“When I’m in a cycle of attacks, the headache from the last one is still there when the next starts”
You don’t just get over an attack when it finishes, it literally feels like a hangover
The first sign I get of a migraine attack is my vision going blurry. Often it’s the writing on my phone going fuzzy and distorted. It’s shortly followed by one side of my body going numb and everything tingling including my mouth. Then the headache comes and it feels like a hammer inside my head, with pressure building up at the same time. I feel nauseas and I’m usually sick. All I can do is lie in bed in a dark room for hours, with a constant banging in my head making me want to rip my head off. It can last anything from a few hours to more than eight.
After the pain starts to go I can finally sleep, but I’ll have a dull headache and not feel right for days sometimes weeks. The migraine hangover really is a thing.
You don’t just get over an attack when it finishes, it literally feels like a hangover
Sometimes when I’m in a cycle of attacks, the headache from the last one is still there when the next attack starts and I get no relief.
My first memory of migraine is taking days off school when I was around 15 with a strange headache. It felt different to a normal headache and I couldn’t function or get out of bed. Initially the GP said to rest, take pain relief and avoid stress. I tried lots of different medications and sometimes they would help for a few months or a year and I would think all was ok, then I’d have an attack and it would start again.
This cycle of GP appointments, A&E visits and treatments that just didn’t last went on for years. I tried all the diet modifications, cut out caffeine but nothing helped.
I went to university to become a nurse but started having regular attacks while on nursing placement, so decided to take some time out and defer for two years to try and get a handle on my migraine but the cycle just continued. Once I finally graduated and was working as a nurse the nature of shift work with a week of nights then a week of days led to regular attacks starting up again.
I hated letting my team down
Especially knowing how short staffed the NHS was but all I could do was lie down and wait to be picked up to get home.
I felt desperate at this point and paid privately for Botox. That was great for a while and enabled me to do a Masters and get back to work, but it stopped working and the old cycle returned.
In September 2022 I was prescribed Aimovig by a neurologist and it’s been life changing for me. I’ve gone from 15-20 headache days a month and constant attacks, to 10 headache days and one migraine attack in a whole year.
It meant I could go on the 2025 The Apprentice, I wouldn’t have survived past week one otherwise. There are a lot of early starts and late nights, not enough sleep or food and no routine and all the things they say to avoid really!
People think migraine is an awful headache but it’s so much more
I can deal with a headache, I can function. A migraine attack is a different experience, it’s completely debilitating and is so much more than the physical pain, it affects everything. Sometimes I’ll say I have a headache and people assume I mean migraine, I have to really explain the difference of a headache day compared to a migraine day.
I’ve had really low mental health days when I’ve thought ‘what’s the point?’ in getting a new job or making plans as I’ll have to cancel or quit. For a long time I had a fear of leaving the house and didn’t go out for weeks or months at a time in case I would have an attack somewhere alone and be driving or unable to call for help. I’ve missed lots of big life events for my friends including their weddings and milestones with their children. At points I felt like I let people down so much they just stopped asking me to things. That made everything feel even worse.
I’ve been lucky to have always had great managers at work, but when you’re taking months off at a time people start to question. They also expect you to have the attack then come straight back instead of being in the cycle of attack, hangover, attack. I still find it hard to explain a migraine hangover and that means it’s hard for someone else to understand too, you just don’t feel right in any way.
Now I work for myself and my business partner has seen me have attacks and recognises the need to recover afterwards. I’m also in a place where I feel comfortable talking about my migraine and the support I need with it, but not everyone feels comfortable or able to do this and not every work place is supportive. That needs to change.
My partner didn’t see me have an attack until a year into our relationship as I had been doing so well on medication before then. I think it was a shock at first to see me crying, being sick, unable to get up, but now he knows what I need and as soon as I have the first signs he helps to calm me with eucalyptus oil, gets a bucket and water ready, and brings a full fat coke. My family are similar, they just want to take it away as they see how debilitating it is.
It feels better knowing more migraine medicines are coming through instead of just being tried on things developed for different conditions. Having charities such as The Migraine Trust is incredibly validating too. It’s amazing to have a place to connect people and hear from others in similar experiences. It’s important that we keep getting the word out.
