This is a reader-submitted story.
1. My diagnosis is: Episodic migraines
2. My migraine attack frequency is: Down from 13 to six right now.
3. I was diagnosed in: 2003
4. My comorbid conditions include: undiagnosed, but: anxiety and fatigue.
5. I take 1 medication each day for prevention and 1 medications/supplements to treat an acute attack
6. My first migraine attack was: when I was around thirty.
7. My most disabling migraine symptoms are: pain and impaired mental capacity.
8. My strangest migraine symptoms are: When I wake up: funny colored patterns in my vision that look like a field of stars or a grid.
9. My biggest migraine triggers are: Hormones and Foods: MSG, Tomatoes, Onions.
10. I know a migraine attack is coming on when: I feel hyper and full of energy. Bummer.
11. The most frustrating part about having a migraine attack is: the lack of dark rooms with sofas in them. I think every store, every museum and every office should have one.
12. During a migraine attack, I worry most about: I don’t. I am a zombie.
13. When I think about migraine between attacks, I think: I am mad. I know I shouldn’t. But I am. I am mad at the doctors, at the minimal research funding, at the lack of knowledge, the stigma and so on, and so on.
14. When I tell someone I have migraine, the response is usually: Oh, I have migraines as well. I: Oh, really? How often? Someone: At least three times per year.
15. When someone tells me they have migraine, I think: Tell me more about them, because I really would like to have a friend with the same “hobby”.
16. When I see commercials about migraine treatments, I think: I am mad.
17. My best coping tools are: Having the luxury of time and space and being free to adjust my pace to my needs.
18. I find comfort in: the thought that menopause is not that far away and I might be one of the few lucky ones whose migraine says: bye bye.
19. I get angry when people say: You should have a more positive attitude and not be so mad.
20. I like it when people say: What does it mean when you say you have migraines?
21. Something kind someone can do for me during a migraine attack is: touch my back with a warm hand and leave it there without moving.
22. The best thing(s) a doctor has ever said to me about migraine is: can’t remember. That’s why they make me mad.
23. The hardest thing to accept about having migraine is: that they stay with me longer than any relationship I ever had.
24. Migraine has taught me: that career and money doesn’t have any value for me unless it pays medical bills.
25. The quotation, motto, mantra, or scripture that gets me through an attack is: none. As I said: During an attack, I become a zombie without thoughts. I am just a vegetating piece of flesh in pain.
26. If I could go back to the early days of my diagnosis, I would tell myself: Don’t try to endure pain because it will make it worse over the years. Fight it as early as possible with everything you have available.
27. The people who support me most are: My husband.
28. The thing I most wish people understood about migraine is: that it is absolutely, completely disabling.
29. Migraine and Headache Awareness Month is important to me because: it is crucial to get more information out to fellow migraineurs and to the general public. We need more support and more research.
30. One more thing I’d like to say about life with migraine is: It makes me mad. Have I mentioned that?
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.