I was not correctly diagnosed with migraines until I saw my doctor for what I thought was a very painful sinus infection. My doctor, a migraineur himself, checked my ears and told me they were filled with wax and needed to be cleaned.
After they were cleaned, he completed his exam. “You don’t have a sinus infection,” he said. “You have a migraine.”
I was horrified. And relieved. And horrified. I come from generations of migraineurs, and I had suspected migraines in the past, but they came randomly. I could not find a doctor to diagnose them correctly.
This was about 10 years ago. I did not understand the pain I was in for, all the failed medications, all the weird and wacky ways to lose money on different contraptions (all guaranteed to help, of course), all the subtle signs of a migraine, all the ways my life would change.
Even after a decade, I’m still surprised by the red flags of a migraine. And I still miss them. Here’s a list of the the ones I’ve experienced (they come and go):
Hives (especially when it’s cold and I get wet)
Trouble sleeping
Frequent urination
Fatigue
Mood changes
Auras (I called them sparklies)
Neck pain/stiffness
Memory loss
Allodynia (experiencing pain from things that don’t hurt)
Chills
Brain fog
Runny or stuffy nose, itchy eyes (I thought it was allergies, I was wrong)
Dizziness
Sensitivity to light, sound, smell, patterns, movement, objects too close together
At the end of this story are some references with more symptoms and triggers (to me, they’re practically the same thing).
Here’s the sad thing. Most migraineurs I’ve met don’t want to talk about having migraines unless I bring up the subject. Migraines are a dirty secret. Migraineurs are weird (take a look at that list of red flags). And it’s true. Our brains are different. It’s estimated that about 10% of the world’s population has migraines. Weird.
What’s even weirder is that different migraineurs can have different symptoms/triggers and respond to different medications. There is no one size fits all when it comes to migraines.
I’ve gone the traditional route. I’ve seen a neurologist, and tried (and failed) every class of migraine medication that was available at the time. I’ve gone the nontraditional route with more success - diet, exercise, neurofeedback. I haven’t yet found the magic to eliminate my migraines. Some migraineurs have found that magic, and I send them love and wish them a wonderful life.
Recently, my migraines packed their little bags and moved to a different location on my head. Nobody knows why. I really thought that I had eliminated the migraines and was only experiencing barometric pressure headaches. I was happy. I was wrong.
My quest continues.
References
See this article for some thoughts on how to explain migraines to people who never had one:
published in Contemplate
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