"There are days when it feels like someone is stabbing my eyes with knives...the pressure is unbearable" Romi's story navigating a childhood with chronic migraines.

My name is Romi, and I’m 21 years old. I’ve been living with chronic headaches and migraines for most of my life, and I want to share my journey.

I first experienced a migraine attack when I was around 9 or 10 years old at school. At the time, I had no idea what was happening to me. I started seeing spots (aura), which freaked me out, and then the headache hit severe enough that I ended up vomiting multiple times. We initially thought it was just heatstroke, but it continued happening regularly.

By this point, I began getting daily headaches, which only seemed to get worse. By the time I was 14, I decided to see a doctor. The first thing they suggested was an eye exam with an optician, but nothing came up. Then, I had a general health check-up and a blood test, but again, everything came back normal. We kept going back and forth with tests, but nothing seemed to explain the pain I was experiencing.

At this point, I didn’t know where else to turn, so we stopped going to the doctor for a while. Meanwhile, I started having up to three migraine attacks per week. The migraines became more intense, and whenever I noticed the aura, I would just try to sleep through it, hoping it would pass.

As time went on, new symptoms appeared. I started waking up with a swollen tongue, slurred speech, and memory loss, which really scared me. So, we went back to the hospital, and another round of blood tests came back clean. Eventually, the doctors decided to do an MRI scan to check for brain tumors. Fortunately, the scan showed nothing, but once again, I was left without answers.

Doctors then put me on birth control to help regulate my migraines. While it helped with reducing the attacks, the daily headaches still remained. I was also prescribed a nasal spray to stop migraines once they started, but it made me feel extremely nauseous and didn’t help, so I stopped using it.

Now, while the migraine attacks have become less frequent, I still deal with headaches every single day. Some days, the pain is so intense that it completely stops me from doing anything. There are days when it feels like someone is stabbing my eyes with knives or trying to pull them out of my head. The pressure is unbearable, and it’s impossible to focus on anything. Even small tasks, like studying, become nearly impossible.

One of the hardest parts of living with chronic headaches and migraines is that many people don’t take it seriously. "Everyone gets headaches," they say, and while that's true, they don’t understand the severity and daily impact that this condition has on my life. It’s hard to explain that this isn’t just a "normal" headache, it’s constant pain, and it affects every aspect of my life, from my studies to my relationships. The lack of understanding can be isolating, and it often feels like I have to keep proving how much this affects me.

I’ve had multiple blood tests, tried various medications, and gone through countless doctors’ appointments, but nothing has provided real relief. The frustration of not knowing what’s causing it all, combined with the constant pain, makes it tough to keep pushing forward. But through all of this, I try to stay hopeful that one day, something will finally work to ease the pain.