Seattle Sounders FC's Freddie Ljungberg has had a rough 10 days. The victim of a severe migraine attack before the FC Dallas game, the club's designated player has missed two consecutive games as he suffered through the headache's debilitating after-effects.
"It's nice to be training again. It just hit me real bad," Ljungberg said. "I don't feel the best in the world but that's how it is. It just takes time unfortunately."
After several days doing light conditioning on the side -- and spending plenty of time in a dark room -- Ljungberg's finally back in full training. He said he's been suffering from migraines ever since puberty and suffers on about once per year. On the scale of severity, specialists have told him that his headaches are some of the most excruciating.
"It affects people differently. (Arsenal) didn't want me to miss any games in Europe, so I've been to every professor there is to check," Ljungberg said. "They say one percent of everyone who has migraines, they get them incredibly severe.
"This time, I won't lie when I say I probably threw up 50 times when I had it. It knocked me out. I lost my vision and the feeling in half of my body. For me it is very severe and it takes a long time to recover. There's not much I can do."
Ljungberg carries an injection with him which is meant to minimize the effects of a migraine. When he feels one coming on, he takes the injection. Unfortunately, he says "it still gets bad."
Cheese and red wine, in particular, can trigger an attack, so Ljungberg stays away from those two things. There are likely other triggers, but Ljungberg says "that's all we've figured out so far."
However, the Swede has managed to keep his sense of humor through the ordeal.
"Sometimes people have a small headache and they say, 'I got a migraine,' which is a big lie and it kills it for the rest of us when we get a proper one," Ljungberg said, smiling.
While he is back in training, Ljungberg is making a conscious effort not to rush his recovery, riding a stationary bike and jogging only as often as his body will allow. When he played for Arsenal, he tried to ignore the pain during a key stretch of games and met with catastrophic results.
"When you have an attack, the hard part is that you're quite vulnerable afterwards," Ljungberg said. "If you do exercise, you're more likely to have another attack again."
"I did it once in the Champions League. I had played a game on a Tuesday, I got it on (Wednesday) afternoon and we had a day game against Chelsea on Saturday. Everyone wanted me to play and I wanted to play, so I tried to train on Friday. I got, straightaway, a new attack. Then it takes a lot longer -- I had to stay away for three weeks after that. You have to be careful when you get back."
And while the team does not want to rush their star, Sounders FC could certainly use his services. Injuries to Osvaldo Alonso and Brad Evans have left Seattle thin in central midfield. Should his symptoms subside, Ljungberg said he'll be ready to go on Saturday against the Columbus Crew.
"I'll be fine. I'm quite fit. It feels good and (being out) 10 days doesn't really affect my fitness," Ljungberg said. "As long as my head is fine on Saturday, I'll be fine to play."
Andrew Winner is a contributor to MLSnet.com
