My chronic pain consumes my entire life. It’s absolutely exhausting. I can’t control how I’m going to feel each day. The amount of times I’ve had to cancel plans or bail on my friends and family because the pain is so excruciating it hurts to breathe.
But it’s not only the pain that is so frustrating. I have trouble concentrating, holding conversations, finding my words, and a bad memory. It takes me so much longer to get things done because of the amount energy and mental capacity it will take. For any ordinary person this sounds ridiculous, but you can’t really know what I’m going through until you’ve gone through it.
It sucks and its so lonely. I watch my friends having so much fun and accomplishing such great things and I’m at home, celebrating the small victories of taking a shower or cleaning my room. It’s never “just a headache.” Millions of people struggle with such a debilitating disorder and it’s finally getting federally recognized as a National Health Observance.
So the next time someone complains of a headache or a migraine, don’t roll your eyes or treat them like shit. You have no idea the amount of pain and confusion they could be in.
Lindsay Glenne 