Supplements, the snake oil of the 21st Century — I’ve long had a love/hate relationship with supplements and herbs. When my migraines went off the rails I was lucky to have the support of a naturopath and acupuncturist, Dr. Samantha Brody, and a neurologist, Dr. Kyle Smoot* who were willing to work together. …

The birds are my guide to the changing of the seasons. — In my little corner of New Mexico, the Fall trickles in slowly, and I track its progression by the birds. Midsummer, the Black-chinned hummers are so thick around the feeders we call them feathered mosquitos. I’ve counted over 30 vying for the 6 feeding ports. With little warning, sometime near…

It is all in the stories we tell ourselves. — In my memory, there is a fixed moment in 2008 when my migraines went from episodic to chronic. There were three stages. Stage 1 — the 2-week migraine, followed by Stage 2 — the 2-month migraine, and then Stage 3 — the 6 hours without a migraine before the one…

Timing is everything — My timing sucked. — One thing I have to continually remind myself — don’t delay your monthly CGRP injection. You feel okay now, but soon you won’t. I think it is a holdover from the triptan dilemma. You have X triptans a month, you may need up to 2 to kill a major migraine, but is this a major migraine? And can I survive…

Thanks for the reminder... the world often expects us to move insanely fast, and editing is usually the first thing out the door.

Oh, I loved this. Just did my first AD - and I had to give myself a task to make me do it. It took me 30 years to go beyond the Morning Pages. I don't know why play is so hard. There is this great moment in Orbiting the Giant Hairball where the author talks about going to an elementary school as a guest artist. When he asks the 1st grade, "who is an artist?" everyone enthusiastically raises their hand. When he asks the 6th, only a few raise their hands, and they are tentative.

An ER with a migraine is horrible - the wait part esp - I've done everything possible to stay out of them. Harrowing story. Glad you are okay - hope soon you are better.

Love this! I always have more goals than I have time and energy, and could use a Maybe list of my own. Thanks for the inspiration.

Oh, I know! My ex-husband used to call me a dilettante because I would only go so far in learning a skill or topic. In defense, I started calling myself a Professional Dilettante, which ticked him off. :-) Even now, I struggle with this expectation that I need to be…