The Migraine Diva: #MHAMBC Day 13

Our challenge prompt today is: Watch the video below, then:

Tell us what it makes you feel. What was your favorite part? How can it be shared with others who need to see it, and why is sharing videos with those who don't have migraines or headaches so important?

Watching this video stirs up a plethora of emotions for me. I feel sad that this disease has no cure and brings insurmountable pain to millions. I also feel validated by the video and all of the facts it gives about Migraine. I am deeply affected by this video, especially when it talked about Luke and when I saw Melissa Dwyer's picture. Two young beautiful souls who couldn't live with the pain of Migraine anymore. I have had my experiences with attempted suicide due to the combination of unrelenting Migraine pain, depression and accumulating health problems. I am one of the millions of people who suffer on an almost daily basis from Migraine disease.

Migraine (Photo credit: makelessnoise)

I have experienced many different spectrums of Migraine. I firmly believe that as an infant and toddler, up until about the age of five that I had Abdominal migraine, which was most often triggered by motion sickness and bright lights. There was no head pain then, just abdominal pain and severe nausea and vomiting (a lot of it). The head pain began around the age of eight and was pretty severe. My pediatrician referred my parents to a neurologist who diagnosed me with having Migraine. The attacks were episodic and I had between about two-three a month, with one always being extremely unbearable. I was put on propranolol and was on it for about five years, with no change. At that time, Tylenol was the only pain reliever and all of us who have Migraine know how ineffective that is. By the time I was thirteen, liquid Motrin was available and my pediatrician would give me six small bottles. I had to drink the very nasty orange flavored syrupy stuff at the onset of each Migraine. That did nothing either. Eventually I was given Naproxen and then told to take Tylenol and Advil together. That worked a little better.

It wasn't until I was in my early twenties and pregnant with my youngest son, that they started to become way more frequent, severe and difficult to treat. By the time he was four I was chronic and soon after developed chronic daily headache. So, every day of every month involved either a headache, Migraine or both. Could you imagine if this was what you had to endure every single day? Migraine disease can be aggressively progressive, especially after multiple failed treatments and use of dozens of medications. This video is awesome because it really breaks down what Migraine is and how it affects the millions who have it. It is so important to share this and circulate it amongst friends, family, and social media websites. The stigma behind Migraine and the frequent dismissal of it's very real pain and impact must be abolished. Would it make any sense to tell a diabetic that their disease isn't real because you can't see it? Then why has it been okay to make those with Migraine disease feel unvalidated?

I really want everyone who doesn't have Migraine or other debilitating headache disorder to watch this video. It's a great piece of educational material and it's very enlightening. It makes it real and tangible and unavoidable. It is my sincere hope that after today and every day following, that more and more people are made aware of the very debilitating and life altering disease with which I have and will continue to have for the rest of my life.