Fifty Years with Migraine: From Interpreter to Advocate
Diseases
Migraine
My Story
I've had migraine disease for over half a century. While it began when I was in high school, I wasn't diagnosed for another 15 years. Back then, there were no real treatment options available to me, just painkillers. I started out as episodic, with only a handful of attacks each month. As I grew older, they became chronic, meaning at least 15 days a month I experienced head pain as well as many other symptoms of migraine… there are at least 40 symptoms of migraine.
So, half my life is spent dealing with various migraine symptoms. Besides the head pain, a very common symptom for me is transient aphasia. It’s one of the most embarrassing things, along with the cognitive impairment. Often, my words get all jumbled up, or I can’t quite process what I’m hearing. I had been working as an educational interpreter for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, a job I loved! But my aphasia became too much of a problem (you can’t interpret what you can’t process), so in 2009, I left my profession. My husband and I have our own business now, which allows me the flexibility to work around my migraine attacks, but I still miss interpreting.
Migraine is largely hereditary, and both my daughters have inherited it from me. That’s just one reason I feel strongly about advocating. I am a board member and Vice President for Chronic Migraine Awareness and participate in several other advocacy programs to work toward better treatments.So half my life is spent dealing with various migraine symptoms. Besides the head pain, a very common symptom for me is transient aphasia. It’s one of the most embarrassing things, along with the cognitive impairment. Often my words get all jumbled up, or I can’t quite process what I’m hearing. I had been working as an educational interpreter for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, a job I loved! But my aphasia became too much of a problem (you can’t interpret what you can’t process) so in 2009 I left my profession. My husband and I have our own business now, which allows me the flexibility to work around my migraine attacks but I still miss interpreting.
Migraine is largely hereditary and both my daughters have inherited it from me. That’s just one reason I feel strongly about advocating. I am a board member and Vice President for Chronic Migraine Awareness and participate in several other advocacy programs to work toward better treatments.
My Motivation and Inspiration
One thing that motivated me to advocate is the fact that both my daughters have inherited the disorder from me. When I was first diagnosed, there were no treatments for migraine, just pain relievers. I want to make sure there are advances in migraine treatment for my daughters and for their children. And I want people to understand that migraine is not just a headache. I want to help remove the stigma around it.
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