This is a reader-submitted story.
1. My diagnosis is: chronic headaches, chronic migraines and stroke
2. My migraine attack frequency is: daily since 2009
3. I was diagnosed in: 2008
4. My comorbid conditions include: light sensitively, sound and smell sensitivity, paralysis in the morning, jumbled thought and unable to speak and think clearly
5. I take __6__ medications/supplements each day for prevention and ___3_ medications/supplements to treat an acute attack
6. My first migraine attack was: in third grade I was 8
7. My most disabling migraine symptoms are: unable to move and function normally
8. My strangest migraine symptoms are: I get really hungry, then I get really short in talking to others
9. My biggest migraine triggers are: anything, walking, talking, sleeping, moving.Doing anything at all can bring them on without warning.
10. I know a migraine attack is coming on when: my vision starts to blur and my fiancé and boys say when I get really quiet.
11. The most frustrating part about having a migraine attack is: I am unable to do anything. I have lost so much time with my boys and family and friends. I have to say maybe to every event that comes my way.
12. During a migraine attack, I worry most about: how things are going to get done. House cleaning, getting dinner, helping with homework, spending time with my boys.
13. When I think about migraine between attacks, I think: please not today. I pray not today I have things to do.
14. When I tell someone I have migraine, the response is usually: “oh yeah I get those to” I ask them what symptoms they get and what helps them. In my head I laugh as it’s just a headache not a migraine after all.
15. When someone tells me they have migraine, I think: “are you sure? ” I have a hard time trusting that others actually know what I’m going through.
16. When I see commercials about migraine treatments, I think: What a joke. My oldest son now laughs at them to and yells at the tv “it didn’t help my mom! Stupid commercials! ”
17. My best coping tools are: my support from my mom, fiancé and my boys. Sadly my oldest knows what I need in order to find comfort. Also my two pit bulls never leave my side and have opened does for me when I need to vomit.
18. I find comfort in: a dark room, ice packs (sometimes 2-3) and silence.
19. I get angry when people say: Why are you always down? Why can’t you do anything? Sometimes them saying nothing upsets me too. Especially when I really want to educate them.
20. I like it when people say: “I wish I knew something to take the pain away.” My fiancé tells me no matter what that I’m beautiful even after just hanging over the toilet bowl crying/screaming out in pain as I do it”
21. Something kind someone can do for me during a migraine attack is: understand. Understand that this isn’t the life I wanted. That my life was to be better than this.
22. The best thing(s) a doctor has ever said to me about migraine is: “I’m worth toy. I’m listening” ice had mow understanding from my primary care Ossian than any other type of doctor. He had seen me since day one.
23. The hardest thing to accept about having migraine is: my life will never be normal. I won’t be able to go a day without worrying how bad this migraine is going to get.
24. Migraine has taught me: how strong I actually am. That not everyone can do what I do and it’s made me stronger and determine to show people this is real.
25. The quotation, motto, mantra, or scripture that gets me through an attack is: I honestly don’t have one. I pray a lot. Asking my God to take away my pain.
26. If I could go back to the early days of my diagnosis, I would tell myself: don’t be so stressed and don’t waste time on people that don’t care about me as much as I cared for them.
27. The people who support me most are: my fiancé, my boys and mother. My mother use to have them and she can empathize to a point and help me. My boys help me through them the best they can. My fiancé makes me smile even when it hurts and comforts me.
28. The thing I most wish people understood about migraine is: we aren’t faking it. That it’s one of the “invisible ” illnesses. We may keep smiling when we feel like crying, that doesn’t make us fakers it’s showing you how strong we can be.
29. Migraine and Headache Awareness Month is important to me because: is showing that my illness and others aren’t forgotten. It’s the one time people may ask question just because they didn’t know we had an awareness month.
30. One more thing I’d like to say about life with migraine is it is a struggle. It’s not something I choose too have happen to me. I had dreams to do things with my life. That migraines don’t just affect me, they affect everyone I’m close to, my boys, fiancé, mother, siblings and some friends.
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.