{Giveaway is now closed. Congrats to Meg, Tina, and Tiffany on winning the Excedrin gift baskets!!!}
If your answer to that question is “No”, I’m happy for you.
Secretly bitter and maybe even a little hateful. But as happy as I can be in this kind of situation.
If your answer is “Yes”…well, I’m super bummed out for you.
But you’re my people. We’re all in this wretched little club together…and misery really does love company.
Me and migraines have a long and sordid history.
My grandma says she remembers me coming home from Kindergarten, just a wee 4 year old tyke (I was an early starter) and lying on the couch not wanting to play outside…my little arm draped across my eyes to protect myself from any kind of light.
Because when you have a migraine, it’s not just that your head feels like it’s going to explode into a million tiny pieces all over the living room.
No, because that would be somewhat bearable.
It’s the waves of nausea. The nausea that you know if you actually did succumb to, would be just the little push your skull needed to do said exploding.
It’s the way that light suddenly turns menacing and hateful. Natural sunlight that would otherwise be a welcome and beautiful thing? Worst enemy. Flourescent overhead lights? Be gone you dreaded things! A kid’s flashlight? Chucked across a room in a split second.
Sound? Of any kind whatsoever? Shivers and goosebumps. The ding of a text message is enough to send the room spinning.
Weird little blobs that make your vision all kaleidoscope scary.
Did I mention this feeling lasts HOURS (and for some people I know, DAYS)?!
I’ve dealt with migraines my whole life.
After I had my girls, I realized I was having them regularly.
Monthly.
In fact, I could actually predict it on a calendar…wait a minute…
I felt silly and ridiculous, but I mean, I’ve googled more ridiculous phrases.
Turns out, there is such a thing as a menstrual migraine. Lovely.
In other words, not only did I get to experience the always fun and pleasant bloating and moodiness…I now got to look forward to at least a full day of being downright incapcitated.
Did I mention I have three kids? Three kids who are 4 and under? Three kids who can’t make their own lunches or wipe their own bottoms?
Migraine days = Movie days. One movie after another. Actually, who am I kidding? It’s the same movie on loop because I can’t imagine getting up from my corpse like pose on the couch.
Where it takes every ounce of me to sort of chuck a slapshot peanut butter and jelly sandwich in their general direction and pray that I can get all the sticky off the furniture. Tomorrow. When my head isn’t threatening to kill me.
Over the years, I found that aspirin, ibuprofen…didn’t touch it. I might as well have eaten a jelly bean for all the good it did.
I went to the doctor and got official migraine meds…but those made me feel weird and loopy and like I needed to lie down for different reasons. Besides, I’m kinda weird when it comes to taking stuff like that. I have the prescription in the cupboard for really bad times, but it’s kind of a “break glass in case of emergency” kind of thing.
But you know what I did find once a few years ago and is a STAPLE in my house at all times?
Excedrin Migraine.
Seriously people.
I have one bottle upstairs and one downstairs at any given time…because you know that in the middle of a migraine, having to climb a flight of stairs would be like asking me to run a marathon, climb Mt. Everest and then go chop some logs.
When I got an email asking if I would do a sponsored post for Excedrin Migraine, I thought “Seriously? Easy. No problem. I won’t even have to try.”
I’ve learned that if I take it at the very beginning inkling of a migraine coming on, I can nip it in the bud. Just like that. No loopy weirdness. No feeling drugged. No lying on the couch all day praying that my kids are all alive and have all of their limbs by the end of it. Easy peasy.
I remember almost being mad when I first discovered it “Why didn’t they come up with this twenty years ago?! Dangit.”
Excedrin did a survey and sent along a few of the responses, and a couple of them made me giggle a little. Not because they’re funny, but because I can SO relate. I thought I’d share a couple of them with you:
- A third (33%) would give up five percent of their annual salary rather than suffer from migraine pain
- Other workers would toss their vacation days (26%) or weekends (17%)
- And more than half (52%) would rather visit in-laws
- More than three-quarters (87%) of working Americans would give up something for an entire year to never have to go through the pain of a migraine ever again
- Eight in ten (83%) migraine sufferers confess that when they have a migraine, their family suffers as much as they do because of the impact it has on their ability to go about their regular routine
The folks at Excedrin sent me this fun gift basket…I like to think of it as a condolense for my suffering or some such thing.
It’s packed full with a bunch of fun stuff:
-A therapeutic neck wrap that can be heated or frozen (yes please)
-A soothing gel eye mask (bet it’ll look creepy but feel heavenly)
-A foot massager (that my son has absconded with and calls his bomb ball)
-A back massager (Andy? Where’d you go?)
-And the basket itself is really cute too. (I hate when the basket is ugly. Don’t you?)
But let’s face it, my favorite are the:
-Coupon for a full sized bottle of Excedrin Migraine (good thing because I was running low)
-Swarovski Crystal ear buds
-The $15 iTunes gift card
-And the $50 Amex gift card!!!
Jealous?
Don’t be!
Because the best part of this whole thing is that the peeps at Excedrin want me to give away not one, not two, but THREE of these gift baskets!!!
To enter to win one of the three gift baskets, just leave me a comment below telling me if you’re a migraine sufferer, or have one in your family. Are you in my wretched little Migraine Club? Or should I be super jealous that you’re not? (1 entry per person).
I’ll pull three winners on Saturday, December 3.
In the meantime, here’s an Excedrin Migraine printable $1 off coupon.
You can also like their Facebook page where they offer more coupons, information on managing migraines, and even sweepstakes for fancy stuff like trips to spas. (This isn’t a giveaway entry. Just letting you know.)
“This is a sponsored post. Migraine relief and relaxation kit were provided by Novartis Consumer Healthcare, the makers of Excedrin® Migraine; my opinions, stories, are 100% my own.”
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Although I get headaches nearly every day, I thankfully don’t get migraines. I have a student in my 1st grade class who suffers from them though. Just within the last few months he has begun to notice the changes in his body when one is coming on, and he is able to take steps to usually ward them off. Poor guy felt one coming on today. He slept the last hour of school rather than participate in music class…I think the xylophone playing would have been a bit much for him. :(
I have only had one migraine in my whole life and it was a miserable day. I had no idea light could hurt so bad. BUT…my husband’s family has a history of migraines and my sweet daughter has inherited that wretched curse. For reals today she was just curled up in bed for the afternoon trying ot fight it off. Sounds like I need to get some Excedrin Migraine medicine for her…or better yet…win her some!
Thanks for the opportunity from both you and Excedrin.
My first migraine came when I was on spring break in San Francisco. Talk about a way to ruin a vacation. They have only gotten worse since I had my son. I call Excedrin Migraine my wonder drug and can usually catch my migraine’s with it.
Unfortunately, I belong to your group. I’ve been at this since my 20’s and have been through tons of medicines that may or may not work, and then make me feel horrible. I’m going to have to try this Excedrin, because if it works, I wouldn’t have to use so many sick days from work when I take the prescription stuff!
I have alot of headaches. They usually aren’t migraines, but I have had a few. I take alot of Excedrin and it does help. Thank goodness!
I, too, belong to the lovely club! My grandfather suffered, my mom is truly debilitated by them. So I inherited that trait. If I am super stressed, even a little dehydrated, eaten too much chocolate, not had enough sleep or a big weather change is approaching, I can tell by how my head feels. I try to kick it before it rears its ugly head, but sometimes I don’t make it in time. Knock wood, I just had one about two weeks ago. Hadn’t had one in a loooong time. But right after I had my DD, being a sleep deprived, hormone roller coaster, new mother wasn’t a very fun time!!
Do any of you wish you could just vomit sometimes to see if it would make you feel better? I know it helps me sometimes.
This would be a nice little treat!! Thank you for the chance Jeannett and Excederin!
I get migraines pretty frequently. Most of the meds make me feel very loopy so I stopped taking them and suffered for years. Now excedrin migraine does the trick but only If I catch it soon enough.
Amazing, your timing is perfect…as it always seems to be. I have been blessed to never have headaches except one migraine the day before I was supposed to go back to work after my twins were born 3 years ago, but the past 2 weeks I have suffered one every day and they reach migraine status about every 3rd-4th day. I’ll have to try the excedrin, I’ve been mixing my own little cocktail of OTC meds and coffee to get through.
I get migraines fairly often and my five year old has been showing signs that she is a migraine sufferer too.
I have had less than 10 migraines in my life and count myself blessed. Both my father and sister suffer from chronic migraines that are absolutely debilitating. When Excedrine Migraine came out on the market, they both stocked up. I’ve been fortunate enough to only need it a couple of times, but when I have, it’s been a real lifesaver. I can see why you’d endorse their product.
I am just learning the migraine walk. So glad to know that I am not the only Momma making her kiddo suffer due to these awful things. I had my first one in middle school and it knocked me on my booty for an entire weekend. Thankfully, I have never had one that bad since, but they are close. Kinda like the beginning of the fireworks show instead of the finale (minus the noise please!). I still haven’t learned when to “catch” it before it gets too out of hand.
Thankfully I am not in your special club. I am so sorry for you though. I do however get frequent headaches. My sister in law however does get them often. I would definitely share this basket with her. Love our blog.
Blessings.
I do not have migraines, but I did go through a period of debilitating headaches my doctor thought were migraines, only to find out it was a cat allergy. Weird. And horrifically painful.
i have had a headache in my forehead area for about 6 months now! the docs say it is a migraine. it fluctuates between bad and horrible, so i am not convinced. at any rate, the next step is to get botox shots to relieve the pain. i hope it works!!!
I get headaches, but not as severe as a migraine. I feel very bad for people who suffer from migraines. I am glad there is some medicine to help!
I’m lucky–I just get headaches. My sister suffers through migraines.
A coworker once offered me Excedrin for my headache and it worked like a charm! I had no idea it would work better than Tylenol, Advil or any other med. I’m a believer in the power of Excedrin!
My wife has horrible migraines all the time (“and its annoying”…her words). Please help her not be cranky!