Is your family there for you when you are in pain? Share to show your support!
I am 20 years old and I have been suffering from migraines since I was 8 years old. At first, they were just headaches. My mom said it must mean I would get my period soon, but I didn’t for about 5 years. Two years later, they started to become more frequent and more intolerable. No one ever believed me when I said my head hurt. They just assumed I wanted to skip school. It wasn’t until I was 15 and missing a week of school at a time that my family started to believe me and actually took me to a doctor for them.
Read more: Living with Chronic Migraines
At 16, I was diagnosed with chronic migraines and that has been my diagnosis for the past 4 years. I have a daughter and migraines make me feel like a terrible mom because some days I can’t even leave my bed. My husband has to take care of her during those days. I feel like a burden, but I still try to not let my migraines ruin my life. I still power through them as best I can even when I’m in pain every single day.
My husband and family don’t seem to understand what I mean when I say I can’t get out of bed. Even with being diagnosed with chronic migraines I still get told “oh it’s just a headache. Take some medicine and you’ll be fine.” However, it is nowhere near that easy and they just don’t understand. They all know my triggers and try to help me prevent them as best they can but they still don’t understand the pain I’m in when I have one.
Read more: Getting a Service Dog to help me during Migraines
I want everyone, not just my family, to know that migraines are a real disease. It’s not just something we use to get out of things. People that suffer from migraines are really in pain and can’t live day to day like everyone else. We have to avoid triggers, take preventative medications that don’t always work, and have days taken from us because of these. Migraines NEED to be taken seriously.
