Continuous Pain

My favorite season is upon us and I am dealing with back to back migraines.  This apparently isn't unusual according to new studies that show, due to the lower humidity and weather changes, migraines increase.  I have a rather high pain threshold thanks to my multiple dental surgeries, IBS, migraines and period pains.  When I was in high school, I thought I was dying from all of the pain.

Migraines aren't just about pain, they are about so many other symptoms that occur.  For me, these include:

• Numbness
• Vision loss
• Hearing loss/muffled
• Balance loss
• Lack of use/paralyzation of certain limbs
• Sensitivity to hearing if not muffled
• Inability to speak and sometimes even make a sound
• Cognitive Difficulties
• Severe, striking pain

I used to suffer from acephalgic migraines or "silent migraines," which means I did not experience the headache or any sort of pain during the migraines. These were just as, if not more, severe as my migraines today. They consisted of all of the above symptoms except the pain. The silent migraines ceased around age 22-23.  Then I began to experience severe striking pain in my head.  This was definitely new to me.  It was originally believed that I could be epileptic when I experienced my first migraine around age 9-10.  After a slew of tests, it was diagnosed as aura/hemiplegic migraines.  

Why do I use a service dog for migraines on top of my autism? 

• Mac naturally alerts prior to the onset of a migraine
• I lose a good portion of my vision and need guidance from my sd
• I have Linc turn on and off lights when I am unable to
• Linc retrieves my emergency medication
• Mac & Linc both will perform deep pressure therapy to help lower my blood pressure
• Mac will retrieve help (training Linc currently)
• Linc will open and close doors if I am unable
• Linc can perform very light counterbalance when my balance is off

These are all very useful tasks I use during my migraines.