When I was getting treated for my headaches, I visited a psychologist who taught me biofeedback. The first day he hooked me up to a machine and made me count back from a thousand by sevens. After I was good and stressed, he stopped and wrote down the number. Then he told me to do whatever I could to bring it down. Have you ever tried this – to relax yourself under pressure? It’s interesting. The first time I did OK, but on the second visit he upped the ante: I had to watch my progress on a screen and listen to a high-pitched whine on headphones that got louder when I became more stressed. Over the course of six sessions I got very good at this – one of the best he’d seen, actually.
You can tell the biofeedback is working when your hands get really warm. Some people do this by visualizing hot things, but I was never able to get into the whole “you’re on a warm beach...” kind of thing.
This all made me feel like I was some loser who can’t handle stress, but my doctor said the science behind it is that migraine sufferers’ blood vessels don’t contract as readily after stress as other people.
I’ve always wanted a stupid human trick. I can’t wiggle my ears or dislocate my elbow or sneeze on command. But I guess I can make my hands really warm really fast. I’m sure David Letterman will be calling me up to see that one.
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