I created this post as part of a campaign by Teva Pharmaceuticals. I received an American Express gift card for participating.
Migraines. They’re misunderstood in general and are something I’ve struggled to explain to others. For the first 20 years of my life, they were abstract to me too. As a teenager, I had heard of migraines, but never really thought much about them – they were something that happened to other people, not me. I always got occasional headaches, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary… until the day in college that I got my first one. That day, I finally understood. It’s not just a bad headache.
Just like me, nearly 36 million Americans suffer from migraines. 36 million. They rank in the top 3 of the world’s most prevalent medical conditions. 18 % of women and 6% of men suffer from migraines. They’re hard to understand, and if you’ve never had one, the first might take you by surprise. Migraines are triggered by many different things, and the triggers are different for everyone. For me, the most common triggers are stress, fatigue, or missing a meal, which is why I try to prevent that whenever I can.
The day a migraine hits is never a fun one for me. In addition to the headache, I typically get nauseous and sensitive to light and sound, and what do I have in my house? A loud, energetic 3-year-old that certainly doesn’t understand what mommy’s going through. Getting a migraine really disrupts my life – every moment I have to battle a migraine is a moment I can’t spend with my daughter. Since they usually last anywhere from 4 to 72 hours, migraines keep me from living my life. They keep me from getting my every growing to-do list done (what mom doesn’t have a long to do list?), and they have kept me home from work in the past.
They’re more than a bad headache. Do you suffer from migraines? Find out more about them at MoretoMigraine.com.
