Tell Us About Your Childhood

By Lisa Robin Benson

1 min read

This June, for migraine awareness month, we want to know when your awareness of migraine came about!

Being undiagnosed with migraine for years

In our 2018 Migraine in America survey, we found that 56% of respondents experienced symptoms of migraine before they turned 18, but only 26% were diagnosed before adulthood. Lisa talks about her experiences being undiagnosed with migraine as a child and how she had very little awareness of migraine until her late 20's. Watch her video and let us know what your experiences are. Sharing our stories is one way we can spread awareness about this debilitating disease!

This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The Migraine.com team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

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sheron Member
My first migraine was at the age of ten. I was on vacation with my grandmother and two of her life long friends.We had stopped at a gas station to get gas .That is when the flashing lights (Aura)started. My grandmother told her friends that I was having one of those sick headaches. This was in1963,so all they had to give me was aspirin and something for my stomach. Most of it did not stay down. After everything physically calmed down I was able to sleep until the next morning. I had one sick headache a year. It was 12 years later while my husband was stationed in Germany that I was talking to another Army wife. She had been diagnosed with migraine headaches . I found then from Dr.s that is what I had too.
robt Member
My migraines started when I was about 10 years old. I was not diagnosed until I was about 17. This was about 50 years ago and I did not receive special medication until I was about 30. <a href='https://migraine.com' target='_blank'>Migraine.com</a> has helped me learn more about the condition. Rob T.
brownt Member
I do not remember how you I was. I do remember getting terrible stomach aches and being taken to the hospital. I was curled into a ball with the pain every time and every time the first thing the doctor would do would try to get me to lay flat so he could poke and prod. No idea back then they were migraines. I would also get migraine headaches. Except that was not what they were referred to as. They were horrible. My Aunt had some strong medication that would knock me out for about eight hours. They would be gone then. The worst migraine I can remember was when I was about nine. My family was living in an Inuit community and I as invited to go visit an outlying settlement. An Inuit friend of the family agreed to take me for a few days. He would drive the snowmobile while I rode in the sled. My head hurt so bad and the sled constantly crashed over the tundra and ice. I was so far out of my mind with pain I was likely unresponsive. They would not know what was wrong as I doubt the infliction was understood. Eventually I was driven back home in the sled over the same rough terrain. I do not remember the journey home. I may have missed a few more days too. My Aunt was not around to help. I also remember the senior year in high school having a daily headache. My mother took me to the chiropractor every day after school believing that the headaches where from a misaligned neck. Getting cracked often caused greater blood flow and made it worse. School was challenging as I had difficulty concentration, reading and retaining much of anything. Exam were the worse as the tension would make my head so bad I could not think. I would look at the exam and knew I knew the answer if only I could form my thought. Sort of like losing words. To make matters worse, my calculator was cheap and sometimes when you hit a number it would repeat or not accept it. So for anything needing math, I had to do the problems many times and use the most common answer. Could not trust my brain or calculator. I also had bad allergies and that medication would put me to sleep during class. Can not imagine how I made it through those years. I was about 30 when I met a doctor who diagnosed my migraines. She also suffered. It was common to have an appointment wait while she laid down for twenty minutes to cope with her own pain. Best migraines doctor I have ever had.
waspat Member
I was 4 years old when diagnosed with migraines. My daughter started having abdominal migraines at age 2, even no doctor told us.. We figured it out by her symptoms.