Magical Remedy

As a result of a head injury from a while ago, I suffer from chronic migraine headaches. For almost the first two years, it was nearly constant. I'm not exaggerating. It was major headaches every conscious moment. Medication didn't help. Stress-reduction didn't help. Breaks were few and far (like weeks) between.

Since then it's gotten better. It's still a daily problem, but not a constant one. As anyone who has a chronic issue (or other long-term trial) can probably attest, you learn to deal with it and it just becomes a part of your life. You develop the ability to function normally. I got an MFA degree while dealing with the worst of this, and still graduated with a 3.95 GPA. It rarely becomes debilitating anymore.

Last year a few students at the school where I teach asked me to sponsor a club for people interested in the trading card game called Magic: The Gathering. I had played this game approximately twice in my life, both times as research for a game design project. I agreed because I wanted to help out and they asked so nicely, plus I had some cards and figured this would be a way to get some use out of them. We met in my classroom on Thursdays to play for an hour or two after school. The kids allowed me to join in the games, and eagerly taught me many things about gameplay, strategy, etc. that I didn't know.

I enjoyed the time with them, but a few weeks into the club I realized that something amazing was happening. While I was playing Magic with these kids, my head didn't hurt at all. I paid extra close attention to see what variables were involved. I tried to simulate the effect with other activities that, like Magic, require careful attention and focus on a complex system. I tried other games. Nothing else worked. Yet every week, without exception, when I sat down to play my headaches were gone within two or three minutes of getting started. When we stopped, they were back within half an hour - usually within five minutes. This held true whether the headaches were relatively mild or excruciating.

I don't know what it is about this game. I haven't been able to get such reliable results from anything else. The closest thing I've found is when I'm working intently on some creative project, usually one that involves working with my hands. That's about 85-90% reliable. I've done further testing on this and it remains consistent. I don't play very often (life's too full of other, more important things), but no matter where, when, or with whom I'm playing, this game is the only surefire means I have of getting 100% relief from headache pain. I don't know what causes it, but I'm extremely grateful for the discovery.