I have had chronic migraines since longer than I can remember to be honest. I believe they became chronic at the end of my BA so around 2000 or so. They became daily around 2004. It has been a long time since I had a day without a migraine, but they happen every so often. They have changed every aspect of my life. From what I do for a living, to how I socialize and how much.
- More than 90% of sufferers are unable to work or function normally during their migraine attack: What I want people to understand is that working with chronic migraines is extremely difficult. We have days we cannot work at all. And when we do of ability to function is compromised. This takes a great toll on us. It adds significant stress to us and to our employers and can causes issues with our employers.
- Medication isn’t designed to be taken every day: We can take triptans two days a week. If you have daily migraines that leaves five days unaccounted for. Assuming the two days was successfully treated at all. Nothing that works can be taken often. Therefore we have days where we have to endure acute migraines with nothing to help use.
- Attacks last between 4-72 hours– this is not a four-hour event at times. It can be days lost to a migraine. It can even last longer when it goes into a status migraine… which is brutal.
- Over 4 million people in the States alone experience Chronic migraines: Chronic migraines are more than 15 a month. They are complicated to treat. They are not rare. They are not a choice or a decision. They are what happens with chronification.
- A migraine is a neurological disease: It is more than the headache portion of the attack. It has four stages of which a person may have all or a few. It can include symptoms of nausea, vomiting, vertigo, photophobia, phonophobia, visual or tactile auras.

- Significantly lower household income.
- less likely to be employed full-time
- more likely to be occupationally disabled
- higher risk of depression, anxiety and bipolar
- higher risk of chronic pain
- high occurrences of cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases
- Couldn’t peruse my academic career
- couldn’t find a suitable job
- the career I settled for, I couldn’t maintain work
- had to go to part-time
- job instability
- financial instability
- depression
- financial stresses that affected my spouse
- relationship stresses
The pain has a radius. It touches our entire lives. It touches everyone in our lives. The impact of chronic migraines in that way is impossible to measure. We are massively affected by it every single day.
I relate to you in so many ways. I too, have chronic migraines and this affects everything in my existence. No doctor is of any help, I wish I had some healing advice for you!
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