Migraines Just Suck

I started getting headaches in middle school. My family always told me I would be fine just take some ibuprofen. Years went by and by the time I was in my early 20’s I was having a migraine every day. I would be working at the Boys and Girls Club and I would take my breaks to go lay on the cold concrete floor in the back room which was very dark. My coworker at the time really came to my rescue. He had migraines and the director of the club had them too. They helped me through some rough days but I didn’t have insurance and never had them looked at.

Breaking point in my journey

It wasn’t until my late twenties and hundreds of migraines later that I hit a breaking point. My migraines had started to make my life miserable. I had become depressed and very anxious. I went in and got diagnosed and was prescribed some drugs that really worked. Here comes the whacky part, I felt that I had a loss. Now I know this sounds crazy but my migraines and I were suffering side by side for over 10 years. I didn’t know what to do without a migraine. Don’t worry I quickly learned! It changed my outlook on life. This new lease on life really helped me make some life changes.

My treatment stopped working

As we know in the migraine world, all good things come to an end. The drugs stopped working and I started to develop allergies to many of the drugs I was on. I noticed that the name-brand drugs worked and when the generic came out, I was allergic to it. I was at, what felt like a dead end. The migraines would need to resume. I got lucky during this time my husband and I started a family and during pregnancy and breastfeeding, I was spared from migraines I had few during this time.

When that period was over I started the meds that I could but really I had to use the ER. When I had 3+days in a row of a level 10 migraine it destroyed me. I just went to the ER. My new regimen was (now please don’t follow it’s terrible for your gut) 500 naproxen, 1000mg acetaminophen, 1 Pepcid, and maybe a Benadryl. This for me through the level 6-10 days. Needless to say, I now have 20 more drug allergies and a gut that is very damaged.

Advocating for myself

What have I learned about migraines? You are your biggest advocate. Migraines are real and the pain is real no matter how “normal” you act, auras change, symptoms change, meds will need to change, don’t give up when you have medical professionals that don’t understand (it should be a requirement that one must have migraines to work in that office j/k), there are doctors out there that do understand.

Then I met a new PA. She told me to count my migraines and I would tell her 4 or 5 a month. She then clarified her question she said how many days do you have a migraine. Wow-what?! You mean if I have a migraine and it starts on Monday and goes away Saturday that is counted as 6? This new communication was a game-changer. I was then was put on Botox. It worked for a while, it was like I put a screen up. I still had the migraine but the pain didn’t escalate in the same way.

Migraine and masks

It was some relief. I felt I was on a good path, then Covid came. Welcome to mask-induced migraines. I cried over having to wear a mask. I felt as if no one cared what the mask did to my quality of life. I had to wear one at work all day like the rest of the world. You see I am a teacher. I was with my cherubs through it all. We did not do virtual school other than for the small stint at the beginning. I was back to square one. I had, on average, 26 migraines a month taking the cocktail I mentioned before almost every day. I had nothing else.

I will be real, I thought it was all hopeless. I was so sick of being in pain but there was no way migraines were going to win. My students were way too important to me. Gosh, am I lucky my students understood me. On certain days noise was super hard and my students would do a “quiet” day. Most of the time I could hide behind my, “I am fine,” mask. My migraines got progressively worse. I would have moments of absentmindedness. I would forget how to do something, I would forget names, one day I even forgot how to pump gas. Now, these were all small snippets of time. Seconds longer each time.

Holding on to hope

Where am I now? Thanks to this page I would find peace reading others' stories. I found hope that new meds were coming etc. My last appointment was good. I got a new doctor and he was a fresh pair of eyes. I was but on Emgality and Ubrelvy. I only had 6 migraine days this month!!! This has been amazing. I feel like I am taking my life back. If you suffer from migraines I first want to say migraines suck, but there is relief coming your way.