What My Migraines Feel Like

Me in the midst of a migraine

The only name that I was given for my chronic condition was daily chronic headaches. I usually describe them as pain in my head that I have all the time that can get migraine bad. I think a lot of people think of migraines as a really bad headache, but they are much more than that.

When my pain levels are low, my pain is usually just located in my forehead. It’s usually a dull ache that I can generally ignore. This is how I feel most of the time and the pain never goes away completely.

My pain levels can shoot up for a variety of reasons. I have triggers like changes in the weather and the smell of raw onions. But sometimes my pain levels can go up for no known reason. When they go up, that’s when I start having migraines.

When I get a migraine, the pain moves down my face and my whole face will hurt. If the pain is bad enough, my teeth will ache and the pain has even moved down as far as my neck and chest. I also get auras. My sight will start to get fuzzy which can make it very difficult to look at a computer screen especially if I’m in a room with bright lights. I’ll also start to lose brain power. I just can’t think as quickly or as well as I do when my pain levels are low. My sensitivity to light gets worse and my depression gets worse if the high pain level lasts more than a few days.

My migraines aren't just a lot of pain, but it’s a whole neurological meltdown. I try to muddle through the best that I can. No medicine works so I tend to wear cold packs to try and dull the pain. Otherwise, sleep is usually what helps the most. Thankfully the pain and auras do ebb away and my pain level drops back to normal levels so I can resume my normal life.