Migraine management leaves students feeling frustrations of balancing health, education
Head throbbing, lights blinding, people hiding. To concentrate is near impossible as every sound crowds and echoes within the eardrum, and every drop of light leaves an agonizing burn behind the eyes. Every minute drags on for centuries as the stomach churns, whirling up nauseating delight to accompany the brain’s electrified feel. The overwhelming school setting only augments the pain, which extends further as stars and shapes torment one’s vision. A migraine can truly be a devastating nemesis.
Some students, including junior Violet Krautkramer, get headaches on the rare occasion of combustion of stress. While not ideal, this is favorable to constant migraines that one can’t seem to shake. Sophomore Jacob Schaefer attributes his pain to a variety of factors.
“I get migraines every time I don’t eat anything for breakfast and don’t get good sleep,” he said.
Senior Laura Baker is prone to frequent migraines.
“The first time I remember having one I was in third grade and it was just the aura. It got to the point where in 4th grade and 7th grade I would get one every week on the same day,” she said. “In high school, I would get a migraine every other month up until my senior year.”
While over 75% of West students admittedly experience migraines (according to a recent Index survey completed by nearly 300 Wildcats), the pain covers a great spectrum. Some feel dizzy and nauseous, while others endure migraine auras. These auras may occur alongside a migraine or seizure, and generally affect one’s vision. From zig-zag lines and foreign shapes appearing about the room, to a mysterious black void in one’s peripheral vision, auras add greater dread to the monstrous headache.
“I get twinkling black spots, it’s like murder,” an anonymous senior said.
For Baker, auras indicate when a migraine is on its way.
“When I get a migraine they start off with an aura,” she said. “Those make it hard for me to read so it gets hard for me to focus because I know a bad migraine is about to happen.”
The aura marks the entry way to hell, as the excruciating flames erupt throughout the body.
“The aura can last anywhere from 15-30 minutes and then once it goes away my head starts to hurt really bad. I mostly get throbbing pain in the front of my head and face,” Baker said. “I get dizzy most of the time and nauseous sometimes as well, but I’ve never gotten to the point of throwing up from a migraine. I’ve also found that they give me heartburn.”
The strange migraine auras are when one’s anxiety creeps in. The unexplainable visionary changes are certainly off-putting, especially when one is trying to simply make it through the day without their migraine getting in the way.
“I hate migraine auras. Whenever I get a sunspot in my vision, I always freak out and try to read things to try to determine if it’s truly an aura or not,” Baker said. “The auras that I get start as really small spots in my vision and progressively get bigger over the 15-30 minutes that they last. They start out roughly the size of a pen tip and by the end they take up half of my vision. The aura that I get is in the shape of a crescent and is multicolored and blurry.”
The spontaneous shapes and light flashes seem indescribable and utterly random. However, with research to put their claims to the test, Mayo Clinic offers a cause for the mysterious illusions.
“There is evidence that the migraine aura is due to an electrical or chemical wave that moves across the brain. The part of the brain where the electrical or chemical wave spreads determines the type of symptoms you might experience,” Mayo Clinic staff said.
While clinical articles remain optimistic regarding migraines, they tend to sugarcoat the experience. It is extremely frustrating to undergo great pain without explanation. Additionally, migraines are not considered serious enough to waste one of the 10 excused absences the school provides. This places students in an infuriating situation as they suffer through the school day with never ending hammering within their tired minds.
“I attend school unless the migraine is incredibly severe,” Krautkramer said. “I have many reasons for attending school, the main one being how impossible it is to miss a class without missing something really important. With the courses I’m taking, it’s very difficult to miss school.”
Like Krautkramer, Jacob Schaefer spends the day at school despite the violent pulsing seizing his mind. He often feels a great disconnect, as he is only attending to avoid a pesky truancy situation.
“All I can think about when I have a migraine is trying to go home and feel better,” he said. “Back when I couldn’t drive, I felt like I was annoying my mom to ask her to take off work and bring me home.”
While Baker found a migraine solution that puts the strain at ease, it is impossible to achieve within West’s suffocating, brick walls.
“If I could find something that would take the aura away I would seriously be so happy. I honestly think it's the worst part of the migraine because you just have to sit there knowing your head is going to start pounding soon,” Baker said. “I have found that the only way to completely make my migraine go away is to take a nap, but the best alternative to that is two Advils.”
Krautkramer also can attest to this, as her dreadful migraines carry on until she takes time to adequately care for herself.
“The only way I can relieve it is by relaxing. Usually by lying down in a dark room or on the couch. Another thing that helps is medication,” she said.
While attending school with a migraine is an inevitable undertaking for migraine-prone individuals, the dreadful day turns upside down when teachers offer gentle acts of empathy.
“The few times I've told my teachers about how I was feeling, they have been very understanding,” Baker said. “They should continue to be understanding and ask students what they can do to make us more comfortable.”
Schaefer admits that he sometimes receives indolent advice from his teachers, who aren’t always willing to adapt the scenery to comply with student’s needs.
“I feel like if a student goes to said teacher and says, ‘I am not feeling well,’ the teacher should give more suggestions on what to do, other than ‘drink water,’” he said. “Water isn’t always the solution, especially when one has a migraine.”
It can be difficult to sympathize with students if staff members have had the luxury of a migraine free life. Krautkramer has been lucky enough to reap the warmth of kind-hearted teachers and nurses.
“I think that our school does an incredible job when it comes to helping students with migraines. For most of my classes, teachers shut off some of the lights when someone has a migraine, or let them go to the office to get help,” she said. “Also, the nurses office has all of the lights dimmed and offers a quiet space for students to relax. They allow sunglasses for students who are dealing with severe migraines, which is something I’ve found from personal experience.”
As students search and beg for a resolution to their misery, the world steadily turns despite the spinning in their heads. By treating each other with grace, even without receiving explanation, individuals will overcome the excruciating pain, and their day will be as bright as the spots which meddle their vision.
by Jazmine Blustin
Published April 1st 2024
Oshkosh West Index Volume 120 Issue VI