For as long as I can remember, I have suffered from migraines. From as early as elementary school I have experienced countless migraines. Some of my symptoms included nausea, dizziness, light headedness, vomiting, and pain in my face, jaw, and ears. There were days were I missed school because I physically could not get out of bed. The light hurt my eyes and there wasn’t a lot of things that could offer me relief.

I tried everything, especially when I was younger. I tried different medicine, I tried frozen face masks, and cutting out certain foods. I even had this little tube that looked like a perfume roller that I had to roll on my face that was a type of aromatherapy.

I remember one summer where I could not get out of bed for about two weeks. I just laid in my room in the dark. One week we went on my family vacation and it was the first type of relief I had experienced in so long. It was so crazy that my parents were convinced that there was something in my house causing my migraines, like mold or an air freshener. I went to the doctors not long after my trip and the doctor gave me a list of foods I couldn’t eat. He had asked me about certain things I would typically eat (I was about 11 years old) and basically I told him I ate a sandwich for lunch every day with a small bag of chips. Turns out, my migraines were being triggered from an ingredient in flavored lays potato chips. I ate a bag almost every day for lunch, however I did not have any when I was on vacation. Since then I have always have to be cautious of what types of chips I’m eating.

For years Advil Migraine was my go to. I would take it and immediately go to sleep in hopes that I would wake up without a migraine. This resulted in a crazy sleep schedule throughout high school because I would take medicine any time.

As I have gotten older my migraines have worsened. I have missed days of work and college classes because of the pain. I have gotten sick while driving and have had to pull over. I remember one day about three years ago I was at a restaurant and we had just been served our food and we had to take it to go because the pain was so severe. I actually started crying in the restaurant and my boyfriend had to take me to the closest gas station to buy Excedrine.

After a few doctors visits I started tracking my migraines. Things like the weather, certain foods, lack of sleep and stress are all triggers for migraines. After tracking mine for about a month, I learned that mine were centered around lack of sleep and lack of caffeine. I stopped drinking soda almost five years ago. I am someone who likes coffee and coffee flavored drinks for the taste, not for the energy. I would get a drink from Starbucks and feel great and I would get another drink the next day and feel fine, but on the third day if I didn't have caffeine, I would have the worst headache. So my body needed that caffeine. For a long time, coffee had been my relief. My migraines would go away after drinking an iced coffee. So why not drink it every day? I could have drank it every day but it was a cycle that I had to go through every week and I didn't want to drink it every day! I switched to tea because it had much less caffeine and it didn't effect me so much. I went almost an entire year without coffee and caffeine.

I had been researching different ways to help with migraines that didn't involve taking a ton of medicine. I had be checking into acupuncture, essential oils, different diets and foods and pretty much anything that could help. I loved coffee and I hated not being able to drink it, but I also hated the pain more and wanted to find something that worked better.

I had been researching the daith ear piercing for about two years. I knew people who had gotten it done and spoke highly of it. I didn't think that part of my ear was big enough for an earring to go through it so I put it off. I was also pretty scared to get a huge needle through my ear. I had so many questions but was always too scared to go to a place and ask them.

In May of 2017, I was on a trip in North Carolina with some friends. They wanted to get tattoos while we were on our trip. We found an awesome tattoo studio across the street from our place. We went in and I asked the piercer about 30 questions about how the piercing was done, if my ear was big enough, and if it really helped with migraines. So on May 5th 2017, I got my daith piercing. It was about a 5 minutes process from start to finish and cost me $50. I cried as soon as we got back into our room because it felt like I had been stabbed in the head and they just left the knife there. The amount of pressure I felt in my head for the next 3 hours was insane.

I woke up the next morning and it felt fine. My ear was sore but overall it was fine. I took very good care of my piercing and I noticed results right away. Instead of getting a migraine every week, I made it to August with only having one. I went back to North Carolina in October of 2017 and I had only suffered from three migraines in 22 weeks. The migraines I did have were very mild, didn't last long, and I could easily handle the pain. There is a huge difference between a migraine and a headache. I would still get stress headaches and headaches from lack of sleep and from not eating, but they were easy to get through.

Most importantly, I was able to drink coffee again. I can now drink coffee every day of the week or not at all and not face any type of consequences from it. I can drink coffee every other day, in the morning, or at night. My migraines get worse when I am stressed but getting that piercing was the best $50 I have ever spent. It hurt, it hurt really bad but I would recommend this remedy to everyone. It has completely changed my life. I totally stopped taking my prescription medicine and haven't looked back. I think the only complaint I have is that normal iPhone headphone do not fit in my left ear with the earring. I had to switch to over the head headphones. But I've heard if you switch from a bar to a hoop, it's easier for headphones.

I know that every person is different and that not all things will work the same for everyone. The best part about this ear piercing is that it is not permanent and if you don't like it you can take it out. It's also pretty cute and can be easy to hide. I have a curved bar in my ear and you can't even see it unless you're looking at me from the side. My doctor totally approved of it after I got it done, saying it was a semipermanent form of acupuncture. Which is awesome because I don't have to get needles put in me multiple times a month, I have a constant metal bar in my ear. It is in my left ear because they say you should get it done on the side where your migraines start. My migraines always started behind and above my left eyebrow. So not only did I get rid of medicine, but I gained a super cute piercing that I can change up when I want!

If you're struggling with migraines, don't give up! Find a piercer that you feel comfortable with and get it done. I also recommend getting it priced with a bar because it's easier to take care of and if you have long hair, it won't get tangled. Also, don't watch videos on how they do it. If I had watched videos beforehand, I definitely won't not have gotten it done (it's a crazy process). But please do yourself a favor and try it out! It really did change my life.