Parenting with migraine
Being a parent comes with its own unique set of challenges. Having migraine as a parent, however, can elevate these challenges and bring on feelings of guilt and insecurity.
What has your experience been parenting with migraine? How do you handle the tough migraine days paired with the tough parenting days? This is a safe space for support and sharing.
Parenting with migraines, yuk! One of my worse subjects of choice. This is a double edged sword.
I do not have my son all the time so I can fully empathise with those have children all the time while struggling with migraines of any type.
My time starts on Friday afternoon and I drive 120 miles to collect him and travel 120 miles back home. This time of the year is awful with low light and high beams from car headlights. And then I do the same journey on Sunday to take him home.
He is with me and my partner for the short stay every other weekend, if I do not have a migraine then brilliant, but I suffer with chronic migraine, so this isn’t very often.
If I have a migraine parenting is crap, it’s either what can we do that is low energy, or leave him to play computer games while I sleep and my partner watches him. Otherwise we go out and have coffee (water in my case) and we will go for a walk.
If we have to stay in and I have to rest I feel like I’ve let him down as he’s come all this way to see me suffer. And I have to have my partner look after him. I feel like I’m failing at all levels.
So on the days I’m fit, we do really fun activities to make up for the time we have to stay in. But the thought is always with me, “what will trigger a migraine while we’re out”.
It would just be nice to preempt every eventuality that leads to a migraine so I can mitigate for a crap weekend.
Thank you for sharing your story with us. You're not alone in feeling this way. Parenting in general is difficult and when chronic illness is added in, it complicates everything.I understand feeling like you're "failing at all levels," I felt that way too while I was raising my two children years ago living with debilitating chronic head and neck pain. They saw me at my worst and while I was overmedicated. I am thankfully every day that they are both well adjusted adults with fulfilling careers and partners.
The thing about migraine is we can do all the things to perfection (in regards to mitigating it) and still get a migraine attack. It's the nature of the disease.
Try not to be too hard on yourself, you're doing your best! Will you keep me posted on how you are doing? I'm sending you wishes for a low pain day, Nancy Harris Bonk, Patient Leader/Moderator (team member)
great idea
Thanks for joining the discussion and being part of our community. How are you doing today? Nancy Harris Bonk, Patient Leader/Moderator (team member)
