulty speaking and reading

nausea

difficulty in sleeping

AURA: 5-60 minutes. more migraine patients seem to be conscious about the aura phase than the prodrome phase, because these symptoms might only show up in a specific person right before the headache phase of a migraine attack. some people get blurry vision, blind spots, or temporarily stop being able to see altogether. others might see lights, flashing, or geometric shapes that are not there.

aura phase symptoms can include:

visual disturbances

loss of sight

numbness and tingling on part of the body

HEADACHE: the ouch part. this is where the pain climaxes, and it can last 4-72 hours. for some the pain is mild, and for others the pain is really really really really bad. the apparent site of the pain often moves throughout the headache phase of a migraine attack. despite being called the headache phase, not all symptoms are actually related to having pain in the head. this is just the phase where the worst part of the headache happens.

headache phase symptoms can include:

throbbing

drilling

icepick sensation in the head

burning

nausea

vomiting

giddiness

insomnia

nasal congestion

anxiety

depressed mood

sensitivity to light, smell, sound

neck pain and stiffness

POSTDROME: also called a "migraine hangover". after the main head pain is over, and the pain should typically drop in severity pretty fast around now, the migraine attack is still not fully over. the postdrome phase can last 24-48 hours.

postdrome phase symptoms can include:

inability to concentrate

fatigue

depressed mood

euphoric mood

lack of comprehension

being able to identify patterns and symptoms associated with migraine attacks at all phases can be critical to understanding when something is a medical emergency, a different medical condition, or part of migraine. the symptoms associated with a migraine attack can easily be mistaken for something more life-threatening like a stroke, but migraine attacks often have patterns, timelines, and buildup.

migraine patients can wind up getting unnecessary and unsuccessful surgeries (such as in the mouth, sinuses, or shoulders), or getting misdiagnosed with one thing or another because they might not be able to recognize their own migraine symptoms, or might not recognize that they can have so many seemingly unrelated symptoms from a migraine attack across such a long period of time.

when it comes to migraine attacks, the severity of pain ≠ the severity of the pathology, at least in terms of things that might endanger someone's life. it can hurt like hell, it can really really really fucking hurt like hell, it might feel like death, and it can still be a migraine attack.