The "textbook" migraineur's tale

I was once introduced to an intern as a textbook example of migraine. I have migraine with aura with severe nausea, sensitivity to light, sound and smell, neck pain etc. I have family history; my mother also gets migraines with aura, my father gets auras and my brother has had a few migraines. I think the story probably begins with "chronic sinus headaches" and motion sickness as a child. I was formally diagnosed with migraine at the age of about 12 because I had started having migraines with auras. For a while they became quite frequent and then slowly decreased in frequency until I was was having almost no migraines during my mid-twenties.

In my late twenties my migraines came back with a vengeance. Since then I haven't gone longer than a few weeks without a migraine. Earlier this year I went chronic and have been in almost constant head pain since then. I have been seeing a migraine specialist since late winter and we are still searching for the right treatment.

Like many of you I've tried a lot of different preventatives over the past 5 years. I am optimistic that we will find ones that will work. In fact I often think something's working (due to a good few days or something like that) when it becomes clear that it's not actually doing anything. Right now I am on four preventatives, however two of them are also to help me sleep, something I struggle with nightly and a big migraine trigger for me.