Here’s the thing.
I’m very sensitive.
To many, that’s a bad thing. And I get that.
To me — it’s like a secret weapon. Some scientists think migraine developed through evolution to make some members of the tribe into human barometers. We always know when a storm is coming because Tik-Tuk gets a migraine. A human signaller that something nearby is dangerous, and we shouldn’t eat or smell or live in that.
By now migraine has probably overdeveloped – outstayed its usefulness. It definitely has in me.
But the same qualities that give me migraines also give me heightened insight, an outside that’s extremely permeable (“spongey” as my friend P calls it) and liable to take in whatever’s around me – someone else’s mood, that there was just a fight in a room, etc.
I recently heard about this thing called “Highly Sensitive People” – people having the innate trait of psychological sensitivity. Apparently these people process sensory data more deeply and thoroughly due to a difference in their nervous system. Research shows that about 15-20% of humans and higher animals have a nervous system that is more sensitive to subtleties.
On this self-test, I answered yes to every question except “I make a point to avoid violent movies and TV shows.” Not only do I not avoid them, I write them.
What’s interesting is that the descriptions of highly sensitive people are very similar to the descriptions of people who have migraine, or even their symptoms (reacting to smells or visual triggers, etc.) Since migraine is a nervous system disorder, and highly sensitive people appear to have altered nervous systems, maybe they’re related?
I want to note that clinical studies have found that stress or psychological factors don’t contribute to migraine, even though doctors such as the ones I visited at the Mayo Clinic continue to tell patients that’s a cause.
However, what I’m theorizing is that perhaps many people with migraine are highly sensitive people, and migraine is one of the ways their body signals there’s something wrong in the environment and they need to remove themselves from the offending trigger.
An offending trigger like – people in bad relationships anywhere near me.
Ok, I’m tired now and have to adhere to my strict bedtime. But I will write part 2 of this post tomorrow.
*
I’m reading “The Gifts of Imperfection” by Brene Brown. She said this amazing thing about shame – something like “shame doesn’t like having its story told.” That is what this blog is about.
No related posts.
