I had my first migraine during my senior year in college. I woke up and thought it was just a bad hangover. After graduating, I started getting attacks at the end of my menstrual cycles. I would take whatever I could find at the drugstore and not worry too much that the caffeine in the pills caused anxiety and hand shaking. I did avoid well-known triggers such as alcohol, sleep deprivation, and processed foods. Eventually, my gynecologist prescribed birth control pills that allowed me to skip periods and reduce my chances of menstrual migraine. It worked, for the most part. I told myself a little bit of suffering was part of life.

About a decade later, during the lockdown phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, things took a bad turn. I was caring for two young children at home and often working late. I had some of the most painful migraine attacks of my life. Even then, I convinced myself they’d let up once life got easier.

It was during a writing assignment that I realized I was thinking about this all wrong. One of the people I interviewed mentioned that migraine is one of the most disabling illnesses on the planet—but has largely been ignored. I decided I needed to change, first by advocating for myself. I made an appointment with my primary care doctor, who put me on a medication I’d tried years ago but gave up on. The drug helped, at times.

Then I started having much worse attacks. During one particularly bad episode, I could only leave my darkened bedroom to coil over the toilet with nausea. The throbbing pain on my left sinus felt worse than the pain of childbirth. Even after taking what I was told was a safe maximum dosage of medication, I got little relief.

It was time for a more serious approach. I made an appointment with a headache specialist, who prescribed a combination of daily supplements to prevent migraine attacks and a treatment to halt them when they do start. He also gave me some important advice: There is no need to suffer.

I still have attacks, but I now have an effective medication and knowledge of how to use it. And I’ve been emboldened to become an advocate for others with migraine. I’ve signed up for updates from migraine advocacy groups and have contacted my congressional representatives about the need to increase federal funding for migraine research. I’m also sharing the advice my neurologist gave me with others with migraine so they can ask their doctors the questions I never asked mine.  

I’m taking action because there is no reward in suffering.

Stephanie Cajigal is a writer and health communication professional in Los Angeles.