How living with migraine gave me perspective on life

Acording to my Migraine Tracker app (Migraine Buddy for anyone interested), I have a mild disability. It’s a little strange seeing that word on a screen: disability. It doesn’t feel or look like I have one. At least, not always. On the days that I have a monster of a migraine? Oh, boy, it definitely feels that way. There are times when I can barely get out of bed, but need to because I’m ready to vomit my entire body into perfecty sculpted six-pack abs. I’ve lost my ability to speak, slurring words like a drunk leaving a bar at 2am, and have felt that stabbing pain drive itself straight through one of my eyeballs, causing me to barely be able to open them lest any light, as dim as it may be, be let in.

These are normal occurances for me. I don’t think of them as weird or strange or unusual. It’s what happens when I get sick and I’ve learned how to deal with it over the years. The fact that this isn’t what regular people out there experience on a daily or weekly or monthly basis should be a good indicator that, yeah, I do have a disability. And, the fact that I have had to miss work over and over because of it. But, seeing it written out right there in front of me? That really puts things in perspective.

And, as weird as it is to say that I’m thankful for this persuasive pain, that’s one of the things I’m thankful for when it comes to my migraines. Having a…