hannah sullivan facknitz

It’s so hard to describe a migraine. People understand pain, but I’m not sure people really understand this pain. Your brain isn’t built to experience pain. Your scalp and the nerves & muscle beneath, but not your brain, and yet, that’s what this is. Everything around you becomes surreal, colors and sounds change, your pupils dilate, and I even get goosebumps all over. Things aren’t just blurry or doubled. Life around you takes on a different quality and it can be devastatingly confusing. Migraines are different from person to person, but they are all part of a serious medical condition. The treatments for them are often half measured that only provide partial or temporary relief. Rarely does a person find a cure for chronic migraine. When someone tells you they have a migraine, they’re not telling you they have a bad headache. Ask them what they need and believe them when they say they’re in pain. Often as confusing and distressing as the migraine itself is the reaction we get from our peers. Be kind and patient. It will mean so much to us.