i suffer migraines continuously, 24 hrs a day. i generally wake feeling my best, and by 3 pm or so i seriously decline. but i wake early, so i get almost a full shift feeling well and highly-functioning. then i cook and eat and tidy things and typically recline the rest of the night in front of the tube, where i will ultimately sleep.
recording Upcycle, there was an air freshener in every outlet, probably at least 30 of them visible to me, just walking through the studio. they are my number one trigger, and once i have a migraine from air fresheners, i will be sick for days. the taste of the chemicals will adhere to my tongue- i could brush my teethe multiple times but still taste them. i get sea sick and nauseated, often with vertigo, and the most awful shooting pains.
but this was our one shot at making the album, and there was just under two weeks to accomplish it. i took a lot of medications, drank double the water i normally might, and just buckled in for the ride.
another common migraine trigger is called ‘let down from stress.’ this means, once the body completes a 70 hr work week, or came home from a beach vacation, the migraine may wreak havoc.
meanwhile, rain, and quick changes in the barometric pressure of the atmosphere is a next major trigger. and so is pms.
so when the adrenaline wore off a few hours after the Upcycle event July 23rd, one mighty migraine set in, and there it stayed put until September 9.
i was beginning to wonder whether it wasnt permanent. i had lived two and a half years at the level 8 of 10 pain, never to come down to a seven or six. i had done it with a spouse and caretaker- and yet here i was, by myself and doing ok. i was ready for this to be a next phase in my life.
but Labor Day weekend the migraine pain was scattershot. and finally, my routine of waking up well and doing what i can until i cant resumed.
and the first thing i did when i felt well enough was to release the album Upcycle-
13 songs (two are bonus tracks) they are a diverse sampling of my 4 dozen songs.
i fancy myself a song-writer, poet, and artist more than a singer. the songs and poems i wrote told me who i was and what i ought to be doing. they showed me the sides of myself others might not generally see- and demonstrated to me how to reveal those sides, along with the rest.
In the book Upcycle, i explain how and when and why i began writing songs. All of my lyrics are in the book as well…with some anecdotes and info on the song origins. I invite to to listen and read and see what all has shaped me via song.