My story begins with frequent visits to doctors when I was very young due to frequent headaches I would have every week. I would get MRI’s and blood work to test the implications of my headaches. As I grew up my headaches would get worse and get better but in my junior year of high school I could not remember the last time I did not have a headache. I began to track how long I have had a headache for and it has been two years with a constant headache. The pain level gets worse at times with the only solution being to be in a dark room. Living with a headache for two years has been very difficult limiting hanging out with friends, causing me to miss school or extra curricular activities. However, I worked extra hard through school having to push through my migraines which ultimately led me to my dream college, Bates College.
This illness is a genetic condition although two years has been an excessive amount of time with a headache. My mother has had a headache for over twelve years she has had to spend many times away from her family in clinics and/or stuck in her bedroom because of the severity of the pain. This illness has ravaged through my family and has become a burden on us. While I was in high school all of my friends new about my constant headaches and understood the problems I deal with on a daily basis. After being in college for over a month now I have had to explain my story which has caused my to feel isolated. It is a hard concept for many people to understand, I hope to raise awareness for migraines to help not only my family but for millions of people who are just like me.
