I DID NOT GO! I slept so well, I decided to go to work. I am supposed to work on a report all Friday long and submit it on Monday morning. I decided that having to do the whole report on Monday morning would be even more stressful.

But I have thought hard about "debugging" the problem and... it is neurological! It is not a psychiatric problem. I did the right thing not going because a p-doc would not have helped. What helps me is a shot of coffee at Starbucks! Like psych patients flock to p-clinics for shots of long-acting Risperdal, I go to Starbucks as if it were a neurological clinic. Because otherwise, I get caffeine withdrawal weekend migraines - I have had them for two weekends in a row, all weekend long, so I have not gotten any rest, it is as if I were working non-stop for weeks on end, no wonder the stress level went up! I just need migraine-free weekends! So today I went to SB twice - once to a local SB, 15 minutes on foot one way, a single latte, and once to a far away SB, 25 minutes one way, a single latte. That is the same amount of coffee I drink during workdays. And I do not have a migraine. All I need is to have the same level of caffeine in the blood on weekends as on weekdays. As I have a tiny kitchenette without counter space for a coffee machine, the solution is coffee shops. I also ate at SB - it is a little embarrassing to admit but I like SB food, I like their "bistro boxes", so that helped, because two weeks ago I got a migraine through skipping lunch. Money adds up, but I will keep doing it until I get organized enough to have lunch food at home. And I got my daily dose of walking this way, too! Tomorrow I will try a local non-chain coffee shop near the farmers' market.

It is THAT simple. And I will not write anyone off in that state. that is really good advice.

I did have a migraine yesterday night though. This is called a stress let down migraine and it occurs when the work stress stops. You would have thought that I have a perfect ending of the work week - on Friday nights I go to Restorative yoga and then eat at my favorite Turkish place. But apparently this is not enough. More frequent exercise is supposed to help with migraines so I will try that. I have also upped the Depakote.

I really did the right thing not going to urgent care - I finished 80% of the report at work so I am not stressed out about what I have to face on Monday. And I took little breaks from the report to write a bunch of documentation, which is always nice. I have not started the new project but I spent some time planning it out, which is helpful, especially with my tendency to just run without pre-planning. I had some anxiety but not enough to reach for Klonopin (which I do have in my purse now). So all in all it was an OK day, if not for the migraine at the end of it. But again, there is nothing a p-doc could have done to prevent that migraine.

Thank you for loving me! I need it so much! I cannot express my gratitude enough!

PS The book that helped me find the root cause of the problem is called "The Migraine Solution".

PPS I arrived at what I think is a good solution re: my shy cat. Someone from SF wants her and will look at her after the Labor Day weekend (the first weekend of September in US) but we are afraid that they will not want her because she is so shy; she runs away and does not let you pet her. And she plays really well with my cat - the female cat whom I adopted. So I was not sure it is a good idea to separate them. And I was thinking that maybe I should adopt her too. The thing is, when my female cat is alone, she comes to my bed to sleep, and I like it. A cat sleeping on my legs at night is the best memory of my childhood. When they are together, they hang out together at night and I do not get to recreate that memory. So there is a benefit to me in letting go of the shy cat. So I was torn. Now, I have decided to just go with the flow - if the people like her, wonderful, let them have her, if they do not like her, sure, I will keep feeding her. And I would not try to interfere with the course of events.