I was diagnosed with Hemiplegic Migraine in 2019, after a few years of struggling for a diagnosis for some odd symptoms and experiences. Here are five things I wish I’d known when I was trying to get diagnosed and when I was newly diagnosed.
My Migraine Story: Powering On Through Chronic Migraine
By Megan Donnelly I’m walking the hallway of my junior high gym, just after a volleyball game, rushing to find a trashcan to vomit in. I quickly clean myself up and head to my dance company rehearsal. The Beginning My whole life I have been a driven person, some may say an overachiever. I remember telling my Mom about the pain and then would have to stay home from both school and dance, so I often swallowed the pain in order to dance. This is something I wish I had never put myself through, and was completely my doing. Yet, I believe migraine started in early childhood, as my Aunt…
My Migraine Story: How I Managed Migraine With the Heal Your Headache Program
By Amy Hyde My Migraine Beginning My first migraine experience happened when I was 14 and it was actually one of the worst attacks that I have had – what a scary place to start! It was winter and I was clothes shopping with my friends and boyfriend at our local high street. The combination of hot bright shops and cold dark streets triggered my first ever attack. The pain behind my eye built over 30 minutes, I lost the feeling in one arm and began to slur my words. I remember thinking that I needed to go home and get help but my brain just didn’t seem to be…
My Migraine Story: Learning to Manage Chronic Migraine and Rebound
By Paula Sicord I had my first migraine attack when I was 11 and sleeping at my grandmother’s house. I thought I had a brain tumor. I was misdiagnosed with a mono-like virus, which began a long pattern of mistaken diagnoses. I was mainly diagnosed with sinus infections, many every year, until I was in my 30s. At that time, I diagnosed myself with migraine and sought help. Typical Symptoms My most common symptoms for years were pain behind my right eye, pain in my sinuses, sore throat, dizziness, neck pain, and exhaustion. I handled them well, with Advil and Sudafed, thinking they were sinus related, until my mid 30s. …
My Migraine Story: Finding Relief From Chronic Vestibular Migraine
By Elice Johnson When did you realize you had migraine? I first realized I had migraine in 2014. How long did it take to get an official diagnosis? What type of migraine do you have? In 2014, I started having periods of dizziness and an awful headache that would not go away. The headache lingered for about 3 months. Everyday I would wake up feeling well, but as the day went on, the symptoms slowly crept in during the work day. I saw my PCP and had lots of tests run (bloodwork, stress tests, EKG…) everything was “normal” except for low iron levels. I was told to keep a food…
My Migraine Story: Vestibular Migraine Diagnosis and Treatment
by: Heilean Rosenstock-Armie In the Summer of 2017 my world was flipped upside-down. I say flipped as that is exactly how spontaneous and violent it felt. I was sitting at my desk in work when all of a sudden I leaned forward and grabbed the edge of my desk to steady myself. I placed my head on the desk still grasping it tightly. I couldn’t look up or down. I felt as though I was at sea with no compass in a violent storm. I wasn’t sure if the room was spinning or I was spinning internally. Everything was out of sync. If anyone had said the word migraine at…
