Migraines. My Kryptonite. My enemy. My arch-nemesis.

You’ve held me back from countless days of fun and instead replaced them with head-pounding pain that takes me out of commission for multiple days at a time. I can’t keep my eyes open, I can’t sit upright, I can’t be in a room with strong smells, and Lord knows I can’t be in a room with people who are making any PEEP of noise.

I recently watched a video that’s been floating around my Facebook feed for a little while that perfectly depicts the effects that a migraine can have on a person, and I have never related to a viral video more in my entire life. The nausea, the achy-ness, the extreme exhaustion, and the overall misery that comes along with the most painful thing I’ve experienced…. Multiple times.

The worst part about being prone to migraines is that you never know when one’s going to hit- they are onset by multiple different things and over the course of my 19 short years, I’ve only just now began to understand what can trigger one of these pain-in-my-side (and head) monsters.

Unfortunately, my migraines can be triggered by multiple things, so basically anything I do comes along with the distant fear that I might be ending the day with the worst headache imaginable. If I don’t drink enough water and become dehydrated? Migraine. If I spend an excessive amount of time outside? Migraine. Literally a result of getting TOO MUCH fresh air. If I smell something putrid and can't get away from it? May not hit you then, but that little headache will indeed turn into a migraine. Sometimes I’ll feel a headache starting to form so I’ll take some Ibuprofen or Excedrin to get rid of it before it gets bad, but sometimes it’ll still turn into a migraine. They're relentless.

I know that out of all the things that I could get to hold me back, migraines are nothing compared to what many other people go through on a daily basis. But it doesn’t change the fact that sitting through a migraine is one of the worst things in the world.

The worst part about it is knowing that once one hits, all you really can do is wait it out. I’ve tried so many different pain medications, prescriptions, people have tried certain piercings to hit pressure points to relieve them of migraines, or even taking herbal supplements to rid them of this excruciating pain, but none of them have helped me. Many people have written articles and advice pieces on how to rid people of migraines, but often times the cure for one differs from person to person. The only thing that helps my migraines go away is sleeping it away. It gets me disoriented, messes up my sleep schedule, and can put me in a funk for a series of a few days.

If any of this has happened to you, I genuinely apologize. I apologize because I feel your pain, and can empathize with you on an extremely personal level, and because I know what you have to live through.

My migraines were passed on to me from my family members of previous generations (thanks dad), so at least I have someone close to me who understands my pain and knows that I know how to handle it. So to all the people who have had to be around me when I’m suffering from a migraine, thank you for understanding, and thank you for sticking around. I know I turn into quite the monster when one hits me.