Migraines and Earthquakes?

So, a horrible, horrible thing happened early Friday morning (US-time).  Japan was hit by a huge earthquake, and amid the aftershocks, a tsunami washed over it's shores as well.  Lives have been lost, injuries abound and nuclear power plants are dangerously damaged...and that doesn't even cover the damage to property and livelihood. 

So here's the crazy part: I woke up Friday morning, around what I later learned was the time of the quake, with a migraine.  I cannot ever recall being awakened by a migraine.  Regardless, I took my medicine, and napped until I had to go to work.  Throughout the morning, as I learned of the quake and we all watched footage on CNN in our cubes at work, the pain migrated from above my eye to tension in my neck and jaw, and finally blinding pain at the base of my skull, along with enough vision distortion that I couldn't see my computer screen properly.  I left work, took another pill and slept for awhile. 

I was sick on and off throughout the weekend...it sort of seemed to come in waves.  It wasn't until Sunday afternoon, when I was watching more footage on CNN that I came across something that made me wonder: the earth was tilted off it's access by the force of the quake.  So...my migraines are most often triggered by barometric pressure changes, as happens right before a big storm for instance.  Is it possible that I was reacting to the quake somehow?  I looked up the time the quake happened...and it turns out I woke up just before.  I'll admit I was a little weirded out by that information.

Then I did a Google search, and it popped up with some crazy-people/scam websites.  The only legitimate-seeming one was a research article, the abstract of which discussed the possibility that ionic pressure from the rock shifting can potentially lower serotonin in the brain, which in turn could trigger a migraine.  I'm halfway around the world from the site of the quake, so I don't think that's the answer.  But a quake of this magnitude has to have some effect on the quieter systems of the planet, right?  And there were enough of these sites that it leads me to believe there is something to it, even if no one can explain it yet.

Or it's just a bunch of people who want an explanation for a particular migraine that happened to occur around the same time as a natural disaster, and they (and I) cannot find a particular trigger for said migraine.  Kind of like learning a new word and then suddenly you hear it everywhere for about a week: it's just something you didn't notice before, as the migraine trigger is something I didn't notice.  I wonder which it really is?

It is also very, very, very slightly possible that I'm a little psychic.  My mom would have visions that would turn out to be true, including a few for the far distant future that haven't happened yet (like how many kids I would have and the color of their hair).  And when I was younger, I had a few dreams of places I had never been, people I had never met...and then would learn something about them within the next month.  For example, I once drew a floor-plan of a house my mother lived in until she was 6 years old.  Another time I had a dream that wasn't specific, but through color and emotion I could tell that a woman I'd never seen before was going to die violently.  I knew she was family and I was actually afraid to tell my mom about it for fear of freaking her out.  A week later, I found out my cousin's aunt (other side of the family) had been killed in a car crash.  It was unclear to me if I'd had the dream before or after the death.  Of course, it's possible that I saw a photograph somewhere of the house, overheard people talking about the death and put it all together in my subconscious...so I don't live my life thinking I'm a psychic or anything.  It's just there, in the back of my mind, niggling away when something like this happens. 

Plus I watch too much sci-fi.

Work Appropriate?

So my workplace has a rather...relaxed atmosphere.  We are largely favored with those of the estrogen persuasion, and the few testosterone belabored creatures either know when to duck and cover or simply stick their fingers in their ears and sing.  This is due to the rather alarming conversations we often manage to have.

Case in point: yesterday, we were, once again, discussing pregnancy and delivery and all that goes with creating, birthing and raising babies.  A coworker will become a first-time mom this summer, and it is a hot topic.  Those of us who have never been pregnant are quick to offer advice based upon friends' and families' experiences, not to mention the ever-popular internet with it's ever-so-accurate information, while those who have children of their offer their own sage, if often outdated, wisdom.

So back to yesterday...we discussed episiotomies.  Yep, the ol' snip-snip to avoid the extremely unpleasant tearing that comes of trying to squeeze something the size of a softball out of a hole the size of a Red Bull can.  Well, we went on to discuss the more modern idea of preparing the area in question through moisturizing and massage, i.e. with olive oil.  This conversation continued, off and on, complete with horror stories and random quips from the peanut gallery, throughout most of the day.  I'm pretty sure most of what we discussed could have been dialogue straight from the Vagina Monologues.

Can't wait to see what we get up to next week!