The Silent Burden Of Migraine

In competitive environments, current social norms rarely make it a bad time to complain about someone else's complaining. After going through a personal injury myself recently, one which an outside observer would be entirely unaware of by looking at me, I was reminded of the emotional pains that come with migraine. To be perceived as someone who complains is often not a good moniker to attach to oneself. Yet with migraine and recurring headache, I had an intense amount of pain in my head about twice a week. I would only speak up when the pain was so bad it was disorienting. Sometimes when I did, it was too late and if I just addressed my headache sooner it may not have developed into a migraine. So essentially, keeping quiet about my pain was to my own detriment just to save face with people who likely could not empathize with me. Today, it is hard to imagine just how painful those headaches were and it undoubtedly built up my personal resolve.

As a hypothetical, let's say society allows us X complaints per month before being perceived as difficult to work with. Well, migraine makes things that much more difficult. Say your boss is a tyrant. You raise the issue to a colleague and they may think, "Aren't you the person who complains about your migraines already? Now your boss too? When will it end?" Obviously, this is an extreme example but the overarching point of this post is migraine brings burdens beyond pain. You may miss a family, friend, or work event due to migraine and some co-workers think you took the day off, when really you sat silently in pain for hours all while stressing about the work you were unable to complete and was piling up. I've heard stories of people using up all of their vacation days just to deal with their migraine. It's upsetting for everyone and it's why the world demands better migraine solutions, which Rayforma is committed to. As the old saying goes, we haven't walked a day in someone else's shoes. Be kind out there. We don't know what anyone else is going through.