Want to share your 30 Things? Here’s how: Migraine & Headache Disorders 30 Things Meme.
1. My diagnosis is: chronic headache and chronic migraine
2. My migraine attack frequency is: daily in some form, my head is always hurting. Whether it’s just a little bit of pain to a full on crippling migraine.
3. I was diagnosed in: 2012
4. My comorbid conditions include: anxiety, ADD, and depression
5. I take 0 medications/supplements each day for prevention and 2 medications/supplements to treat an acute attack. I don’t have daily medication because I get 31 botox injections every 3 months.
6. My first migraine attack was: I’ve had migraines for as long as I can remember.
7. My most disabling migraine symptoms are: Unbearable pain, light and sounds, heat intolerance, fatigue, and nausea.
8. My strangest migraine symptoms are: heat intolerance
9. My biggest migraine triggers are: lights and sounds, smells, stress, lack of sleep, and certain foods
10. I know a migraine attack is coming on when: the inside of my ears start throbbing and hurting.
11. The most frustrating part about having a migraine attack is: not being able to function as a normal person and not being able to do fun things in my life with my friends.
12. During a migraine attack, I worry most about: why does this happen to me and can a migraine attack kill someone (I feel like my head is being crushed by lots of bricks)
13. When I think about migraine between attacks, I think: I’m probably going to get one because I thought about it. I’ll probably get one at the most inconvenient time.
14. When I tell someone I have migraine, the response is usually: Just take some Advil or ibuprofen. (those types of medicines do absolutely nothing for me)
15. When someone tells me they have migraine, I think: Is it really a migraine? I’m sorry you feel this way and I hope you don’t have them again.
16. When I see commercials about migraine treatments, I think: Those don’t work.
17. My best coping tools are: my little kitty cat, Chloe. Water, my ice cap, maxalt (medication).
18. I find comfort in: My cat, my bed, cool air, my camera, and wildlife.
19. I get angry when people say: it’s just a headache, you’ll be okay.
20. I like it when people say: Relax and lay down. You don’t need to come with us but we would like you too. I hope you feel better soon.
21. Something kind someone can do for me during a migraine attack is: be concerned but not too concerned. Get me water, understand that loud noises, smells and lights are extremely painful
22. The best thing(s) a doctor has ever said to me about migraine is: There are other options, we’ll figure this out.
23. The hardest thing to accept about having migraine is: there is no cure and no guarantee that they will ever go away.
24. Migraine has taught me: to hide my pain, to understand that even though it’s not a life threatening disease, it is still a disease and controls someones life.
25. The quotation, motto, mantra, or scripture that gets me through an attack is: I tend not to think about anything other than the pain I’m in.
26. If I could go back to the early days of my diagnosis, I would tell myself: Keep trying, keep surviving, keep going.
27. The people who support me most are: my mommy, my friends, and my cat
28. The thing I most wish people understood about migraine is: how debilitating it is and how painful it can be. How it controls my life.
29. Migraine and Headache Awareness Month is important to me because: it can educate others without migraine what migraines are all about. What it’s really like to have one and how it’s extremely hard to live a normal life when you have an attack.
30. One more thing I’d like to say about life with migraine is: when someone says they have a migraine, please don’t just think it’s just a headache. If they are truly having a migraine, respect that and honor their wishes, help them feel better, and try to help them relax. Once you know about migraines, try to help others become educated about migraines as well.
This is a reader-submitted story. Reader-submitted stories solely represent the personal point of view, experience, and opinion of the author, not of The Daily Headache or Kerrie Smyres.