1) Advil
2) coffee
3) tea when I've had enough coffee that I know any more will set off pancreatitis/acid reflux/anxiety disorders
4) more tea
5) Benadryl and aspirin
6) more Advil
7) 2-3 emergency cups of black coffee
I cannot tell you the number of doctors -- good doctors, who have seen me for years, who have congratulated me on being sober since April 1, 2002 -- who have offered me Percocet, Tylenol 3, Lortab, Fioricet, Norflex, Vicodin, and I don't know what-all fucking else, including BENZOS (no fucking idea what was going on there, they thought I looked....tense?). My husband, who has accompanied me to a number of migraine treatment appointments (because when I can't really think or listen or speak that well because PAIN, having someone else toodle along is a good bet) described the effect as something like "a garlic cross waved at a vampire." Whatever the opposite is of drug-seeking, I'm it. Drug-fending-off? When I needed stitches for a minor procedure, "No, I don't want morphine!" When an abscess got so bad I had to go to the ER, "NO, I DON'T WANT MORPHINE." (Husband remarked: "Maybe you could hold up a sign?" That's why I love him.)
And if you are wondering how much pain a migraine could really cause, anyway: as another migraineur once said, a dear friend of mine who was also in recovery, "Imagine you are having the worst headache of your life. (pause) Now multiply that by a factor of ten. (pause) Now imagine that while you're having this headache, someone is splitting open your skull with a red-hot ax. (smile demurely)"
(This grumpy rant brought to you by the construction going on right across the street from my bedroom, which is audible with the windows shut, the white noise machine blasting, and while I'm wearing headphones. Thankfully this wasn't happening during the last four days when I was knocked out flat, but I'm very sensitive to noise, so the migraine has been Looooming over me all damn day, like when you know in the morning as you arrive at school that when it's recess the class bully will beat you up for your lunch money.)
descensus Averno facilis est