Pilates instructor Terri Battenburg, 51, first experienced migraine symptoms when she was 19 years old.
She felt severe pain on one side of her head that moved backward and into her neck.
It took a decade for her to receive a proper diagnosis.
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During that time, she struggled with the feeling that her body had betrayed her.
Heres her story, as told to health writer Korin Miller.
I distinctly remember the first time I had amigraineheadache.
At one point I just put my head in his lap while he drove.
Once I hit my mid-20s, the headaches had eventually become a weekly occurrence.
My main symptom isand always has beenserious head pain.
The pain always travels in some way, and its undeniably overwhelming.
I usually just make a run at power through it, but its like trying to swim through mud.
Getting a diagnosis wasnt easy for me.
I thought I just had bad headaches.
In college I could never stay up late to study like the other students could.
During these days, I would think,Why is this happening to me?
Why cant I be like other people?
Why is everything so much harder for me?
My headaches started to become more regular in my mid-20s.
I was surprised to hear there was a name for what I was living with.
When I was diagnosed in the early 2000s, there was almost nothing available to treat migraine specifically.
Ultimately, I learned that inconsistency is my biggest downfall.
I fought against my body and my disease.
The principles of Pilates completely transformed my life and how I view my disease.
Today, my daily schedule reflects that journey.
Now I no longer panic when I feel that all-too-familiar head pain coming on.
I know Im doing the best I can.
Advocacy work has helped too.
I now venture to honor it and accept the effects of living with my condition.
Im also not afraid to speak out about it now.
Getting here was tough, but my quality of life is so much better for it.
