This is a reader-submitted story.
1. My diagnosis is: migraine.
2. My migraine attack frequency is: a few times in a week (I don’t try to count).
3. I was diagnosed in: 2011.
4. My comorbid conditions include: Asperger’s, SLE, Crohn’s, psoriasis, asthma (I don’t know if this is the right understanding of comorbid, but these are other conditions that matter lots for me).
5. I take 1 medications/supplements each day for prevention and 2 medications/supplements to treat an acute attack
6. My first migraine attack was: age 3/4 (now I am an adult).
7. My most disabling migraine symptoms are: I don’t know, I can’t pick things out individually, it’s too rolled up into a whole feeling.
8. My strangest migraine symptoms are: not feeling like I’m in my body or head really the same as usual.
9. My biggest migraine triggers are: being tired, lights, how other illnesses are and treatments.
10. I know a migraine attack is coming on when: I can’t see somehow in some places, even though I can at the same time.
11. The most frustrating part about having a migraine attack is: The inevitability after I notice the sight is not correct.
12. During a migraine attack, I worry most about: I don’t worry, I don’t think I ever have this feeling or understand what it is.
13. When I think about migraine between attacks, I think: I can’t imagine that it can really be like it actually is, it must be OK.
14. When I tell someone I have migraine, the response is usually: Oh.
15. When someone tells me they have migraine, I think: How does it affect you? How do you survive?
16. When I see commercials about migraine treatments, I think: I don’t watch television.
17. My best coping tools are: bed with some darkness and the right clothes and temperature.
18. I find comfort in: the moments when I am coming out of it.
19. I get angry when people say: that it can’t be too bad.
20. I like it when people say: interesting things.
21. Something kind someone can do for me during a migraine attack is: leave me alone but also notice when it is better to go to hospital (these are quite contradictory which is a problem).
22. The best thing(s) a doctor has ever said to me about migraine is: I’m sorry I can’t help more.
23. The hardest thing to accept about having migraine is: that I have them.
24. Migraine has taught me: I can survive much more than I imagine I can.
25. The quotation, motto, mantra, or scripture that gets me through an attack is: I can’t think in this way during the time. In my life I think I can live longer to contribute to society and make it better.
26. If I could go back to the early days of my diagnosis, I would tell myself: It’s not going to be fixed as soon as a doctor’s appointment comes, the doctors can’t really do much (for all the illnesses, not particularly migraine) and it might last forever.
27. The people who support me most are: Scientists who spend their lives to come up with medicines and treatments that work for all kinds of illnesses.
28. The thing I most wish people understood about migraine is: it can be quite bad.
29. Migraine and Headache Awareness Month is important to me because: people should know it’s not from being soft or pathetic.
30. One more thing I’d like to say about life with migraine is: it is good to read about how other people survive.
Reader-submitted stories solely 
represent the personal point of view, experience, and opinion of the author, not of The Daily Headache or Kerrie Smyres. Follow this link to learn how to share YOUR 30 Things about living with a headache disorder.