I get one about once a decade. My mother got them frequently.

Real migraines absolutely suck. A lot of folks describe regular headaches as “migraines,” but they are a pale imitation of the real thing.

In my case, they usually start in the morning, but don’t get really excruciating until early evening. I usually figure out it’s a migraine, about lunchtime. Around 9-10PM or so, I puke, then the headache starts leveling off, until I fall asleep. The next day, it’s as if nothing happened.

I did “short-circuit” one, the last time one started, using advice that I remembered from my mother. I sat in a recliner, in a dark room, with a towel wrapped around the top of my head and eyes (probably looked ridiculous). It’s important not to engage my eyes at all. After a couple of hours, the headache stopped.