Chronic Migraine Awareness

Chronic Migraine Awareness, Inc. would like to thank Lucy for sharing her story.

*TRIGGER WARNING* This blog post contains material of a highly sensitive nature including ‘thoughts of suicide’ that may be triggering for some individuals.

Hello, my name is Lucy, I have lived with Chronic Migraine daily for the past 39 years. Every morning I wake up with head pain on the left of my head, in the same place since I was eleven years old. I’m rarely sick nor do I have flashes of light, my migraine is constant, and pain centered.

When migraine first began at age eleven, doctors thought it was because I needed glasses. I had my eyes checked and I did need glasses, but my headaches grew worse and became daily from there onwards to be honest. I can’t remember a single day not laying on my bed with a cold flannel over my eyes just for some relief. Fast forward a few years, the pain I was getting was over my left eye and temple, and that’s where it still is today. The pain is so severe, I can’t sleep, and nothing eases the pain. I’ve had many brain scans and have had neck and spine MRI’s. I always thought my headaches were spine related but the doctors assure me it’s not. When my head is bad, I get this ringing in my ears, the worse the pain the louder the ears are. I can only explain it as a tv interference pitch noise, it drives me nuts! My neurologist says that it is normal for those who live with Chronic Migraine. I also suffer with Rheumatoid and Osteo Arthritis plus several other health conditions. Treatment wise, I’ve tried most over the counter medications, several migraine meds like Imigran, wafers, Codeine, Amitriptyline, Propranolol to name a few.

A couple of years ago my head got so bad, if I had a gun that night, I would have shot myself just to find pain relief. I had had enough so my doctor started me on Botox, which I tried for a year with no change to my migraine. I was and still am sick of head pain! Now I’m on Emgality injections monthly and back on Propranolol to see if this works.

Just after Christmas this year I had my first thunderclap headache and I ended up in hospital for an emergency CT scan. Thunderclap headaches are 0-60 severe shooting pain across front of my head and are so painful that I drop to my knees as soon as it reaches its peak. It goes off within fifteen minutes, but I am getting two or three a week now. My neurologist seems to think the injections will eventually help, who knows…I’m just hoping and praying someday I can be pain free, even just for a day. 

If you are feeling suicidal please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at *988

If you would like to share your story with us, email Kristen@cmaware.org