How I Found New Relief From Migraine Disease

I've lived with migraine for most of my life. The attacks started when I was 10 years old and plagued me throughout my teens. It's difficult to describe how terrible and debilitating they were. I missed many days of school, sleepover parties and days lost during family vacations.

I can remember being so sick and begging my parents to take me to the hospital so they could "put me to sleep." I had about a 10-year reprieve, but the migraines came back with a vengeance during my second pregnancy.

At the time, I was a VP with a great career in mortgage banking during the housing boom. Needless to say, this was not a good time for migraine to come back. I was able to hide my illness from my employer and tough it out. I felt that being a woman, being pregnant and having an illness was a triple whammy that would make me seem weak or be viewed as a less than desirable employee.

I made it through and have two amazing and healthy adult children. Fast forward a few years to my 40s and now came a new shade of migraine. These were very different from what I experienced before. They were less intense, but they would last for months. Every single day, there was some level of pain.

At this time in my life, I was very active, competing in triathlons and Tough Mudder races. It got to a point where I had to drop out and find other interests. I couldn't bear the thought of putting on a bike helmet or swim cap and couldn't imagine running with this new, disruptive daily pain.

It was a sad time for me because I didn't see an end in sight or find much relief from any treatments I was trying. I saw many doctors—neurologist, primary care, dentist, homeopath, chiropractor and acupuncturist. They all said the same thing: It's a headache.

I wouldn't give up, so finally I went to an ENT (ear, nose and throat doctor). He asked me a litany of questions. He finally looked at me and said, "It's not just a headache. You have migraine disease." I found out that so many of the strange symptoms that I was experiencing were actually symptoms of migraine.

While I still live with migraine, I am delighted to say that I am responding well to new medications that have come to market over the past year and I am hopeful.