Have you ever had a migraine?

If the answer is yes, you will understand when I say that migraines are not just headaches. They are very debilitating and extremely painful.

I have been having random chronic migraines since I was in elementary school. Fortunately, as I got older they became less frequent but when I was a child, I would get them 3 or so times a week. I would often have to leave school early because of them.

Symptoms of migraines typically include:

blurred vision, pain in one side of the head, nausea, vomiting, confusion, weakness, among many other symptoms depending on the severity of the migraine attack.

Migraines also have no set schedule, they come and go as they please. The other day, I woke up at two in the morning sick to my stomach with a migraine. I have also had many migraine attacks during the day too.

I am not asking for pity but I am asking for understanding. There have been many instances where a migraine has kept me from doing something with my friends and family.

The number one response I get when I tell people that I am experiencing a migraine is "stop making excuses for not wanting to do things."

Honestly, I wish it was just an excuse.

The truth is, you simply cannot understand how awful a migraine is unless you experience one for yourself.

I have spent a lot of my life worried about how migraines would potentially negatively affect my future. What if I got a migraine during work or college? What would I do if I became a nurse and got a migraine on the job?

It is easy to feel like you are suffering alone when you have a migraine attack. That no one else knows what you are going through. That no one else understands that you are in pain and you cannot control it.

Eventually, I realized that you cannot spend life worrying about those things with migraines. You cannot let the condition overpower you and keep you from your dreams and goals.

Yes, you will have bad days But, you will also have many great mirage free ones too.

You are so much more than a person with chronic migraines.