A Lifetime of Broken

My first recollection I have as a child was being cuddled by my new brother-in-laws best man wanting so hard to play and take part but could not. I was 3 years old and supposed to be her flower girl and I was having one of my first migraines. In those days, migraine wasn’t a word or a disease, it was hysteria, the vapors, the things women got and eventually went away.

We did not take medication in my home back then and I don’t remember acknowledging my pain out loud. Once I spoke to our GP and he suggested talk therapy. They continually hit worse and we’re impossible to sleep with. I knew we had aspirin in the cabinet so I would take a handful before school and another handful at lunch. I didn’t want anyone to think I was crazy so I never spoke to my GP about it again. Next came NyQuil. Capful before school and one before bed. I thought the world would end the day Tylenol came on the market. I worked at a hospital so I bought hospital sized bottles once a month.

At 21 I went to a language training mission for my church to learn Spanish and while there, at 21, I learned I had a condition known as migraine. I received my first ergots and a couple of Demerol shots. People still don’t get it, in fact I’m still learning the ins and outs and moving around. My husband married me even after seeing me in one of my worst migraines. Both my children are grown but suffer regularly and now my 6 year old grandson has begun having them.

With as much research as has been done, not nearly enough for our youth and we’re still in the guessing game. I hope by the time I die, migraine is as simple a problem as a headache. Take a Tylenol, rest and it will go away.