Living with Hemicrania continua

The story of Gabriela

I have a condition known as Hemicrania continua, quite literally “continuous half-head pain”. My right side is affected, where I suffer a permanent background headache with a pain scale of about 3-4 (but I do have a very high pain tolerance, I could well imagine that being a 6-7 for other people). On top of the normal headache, I also experience spikes where a sudden, very sharp pain starts up and does one of two things: a short-lived but deliberating pain spike, or it rapidly increases the background headache and the pain stays around all day.

The largest problem with Hemicrania (aside from the lack of a cure) is the triggers of the headache: light, sound, stress and lack of sleep. Light and sound are obviously very hard things to avoid, with the worst from both categories being fluorescent tube lights and children/babies, high pitch noises are no go! Indometacin is used to treat (not *cure*) the condition, but unfortunately I am unable to take Indometacin due to the horrid barrage of side effects it unleashes. My “treatment” at the moment is just trying my best to manage what triggers it, while I hope for a reason or cure to be found. I’ve been keeping up to date with research papers and they’ve been finding so-called secondary Hemicrania, so hopefully the reason will be found soon. Then people may decide to believe me when I say I have a problem, and actually respect and help that way.