ABSTRACT
It begins with a blip in the electrical impulses of the nervous system. Cerebral blood fl ow goes haywire providing phantom sensory experiences that signal the worst is coming-a pain that for some is excruciating. The nerves go haywire, too-especially the trigeminal branch so close to our sensory inputs (nose, ears, and especially the eyes, around which the pain throbs and radiates). These symptoms distract us from the gut, which like a tangled garden hose might lie kinked for days-it seems lifeless except for the waves of nausea and occasional vomiting (Fields 176). This set of symptoms harkens us to retreat into silence, stillness, and dark. But when you are little and something scares you, you run and hide or call to others for help. Something hurts-you will pull a face, cry, or distract yourself in play. All of these quite reasonable reactions make a migraine attack even worse.
