It's just a headache....not!

Hello.  So glad to have found this site a few months back, it has been so helpful to me just to have others who understand!

I started getting migraines from the age of about 2-3 years old. My mom said it was from the time I could talk. She remembers me telling her that "my feelings hurt" and when she asked where were my feelings, I would point to my head. I remember crying a lot from the pain, waking up at night to vomit and describing the feeling of being nauseous as "having the ocean in my stomach". So, literally, from the time I was a toddler, I suffered constantly throughout my childhood (and my life) with severe migraines a lot.

The worst part is how no one seemed to notice much, my mom would tell me "it's just a headache", she never took me to a doctor to investigate the problem. She just gave me aspirin, and I would go to bed, crying in pain, eventually I would vomit when I couldn't hold the "ocean" in my stomach anymore, and that would actually make me feel better. I never got any sympathy from siblings, I was told to "stop being a baby" when I was in pain.

My father, who I only saw once or twice a month, got headaches too and I was left to think that there was nothing we could do about it. Other than asking him if he had a headache today too, I suffered alone. As far as I know, he has never been to a doctor for his headaches.

I finally brought myself to a headache specialist when I was in my early thirties, thinking that maybe I have migraines, and these aren't just headaches. Surprise, I was finally diagnosed with chronic migraines! I am now 42, and still get migraines regularly despite trying practically everything to gain a normal, headache free life. Thinking back on my life, I wonder how I've lived this long with the amount of pain I've endured in 39 or 40 years of migraines...