I created this post as part of a campaign by Teva Pharmaceuticals. I received an American Express gift card for participating. When I was growing up, my mom would get really bad headaches. Her headaches would be so bad, she would be in bed for 2, 3 or even 4 days. It would turn our house upside down as mom was the heart of our family. When mom was sick, we never knew quite how to fill her shoes as interim mom! My younger sister also got these headaches and she missed so much school, the principal called my mom to make sure she was actually sick enough to stay home so often. Although I was not affected as severely by these headaches, when I was stressed out, I would get one that would last 1-2 days.

When my sister was in her late 20’s, she finally had a doctor who diagnosed her with having migraines. The doctor said from the sound of it, mom probably had them as well. According to The Cleveland Clinic, migraine headaches are in deed hereditary. They say that a staggering four out of 5 migraine sufferers have a family history of migraines. If one parent has a history of migraines, the child has a 50% chance of developing migraines, and if both parents have a history of migraines, the risk jumps to 75%. I guess it should not have been a surprise that my daughter gets them as well. Like me, she tends to get them when she is feeling very stressed out, especially when she is facing a big test or project at school and they will last from 1-3 days.

Some people who get bad headaches think they have a migraine, when that may not be true. A migraine is more than just a headache. With a migraine, you typically will also experience a variety of symptoms, including nausea, vomiting and sensitivity to light or sound. With my daughter, she will get nausea and vomiting and huge sensitivity to light when they are particularly severe. For each person, their migraine may be very different from what someone else experiences. Through this campaign, I was interested to learn migraines usually last between 4 and 72 hours, ranks in the top 3 of the world’s most prevalent medical conditions, nearly 36 million Americans suffer from migraines, and about 18% of American women and 6% of men suffer from migraine.

I think the worst thing about the migraine, is how they turn your day upside down. When I get a migraine, I can’t work, keep the house clean, cook, and sometimes, even getting in the shower can be painful. It is excruciating to get in the car to pick up Caitlin from school or run errands that cannot be put off until my husband gets home from work. When Caitlin gets one of hers, she can barely get out of bed, let alone go to school or keep up with her missed classes. This has dramatically affected her grades from time to time. For more information about migraines, please visit the More To Migraine website. You can also visit the More to Migraine Facebook page for information as well.