Migraines as a Child and Teenager

As I began this blog I did a Google search on migraine images. I was impressed with all the fantastic images. You could tell these artists suffered with migraines. I think all these intense images may have actually triggered a migraine... lol

As a child, I would often get sick to my stomach. My mother told me it was because I was an excitable child. As I have since educated myself about migraines, I now realize this was probably a manifestation of migraines. It didn't happen often, but enough that my mother thought something was wrong with me.

As I got into my teens and puberty, I began getting headaches instead. Again, it wasn't frequently, but enough that I often missed school because I didn't feel well. My mother often thought I was making it up just to get out of school. Granted, I didn't like school too well, but since I used up to many sick days actually being sick, I didn't fake it.

Migraines are hereditary. But in the 50's they were not understood. Both my grandmother and mother got what they called in those days "sick headaches." Which is actually a good alternative name for them as they make your whole body feel sick. So, I really can't understand why my mother didn't actually acknowledge I had so many headaches as a teenager. Possibly because her headaches weren't very frequent and didn't occur until she was older. I can't explain why my migraine onset was so early and got so severe throughout my life. Perhaps it was the fall onto my head from the monkey bars, the concussion to my right temple I had around age 9, and that wreck on my bike where I conked my head on the sidewalk so hard I passed out? I'm certain those blows to my head and neck made whatever predisposition I had for migraines worse.

I continued through my teen years with the occasional migraine that would easily go away with a cold washrag and a few hours rest. I don't remember ever getting so sick to my stomach that I threw up during those years. I quickly bounced back and didn't think much of them, except that I had more than my share of headaches.I was, otherwise, a healthy teenager. My migraines were manageable, though still undiagnosed, until my 20's. From that point onward, it was a downhill battle...