I am a migraine sufferer. I have been for most of my life. So you can imagine how annoying it feels when so many people that you work with start throwing around this “sickie” day excuse like it’s nothing. I wish people would just stop using this legitimate disorder as an excuse to get a day off work. There are dozens of things you could say if you used your imagination so why do people have to use the one thing I can (painfully) relate to as their go-to sickie day excuse? I’ve done my research, as I said, I’ve been experiencing migraines since I was 11 years old. To this day, it has made many aspects of my life much harder because of this “dark cloud” always hanging over my head. And sure, to put it into perspective, it’s not a fatal disease but it’s still a very real part of many people’s lives who have to struggle on a daily basis to balance life with persistent migraine attacks.

If you’re unsure of what a migraine is here is a quick run-down to get you up to speed. Firstly, there are different types of migraine. Not everyone will have the same type of pain or require the same medication to cope. I take medication on a daily basis as a preventative measure that doesn’t always work. I get attacks on a weekly basis, most weeks I suffer through a migraine attack 3 or 4 times. Most people wouldn’t know this because I have been very good at hiding my pain from others. I do this because I constantly feel like I am bringing other people down or just making life that much more difficult for my loved ones by always being “sick”.  I’ve been ridiculed by managers who thought I was “putting it on” to get a day off. Yes, of course, your’e so right! I really enjoy having to pull over to the side of the road because the pain is so bad it makes me throw up. I enjoy throwing up all over myself. Or I’m “slack” because I took the last day of the week off due to not being able to see properly out of one eye. Of course, I enjoy being partially blind on Thursdays. So, you probably get the picture. Migraine is horrible and I really feel for anyone who knows how debilitating this disorder can be.

All I ask from anyone that reads this is try to maybe, I dunno, come up with a different excuse to take a sickie because if you were a real migraine sufferer, you wouldn’t be lying about it just to dodge a day of work.