My post today is going to have a little more personal information than I normally give you, but hopefully it’s useful to some of y’all out there. I mean, us women need to look out for each other and give each other tips on living our best lives whenever possible, right? Even if that means getting a little TMI now and again.
OUT OF COMMISSION
For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a couple days a month where I’m just totally knocked out with headaches. Sometimes they encroach into migraine territory, sometimes they don’t, but they’re constant for at least 2-3 days a month. It’s miserable, and for someone who’s trying to manage a full time job, a blog, and freelance work, it’s just not okay to be out of commission. So, I push through, trying every remedy I can think of, and doing my best to stay on top of everything while wanting to just lay down with an ice pack.
FIGURING OUT THE CAUSE
Well, I’m not sure why it took so long for me to figure out, but it wasn’t until I was reading another blogger’s tale of her menstrual migraines that it finally dawned on me that, omg, my headaches come once a month, too! It turns out that when you’re on birth control, you’re getting a dose of estrogen each day from your pills.
The week where you’re not taking the active pills, your body goes into estrogen withdrawl, which then causes headaches, and makes your period that much worse. As if cramps and bloating weren’t bad enough, our bodies decided to throw in headaches. Seriously, just add insult to injury.
There is one way to avoid it, and that’s to skip the week of inactive pills and just never have a period, but that’s not something I want to do. I tried that once when I was going on vacation and wanted to avoid having my period while at the beach – my body did not take well to that at all. I ended up having my period for a month straight, and I’ll never do it again. So, I’ve had to figure out other ways to deal with this monthly misery.
TACKLING THE PAIN
Luckily, I’ve learned that taking something to tackle all the symptoms of a period – in addition to the headaches – is the best way to go. Pamprin is so enormously helpful in knocking out my headaches as soon as they start, as well as relieving cramping, bloating, and aches that just make me feel completely blah.
Like I said, between everything on my plate, I don’t have time to spend a couple days down for the count. I can’t cruise through the workday and then lay on the couch watching Bravo with a heating pad. There’s life to get done and I need to be on my A game, no matter what time of the month it is. While I’m all about fitting in self care to make myself feel better when there’s time, I need to know that I can rely on incorporating Pamprin into my monthly routine to get me back in business when I need to be.
Thank you to Pamprin for sponsoring this post! As always, thank you to the brands who make www.heatherbien.com possible, and thank you to you, my readers!
