Migraine

I've had debilitating migraines since puberty. Properly can't see and puking before the attack ends.
I have found in recent years that taking Migraleve and lying down for half an hour in the medical room with the lights off just at the onset leaves me fit as a fiddle.
But recently my migraines changed. I'm peri menopausal and I think this is related. Now they emerge gradually and I don't realise what is happening until I'm in a complete state. Then it's brain fog and nausea for a couple of days.
I think I have once or twice sat at my desk and said I have a migraine while confused and working out what's going on.
I'm usually trying to mask the symptoms and push through. I may have laughed at my desk.
But I'm seriously unwell.

So YANBU it's serious but YABU try not to be judgey about the colleague I guess?

Agreed
Migraines are a neurological condition, often affecting the whole body. I feel weak, and I always have an upset tummy. The whole body malaise is how I can tell in myself when a migraine is starting vs a bad headache. With my migraine I cannot function. I can't speak, I feel such intense pain I want to - and often do- bang my head on the floor and I am invariably sick. On a bad occasion I will vomit 15 times or so. So yes, it is a completely separate condition to a bad headache. Sometimes I am flash I throw up, just so people know it is the real deal and I'm not just iver reacting to a headache.. isn't that ridiculous

Yadnbu.

I also dislike when someone tries to tell me what my symptoms are like. Asking me if I'm seeing flashing lights etc. And then trying to disprove my migraine when I don't.

I don't have auras and sometimes the headache is not as bad as the other symptoms. Just because I don't have the same symptoms as another person doesn't mean I'm not suffering with a migraine.

I totally agree OP. I suffered migraines in my 30’s and back then (30 years ago) there was only a couple of medications that helped. I was fortunate to have a new young GP who asked me to try a new tripan medication, this changed my life. From 3 days in bed every month to migraine lasting only an hour with little after effects. DH suffered cluster headaches for over 30 years also, these are also debilitating.

I have been a migraine sufferer for over 30 years.
im retired now, but remembering back to working in an office environment, my co workers would often approach me discreetly and ask me if a migraine was starting… although I thought I was hiding the onset pretty well, my colleague would explain that they could literally see my eyes trying to close in order to minimise effects of light coming in from the windows.
so although some folk do claim to get migraines in the same way as a person with a cold claims to have flu, I just wanted to say that there are also lovely empathetic people out there who can and do try to make you feel a bit better by not minimising the pain and many other effects of a migraine.
just to give you hope, I was prescribed for the whole of 2022, a monthly anti cgrp injection.
they have worked for me, and I am so grateful for this treatment…. So wish it had been available in my working life, as the endless “back to work” interviews after either time off sick, or even a couple of hours in the sick room trying to enable sumatriptan to work, were so intimidating.
I feel as though I could write a book on the bloody condition, and how it impacts your life, and how it feels to hear “oh yes, I get migraines too”, when in reality they have had a nasty headache and haven’t got a clue how a migraine feels.
I don’t know if the person who claims to also have migraines is trying to empathise to make you feel not so isolated, or whether they are “jealous” of the unwanted attention the migraine sufferer gets…
it’s such a strange condition, as different folk experience it in different ways.
i don’t think any persons pain is “worse” than the next person’s… I just think we all experience pain differently.
please take care not to take too many painkiller doses per month, as this can cause rebound migraine, and you can get sucked into an ever decreasing circle of pain and medications not having any effect.
my heart❤️‍🩹 goes out to anyone with pain, but especially to migraine sufferers who can be so misunderstood and so not “believed”.

YANBU at all. I also suffer from migraines (mostly stress related) and I get really annoyed when people say this, especially at work. I think my manager thought I was faking it until she actually saw me struggling to speak with one.

Yeah I get why you’d be annoyed when people say their headache is a migraine because it trivialises how debilitating a migraine can really be.

i know 2 people who when they have them at their worst, they can last up to a week and they have nausea/vomiting among other horrible symptoms. I feel so sorry for them (and you)

As a fellow Migraineur, I say YANBU.

Everyone who experiences migraine, does so in their own way. For me, every episode is mix'n'match from a wide array of symptoms, each more thrilling than the previous.

I genuinely don't believe anyone claiming to have a migraine can rebound from even the most minor symptoms in ten minutes.

If they can, they've lucked-out in the migraine lottery and I'd swap with them in a nanosecond (or less).