Just got my annual migraine

Hi everyone- just joined after looking up symptoms because I’ve just had my roughly annual migraine. I say annual, they’re more once every 12-18 months I think, quite infrequent anyway. But when they do occur everything is halted. Work, time with my partner, social events all have to be called off so I can lie in a darkened room.

I first experienced it in my teenage years (I’m now 42), one day I had to go home eatly from school and go straight to sleep late one morning, which lasted right through until that night. I’ve had them on several other occasions, a few of which stick out in my memory. I remember one about a decade ago when in work where I got the nausea and aura, but not the headache. On that occasion I completely forgot a colleagues name and couldn’t recover it in my mind, which felt quite scary.

I did go several years since that experience without a migraine, but they seemed to have returned the past few years.

Does anyone else feel like a bit of a fraud when telling people about your migraine. Today I was getting ready go to into work as I was unsure if my migraine was that bad, although I had experienced the aura earlier this morning and also had a stomach upset (which I thought was a coincidence but now realise could be linked), and had a headache. What sealed the deal was when my partner was speaking to me, and concentrating on what she was saying made my headache worse. I called in sick, but I can’t help shake off the feeling that both my partner and my boss don’t believe me. This is compounded when having been in a dark room for an hour or so, I start to feel better.

I know with the lower frequency and (I think) less severe symptoms I’m not a particularly extreme case, but these factors actually make doubt myself somewhat. I have absolutely no idea what causes them, and it feels too infrequent to spot any patterns. The only thing that might be consistent is that they seem to happen around this time of year, ie spring or summer. I live in Scotland so it’s not a particularly warm or cold place, very few climate extremes here which would suggest anything.

Wondered if anyone else is in the same boat? I did find the explanations on the website very reassuring, even down to the ‘washed out’ feeling afterwards.