Change Comes with episodic, then chronic migraine
I have had migraines for as long as I can remember, and that’s a long time. They began in childhood and continued off and on into adulthood. They were pretty infrequent in the beginning, not requiring any real conscious adaptation except going to bed when they occurred. Then, as I grew up and had a family, they began to have a real impact, especially with my second pregnancy. I started taking both over-the-counter and prescription pain meds and ergot-based abortives. They began to interfere with my kids and my work in my 30’s and 40’s as I developed headaches toward the end of a work day. I took my first (of eventually several) leave of absence in about 1993.