I'm 25 years old and have been living with migraines for nearly my entire life. I've had them as far as I can remember, which is about 4 years old. Fortunately, as a child I got migraines only occassionally, and like most migraine sufferers I quickly learned to cope with chronic/daily headaches, which were not nearly as bad as the migraines.
About 2-3 years ago I noticed my migraines worsening and eventually found my way to a neurologist who specializes in migraines. To my relief, he was quickly able to diagnose and treat the cause of my chronic headaches--occipital neuralgia. I now take lyrica, which works great. The pain caused by the occipital neuralgia, also, seemed to increase the frequency of my migraines, but it is clearly not the only cause. I am now on an antidepressant and I have tried a variety of antiseizure medications, which help prevent migraines, but have terrible side effects that I just can't live with.
I don't know which is worse, not being able to get out of bed because of the migraine symptoms or feeling either too tired or out-of-my mind to do anything because of the medications. Recently, I was in a position where I was out of work for a few months, and I found myself feeling well more days than not and was able to enjoy my life. Now that I'm back working, albeit less than before, I am finding myself back in a situation where I feel too sick most days to do my job properly and many times can't even make it to work. When I do feel well, I end up making up for lost work days and missing out on spending time with my fiance.
Ideally, I think it would be best for me to work from home part-time, but we cannot afford for me not to bring home a sizeable paycheck because we have all kinds of bills, especially with upcoming wedding and new house. I cannot think of a winning solution so that I can feel well more often and be able to both spend time with my fiance and work.
Does anyone have any advice?!
Since you didn't mention where you work or what you do, this is kind of general.
If you work in an office and on a computer, there are a couple things you can do. First, get an anti-glare cover for your computer screen. Second, if you have flourescents in your office, see if they can turn off the one above you. There is also something available called a Cube Shield which blocks light and noise.
It is also important to have a survival kit at your desk, things like cold packs (try Be Kool for Kids), all your medications, sunglasses, peppermints (for help with nausea)
I have to say, I understand where you are coming from. I work from home full time, and I still have near daily migraines. I don't even think I could go back to working in the office. I also believe if I wasn't working full time, I would have a lot fewer migraines.
Don't give up on preventives either. There are over 100 medications for migraine prevention, so the right one is out there for you. And by right one I mean something that controls your migraines without all the awful side effects.
Good luck