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When Did Your Migraines Start?
When did you start getting migraine headaches?
Poll closed, but my first one was at age 11, next was with puberty and menses, went from 5-6 times a year to chronic at age 24, got more involved because of car accident (hit by uninsured motorist and hit car afterward in front of me) with severe neck sprain at almost 26.
I guess this poll is closed, but my migraines started after I experienced a minor whiplash car accident in my mid 20's. This wasn't on the poll...
Well, I am behind aren't I. LOL Mine started after puberty and then were better in my 20's and came back to make up for lost time in my 30's. Now I am in my 40's and they are worse than ever. Doesn't that cheer you all up that are younger than me............:( sorry.
It was nice to know that some of you had them as kids, because I know my son suffers from them and he is 12. We are very understanding and always believe him, as we would rather error on the side of belief than let him be in pain. At school we have headache meds and let the nurse know to give them to him if you complains. He sat through a day of school with broken fingers, so He doesn't complain about pain much, when he does we do something about it right away.
Mine used to be that I could catch them, or get rid of them in hours, may 12 at the most, now they are like trying to control an ocean storm, in a canoe. Not happening. So I can see where it would make a person want to end it at any expense. Being a parent has helped me because I realize how much things change day to day so next year I may not have them, so it helps me not to think of suicide, but realize they will end.
Thanks for all the comments, they do help. :)
Tracy
It was nice to know that some of you had them as kids, because I know my son suffers from them and he is 12. We are very understanding and always believe him, as we would rather error on the side of belief than let him be in pain. At school we have headache meds and let the nurse know to give them to him if you complains. He sat through a day of school with broken fingers, so He doesn't complain about pain much, when he does we do something about it right away.
Mine used to be that I could catch them, or get rid of them in hours, may 12 at the most, now they are like trying to control an ocean storm, in a canoe. Not happening. So I can see where it would make a person want to end it at any expense. Being a parent has helped me because I realize how much things change day to day so next year I may not have them, so it helps me not to think of suicide, but realize they will end.
Thanks for all the comments, they do help. :)
Tracy
Well I had excruciating migraines that I should of been taken to the hospital over that Aspirin has never worked on and light and sound agitate as far back as I can remember. They can hurt so bad that back before I got used to the idea of extreme pain just being a part of life that is probably just going to get worse and worse as I get older I would actually get suicidal ideations because of being in so much pain. Luckily however I found a couple of medications that work pretty much immediately if I take them in time before the migraine fully sets in, otherwise it takes forever for them to work.
I hated how there were people who basically insisted that I couldn't be in pain because I was a kid. It made (and makes) me so angry because I experienced it first hand. And I don't get how there could be an age limit on feeling pain.
I'm glad that you had some people stand up for you.
I'm glad that you had some people stand up for you.
I am sure I had migraines even as a little kid. I had severe headaches all throughout my life, but I just didn't know these were migraines. And, I didn't know I had more migraines than I was aware of 'til my neurologist told me that the symptoms I was describing were auras without the flashes of light and with or without a headache.
I can still remember the really bad headache I had when I was under six years old and telling the adults I had a really bad headache. I was summarily dismissed by most, but someone did stand up for me and said that even little kids get headaches. Most of them, though, kept saying that little kids don't get headaches. Talk about ignorance!
I can still remember the really bad headache I had when I was under six years old and telling the adults I had a really bad headache. I was summarily dismissed by most, but someone did stand up for me and said that even little kids get headaches. Most of them, though, kept saying that little kids don't get headaches. Talk about ignorance!
I've had migraines retroactively diagnosed to 1st grade, but my mom and I ~strongly~ suspect that I've had them since birth. I was a screamer, even when there was seemingly nothing wrong. I would only be quiet if my mom was holding me. I do remember as young as preschool going and hiding under the stairs because the light of the classroom or recess hurt my head.
We've also found drawings of mine from when I was ~3 that would, one day, show a stick person with flowing hair, and the next day (dated when it was drawn) the hair would look like spikes sticking out of the person's head. My color choices were also effected and I'd suddenly be using lots of red and green.
My mom, when I went into first grade, told my teacher "unfortunately, the headaches are real." Since then, they've gotten progressively worse with each year. Then in 8th grade I got statis migrainosis and haven't had a day without a migraine since September 01.
so...yeah. kinda went off on a tangent.
We've also found drawings of mine from when I was ~3 that would, one day, show a stick person with flowing hair, and the next day (dated when it was drawn) the hair would look like spikes sticking out of the person's head. My color choices were also effected and I'd suddenly be using lots of red and green.
My mom, when I went into first grade, told my teacher "unfortunately, the headaches are real." Since then, they've gotten progressively worse with each year. Then in 8th grade I got statis migrainosis and haven't had a day without a migraine since September 01.
so...yeah. kinda went off on a tangent.
I put "not sure" because now my neurologist and doctors say that I have always had migraines... well at least since I was a teen. But, as a teen they weren't diagnosed as migraines. And, also, my mom and dad tell me I've had severe headaches since I was a child but I can't remember my medical history from when I was a kid so I just have to go on what they say... but since I can't remember what the headaches were like at all, I am not 100% comfortable saying that I for sure had migraines as a a child even though it is probable that I did.
As a teenager, all of my headaches were diagnosed as sinus headaches and I was treated for multiple sinus infections based on headache symptoms only... talk about over-using antibiotics, eh??
Now I am really careful to make sure I get a lab test done (swab or blood test depending on what it is) to make sure that I don't have a virus or something completely different from an infection if I have signs of an infection so that I don't take antibiotics needlessly after pretty much being on antibiotics multiple times every year as a teenager... and actually, that is what doctors seem to do now anyway, they won't usually prescribe an antibiotic anymore unless they have a positive test result in their hands, no matter what the symptoms are... since everyone is so worried about over-use of antibiotics now... well, at least that is a major issue in Canada, I don't know if it is other places too... on top of the antibiotic resistance issue there is also the issue of over-treatment when no medical treatment is actually needed because it costs the Canadian government a lot of money paying for doctor's visits and prescriptions when someone only has the common cold... which is a big problem here and so the government and the doctors try to combat it by public health information on when to take antibiotics and also on when to go to the doctor. Anyway...
All my doctors now say that all those "sinus headaches" were misdiagnosed and were actually migraines the entire time... and that often migraine headaches were misdiagnosed as sinus headaches until recently.
The headaches I had as a kid, my parents say they were really severe too and at times they would become chronic... so, the doctors think they were probably migraines as well.
As for the first migraine I KNEW was a migraine because it sounded exactly like a normal migraine and I knew it wasn't anything else... well, I was 17 I think. Then I only remember getting the headaches that I KNEW were migraines a few times a years, the ones that were clearly migraines... but I had lots of other headaches, and the doctors say that they are all migraines even if they don't always feel like a classic migraine... what I think of as the sort of obvious migraine is one with nausea and aura and hating light and being in bed ALL day.... and yeah those would only happen a few times a year until I was about 21/22.
I'd already finished my first college program (which was a business management program), and I'd started my Arts & Sciences Degree program since I wanted a degree too and I had one term where everything was normal... like with a normal "acceptable" amount of headaches. Then, the summer after that, I started getting them EVERY DAY and I almost had to drop out of school... but I managed to get them under control with mega-doses of advil and I was put on my first preventative medication then too... but, I had chronic low-grade headaches that would never go away, but I could still function. But... the headaches would get better and worse and better and worse and I'd be fine one term and do really well and then I'd have the chronic headaches and I'd have to withdrawal completely from a term and I just went on like that for my entire degree until I'd finished and graduated.
After I graduated I tried to go on to more schooling but I ended up in the hospital the migraines got so bad for most of that fall... and, I was out of school (and most of life pretty much) until about March (so about 7 months). Now I'm in school again and they are still pretty bad... but... not as bad as they've been in the past but also not as good as they've been in the past either. I don't know, it feels like a roller coaster sometimes!!
Anyway... so... maybe since I was a kid and probably all the headaches as a teenager were really migraines according to the doctors but for sure, I can 100% for sure say that I know I've had migraines since I was 17 for sure... but, I guess probably since I was a kid too since that is what my parents and the doctors say.
As a teenager, all of my headaches were diagnosed as sinus headaches and I was treated for multiple sinus infections based on headache symptoms only... talk about over-using antibiotics, eh??
Now I am really careful to make sure I get a lab test done (swab or blood test depending on what it is) to make sure that I don't have a virus or something completely different from an infection if I have signs of an infection so that I don't take antibiotics needlessly after pretty much being on antibiotics multiple times every year as a teenager... and actually, that is what doctors seem to do now anyway, they won't usually prescribe an antibiotic anymore unless they have a positive test result in their hands, no matter what the symptoms are... since everyone is so worried about over-use of antibiotics now... well, at least that is a major issue in Canada, I don't know if it is other places too... on top of the antibiotic resistance issue there is also the issue of over-treatment when no medical treatment is actually needed because it costs the Canadian government a lot of money paying for doctor's visits and prescriptions when someone only has the common cold... which is a big problem here and so the government and the doctors try to combat it by public health information on when to take antibiotics and also on when to go to the doctor. Anyway...
All my doctors now say that all those "sinus headaches" were misdiagnosed and were actually migraines the entire time... and that often migraine headaches were misdiagnosed as sinus headaches until recently.
The headaches I had as a kid, my parents say they were really severe too and at times they would become chronic... so, the doctors think they were probably migraines as well.
As for the first migraine I KNEW was a migraine because it sounded exactly like a normal migraine and I knew it wasn't anything else... well, I was 17 I think. Then I only remember getting the headaches that I KNEW were migraines a few times a years, the ones that were clearly migraines... but I had lots of other headaches, and the doctors say that they are all migraines even if they don't always feel like a classic migraine... what I think of as the sort of obvious migraine is one with nausea and aura and hating light and being in bed ALL day.... and yeah those would only happen a few times a year until I was about 21/22.
I'd already finished my first college program (which was a business management program), and I'd started my Arts & Sciences Degree program since I wanted a degree too and I had one term where everything was normal... like with a normal "acceptable" amount of headaches. Then, the summer after that, I started getting them EVERY DAY and I almost had to drop out of school... but I managed to get them under control with mega-doses of advil and I was put on my first preventative medication then too... but, I had chronic low-grade headaches that would never go away, but I could still function. But... the headaches would get better and worse and better and worse and I'd be fine one term and do really well and then I'd have the chronic headaches and I'd have to withdrawal completely from a term and I just went on like that for my entire degree until I'd finished and graduated.
After I graduated I tried to go on to more schooling but I ended up in the hospital the migraines got so bad for most of that fall... and, I was out of school (and most of life pretty much) until about March (so about 7 months). Now I'm in school again and they are still pretty bad... but... not as bad as they've been in the past but also not as good as they've been in the past either. I don't know, it feels like a roller coaster sometimes!!
Anyway... so... maybe since I was a kid and probably all the headaches as a teenager were really migraines according to the doctors but for sure, I can 100% for sure say that I know I've had migraines since I was 17 for sure... but, I guess probably since I was a kid too since that is what my parents and the doctors say.
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