Migraines Aren’t “Just a Headache”

They can be a devastating chronic illness

I’ll need a little more than that. Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

“Why aren’t you coming to the party? It’s just a headache,” someone told me.

No, I wanted to scream. A migraine isn’t just headache. It’s a full-body attack. It’s a thief that robs my mornings, nights, and afternoons.

I’ve been getting migraines since I was a kid, and I have medications I can take when the symptoms come on. But sometimes — for example, if I’m asleep when the migraine starts, or I don’t recognize my symptoms right away — a migraine can hit with full force.

Then I’m down and out, for at least a day. Work and social events become impossible. I get blinding pain. And I mean literally blinding: I have to put my head under a blanket because I can’t stand to look at light. Then comes extreme, unrelenting exhaustion. And very unpleasant GI symptoms: think stomach bug, only it’s not contagious.

I don’t talk about my migraines a lot because I don’t want to look like I’m not capable of doing things. Of working, reaching deadlines, or having a social life. But the truth is, sometimes it’s a struggle. I can have months where I’m migraine-free and life is a breeze, and months when I feel like a migraine is hiding around every corner, holding a club and waiting to attack.