My Story-Ongoing, of course
Hey everyone! My name is Melissa and I'm 20 years old. I recently joined this site after attending the Miles for Migraine Education Day in Philly, where they mentioned this site a lot. So, here's my story thus far!
Four years ago, I woke up with a headache. It hasn't gone away since. I've been to 5 different neurologists, a cardiologist, 2 physical therapists, a psychologist, a natural remedy practitioner, a neurological chiropractor, and more but I'll stop there. I was misdiagnosed once with Brachial Plexus Palsy (NOT something you want to be misdiagnosed with) and have since been left undiagnosed by every doctor I've seen. I've also tried medications (embarrassingly enough, I don't really remember the names of these medications) but none of them had any effect on me.
Basically, I wake up pain-free but the second I get out of bed, there is some level of pain in my head. Some days are definitely better than others. If I'm able to ignore the headache and convince myself it's not there, it's a good day! Usually, I have 1 really bad episode every week or two. I've been to the ER on multiple occasions when the pain was just too much to bear. I actually spent this past Thanksgiving (the whole week) hiding under my covers and full of random meds from the ER (they barely did anything). It's especially difficult for me at the moment because I'm a college student-I often struggle with getting work done because of my poor focus during an episode or simply because of the intensity of the pain. Often times, looking at a computer screen makes the pain worse, but unfortunately 90% of the work in college is online.
I really loved the Migraine Education Day and being able to meet so many amazing people who share my struggle. I was referred to Dr. Young at the Jefferson Headache Center and have since been attempting to make an appointment with him. If anyone has any thoughts or experiences from Jefferson, please share them with me! Or if my story somehow resonated with you, please reply! I love getting to interact with people and I think that support is vital for us migraine sufferers.
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