This is a reader-submitted story. Want to share your 30 Things? Here’s how: Migraine & Headache Disorders 30 Things Meme.
1. My diagnosis is: Ocular Migraines, Menstrual Migraine, and Migraine with Brainstem Aura
2. My migraine attack frequency is: 3-9 times a month
3. I was diagnosed in: 1994
4. My comorbid conditions include: anxiety, lactose and gluten intolerance
5. I take __1__ medications/supplements each day for prevention and __3__ medications/supplements to treat an acute attack
6. My first migraine attack was: in high school. I couldn’t stand or see and had the worst pain ever in my life. I thought I was dying. The nurse had me lie down for 30 minutes and then tried to send me back to class. Thank goodness, my aunt was a secretary at the school and took me home.
7. My most disabling migraine symptoms are: vertigo, difficulty thinking/talking, and pain
8. My strangest migraine symptoms are: having to urinate every 10-15 minutes! It’s such a pain because just standing and getting to the bathroom is exhausting then I finally get back to bed and I have to get up and do it all over again!
9. My biggest migraine triggers are: hormones, gluten, bright lights/sounds
10. I know a migraine attack is coming on when: I can’t stop yawning and I am very weak.
11. The most frustrating part about having a migraine attack is: the effects on my job and my family.
12. During a migraine attack, I worry most about: taking care of my kids. Even though they are (sort of) able to take care of themselves for a while at 10 and 14, I know I am not doing enough for them.
13. When I think about migraine between attacks, I think: “How long will this last?” and “I’d never be able to do *this* if I had a migraine.”
14. When I tell someone I have migraine, the response is usually: how their relative/co-worker/neighbor has them too and what they do to fix it and be able to go about their lives.
15. When someone tells me they have migraine, I think: “I’m so sorry.”
16. When I see commercials about migraine treatments, I think:
17. My best coping tools are: Diet Coke, water, Snickers candy bars, caffeine, dark room, rest, ice, my meds, heavy blankets, blackout curtains, my “Badger – Headache Soother Balm Stick,” silence!
18. I find comfort in: knowing my friends believe me and my girls understand what is happening and know how to take care of me.
19. I get angry when people say: “Oh, I have the WORST migraine!” while they are walking around the office, talking, working, and generally living life normally. It makes me feel like I’m not tough enough to handle mine and/or people don’t believe me when I can’t function when I get one.
20. I like it when people say: “I love you and it’s ok and how can I help?”
21. Something kind someone can do for me during a migraine attack is: My daughters know to bring me ice packs, a water bottle, chapstick, and one of their stuffed animals!
22. The best thing(s) a doctor has ever said to me about migraine is: “I believe you.”
23. The hardest thing to accept about having migraine is: my daughters will probably get them too.
24. Migraine has taught me: Cherish the healthy times.
25. The quotation, motto, mantra, or scripture that gets me through an attack is: Psalm 23: 1-3,
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
26. If I could go back to the early days of my diagnosis, I would tell myself: go on a gluten-free diet!
27. The people who support me most are: my girls and my friends.
28. The thing I most wish people understood about migraine is: it really is as bad as we say it is.
29. Migraine and Headache Awareness Month is important to me because: I can talk about it and not seem like I’m complaining.
30. One more thing I’d like to say about life with migraine is: every person is different but please believe me when I tell you I can’t stand up to walk to the bathroom, let alone go teach preschool special education.
Reader-submitted stories solely represent the personal point of view, experience, and opinion of the author, not of The Daily Headache or Kerrie Smyres.
I felt like Like you reached into my life and someone stole my words – except I don’t have to pee. My strangest symptom is probably that I DON’T pee even though I drink a TON of water. I get really thirsty and only like ice cold water, too. I have a water bottle and will squirt the water over my front teeth quite often and it makes me feel better. It’s like heaven, like I’ve been in a hoot desert and I haven’t had water in ages. I can drink 60 ounces of water and not need to pee. I wonder where the water goes.
I also behave weird during the migraine. Probably out of sheer desperation. My migraines can last days, and I can’t sleep because the pain is so bad, so I have to occupy myself . The only think I want to do is solve the mystery so I am drawn to my phone, like I get addicted to researching migraines and “cures “ on the Internet even though I’ve done it s million times and I know there isn’t any. I never find one – butt today I found your post because my doctor told me to eat a Snickers bar and I liked up why and find your post. If nothing else it tasted sweet and good, but I’m nauseous now. My life is spent worrying about the next migraine and how long it will debilitate me, and if my job will get tired of me and fire me. I must call out once a week, but thank goodness for salary pay and an understanding boss. I do Botox, which has been a lifesaver and has minimized the impact, but some still make it through. Anyways, sorry to hear you suffer my curse. It’s a horrible way to live. Some days I consider suicide because it all just hurts so much, butt my dog tethers me to this world. He is 5. I’m scared you think what will happen when he is no longer here. It’s a very bleak outlook.