Chronic headaches are often overlooked because people don't understand the condition. You can't see the illness the way you can a broken arm or a snotty nose. It isn't researched the way cancer is. It isn't treatable the way depression is. For that reason, many people (including doctors) often write it off as being "all in a person's head." I've been accused of making up my headaches and of having poor coping skills. I've been referred to counseling as a means of "curing" my condition. A headache sounds like such an easy problem that when people see the list of 30 or so drugs I've tried that haven't helped, they write me off as crazy. When I have to cancel plans or can't walk 200 feet because of a headache, friends (not all of them) think I'm a baby. I ran across an excerpt from a book called Migraine and Other Headaches by neurologists William B. Young and Stephen D. Silberstein that clears up some of these misconceptions by comparing headaches to more widely understood and accepted "disabilities."
"In general, headache sufferers are worse off than people who have arthritis, roughly similar to those who have congestive heart failure severe enough to interfere with walking up and down stairs and only slightly better than people with AIDS."
This never-ending headache is real. It is a big deal--no matter what a doctor says or what weird looks I get from people when I'm picky about lighting or how I spend rainy days. I thank God for the people in my life who do understand--who put up with my headache and love me anyway.
just in case you forget what i told you earlier. my sister has headaches too and was telling a lady she met on the plane about them. the lady said she had them too. Her cure - cannabis. Maybe your mom could come back and plant some by your new flowers. But you must "take" it at 3 p.m. everyday
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