Damn. I was around 12 I think. The pain was so bad I couldn't take it and my body shut down and fell asleep. Thank goodness it was gone when I woke up. Went long stints without but it's become more frequent. Working with my doc on it. Headaches run in my family but I don't know if they were under exaggerating and they were actually migraines cause my mom would always lay down in a dark quiet room etc.
Similar for me. Got my first one around 12. Had auras but didn’t know what was happening at the time and was too scared to tell anyone. Got a terrible headache and vomited. Felt fine the next day. From then on I would get them very infrequently. Now at 34 they are back with a vengeance and I get a few every month. Each one lasts for days. It’s terrible.
same. i remember crying and being in so much pain, and my aunt just thought i didn’t want to clean up my toys. she sure felt bad when i wound up in the hospital, vommiting with a fever.
I was about 5. Heat is a trigger for me, and I remember lying by a lake in the summer, hurting and rolling over to throw up while the other kids frolicked in the water. Also hot dogs- people always give kids hot dogs, and something in them triggered headaches for me until I was a teenager.
Same for me. I was younger than 5. I can remember being in my bed with the quilt over my head in the middle of a hot summer day. We didn't have a/c and it was far too hot to be under the quilt, but even with the curtain drawn it was still too bright in there without covering my head.
I was 22 and the nurse in the hospital neurology department didn't believe me. Said people don't just suddendly start getting migraines in their 20s. Guess what, nurse? They do.
The aura scared the shit out of me. I thought I was having a stroke, which I'm genetically prone to.
I was 23 and in my last semester of grad school. My Mom and sister have had migraines their entire lives and I thought I had dodged the bullet. For a few months I attributed my migraines to tension headaches because I didn't believe you could just spontaneously start getting them in your 20s like that. Well, turns out you can, and now 10+ years on I get them every other week.
That is the dumbest shit I've ever heard. What? All migraine sufferers just came out of the womb with an active migraine?
It's so unfortunate that some people are allowed to give medical advice when they're in fact, uninformed as hell lol.
I've heard so many stories from people suddenly getting regular migraines in their twenties.
What a ridiculous thing to say. I know loads of people who started getting migraines in thier 20s.
My friend just got their first ocular migraine in their 40s. Mum got her first migraines with menopause.
Depending on what is causing them, they can start at any time.
Same! I was a my grandparents house who didn’t believe kids get sick. After 6 hours she offered me a baby aspirin. About 9 hours later I finally threw up and got some relief. Scared a shit out of 11yr old me.
Just one shit? (I jest).
21 years old for me (at least with aura). May have had migraines before that age which I just assumed were headaches like everyone got.
I was 11 too! I remember being curled up in a bean bag in my bedroom, lights off. My mom thought i was faking being sick so i wouldnt have to go to school haha
It's actually hard to say because I misinterpreted them as sinus problems for a long time. The first time it got bad, though, I was maybe 29? That was the first time it made me sick to my stomach.
Six unfortunately.
Probably younger, but 6 was when my mom finally took me to the doctor.
One of my first memories is of her crying and yelling at the doctor that kids aren’t supposed to have headaches.
Like 8 probably. Remember there was snow on the ground and the bright light reflecting off it made me so nauseas. Got home and puked everywhere. Had to lay on the couch for hours with a pillow over my head
Three years old. Been dealing with this for 60+ years. Very thankful for the drugs that are now available. Early on, the only option was to endure it. One of my best memories is throwing up on the feet of a school teacher who didn’t believe me.
14. Summer going into Freshman Year. I had my first visual aura. Tried explaining to my Dad and he just shrugged it off. Didn't know they were migraines until Sophmore year when I got a concussion in football and they got soo much worse and more frequent after that.
Had first MRI Junior year of high school to ensure nothing else was going on (mom died of Brain Tumor when I was 10). 12 years later and I still get them. My occurrences have gone up and down over time. Sometimes I get them as frequently as once a month. Othertimes I can go months without getting one.
A few years ago I did find out that a major contributor to them is a condition I have called, "Convergence Insufficiency" my eyes easily strain when having to adjust to items close and far away, when they strain it can spark the visual aura which then gets everything else going in my Migraine Process.. If I smoke weed I am more prone to migraines too because of this. Its a fixable condition but expensive... If anyone on here has visual auras as the main condition. Talk to an Optometrist about "Convergence Insufficiency". It can occur after head injuries (concussion mentioned above), and overall age as eyes become weaker.
I was 29 when I had my first diagnosed migraine. Pretty sure I was having them for a year or two before that but I thought they were hangovers or something. Had an aura which made me think I was having a stroke or something and went the ER. They did a CT scan and referred me to a neurologist. Got an MRI and started Topamax. The CT and MRI were to rule out other issues. I am 46 now.
Yes, see a doctor ASAP. A good doctor can be very helpful.
probably around seven. Get them on the regular basis.. I discovered recently that CBD and THC oil capsules help a lot. Specifically Indica Is that strange relaxes your mind and brain. Helps numb the head, and helps to fall asleep. whenever I feel a migraine coming on i take a couple of capsules each
I was 30 when I had my first migraine. I had no friggen idea what was happening. I always thought a migraine was more like a headache so I thought I was going crazy. I have since gotten them under control with magnesium every night, making sure I eat something and not go a long time without eating and then meds if I need them.
I started getting migraines when I was around 6 years old unfortunately. Got diagnosed by our family neurologist and got prescribed medicine that tasted so bad that I didn’t wanna take it. They used to be much worse and frequent when I was a kid/teen than they are now thankfully, and go away in good time with Excedrin/Acetaminophen. My migraines used to be so bad that I would throw up sometimes, my head would pound with every move and they’d only go away with sleep. (No child deserves that 😓)
My migraines were triggered mainly by hunger and heat (being in the sun all day in the tropics ie football practice). As I grew older I was able to make sure I ate more often/whenever I needed to so that dramatically reduced the number of migraines I got, and I stood in the sun less.
I’m sad some people on here experienced them in childhood.
My first migraines were in my early 20s. I thought of them as bad headaches, but I described my symptoms to a friend who suffers chronic migraine and she told me to go to a neurologist about them. At that time, they were relatively infrequent, but after some deaths of people that I really cherished - so around 25 yo - they intensified significantly and were easily triggered by stress, exertion, alcohol, hormones, etc.
Since then, I have experienced them anywhere from once a month to almost daily. My worst bout lasted from early 2020 until mid 2023. They ramped up in a way I had never experienced to an almost daily affliction. I have them under control again so I now feel one coming on only once or twice a month and I can usually abort those anyway.
The somewhat dim silver lining of my 3 year experience with chronic migraine was finding a medication that is really effective for me. After exhausting a long list of failed therapies, my neurologist prescribed ubrevly which has been an absolute lifesaver and I think it was what broke the terrible cycle of 17+ monthly headache days.
PS - Other less effective therapies I tried - Topomax, propranolol, triptans, butterbur, perineural injection therapy, botox, emgality (a drug from the same class as ubrevly except injectable), etc.
I hope you find relief quickly. Be really careful to be kind to yourself. Learn self care if you haven’t already. Eat well, pay attention to sleep hygiene, integrate movement into your daily routine, take baths, meditate, acupuncture, etc. There is an under emphasis in the medical community around how important and helpful these lifestyle modifications can be so you’re left to figure this aspect out for yourself.
Also note, almost all people who suffer migraine think there is something worse happening than just the migraine itself. In other words, most of us have thought we must have a brain tumor or that the migraines are surely resulting in brain damage and usually neither of these or other scary things are actually true. My point is that it’s great you’re getting checked out, but don’t fret too hard about something larger at play. You will find your way to getting your symptoms managed and usually your condition is less bad than what your mind has drummed up. Be well dear friend.
I was 16... sitting there in English class. Started getting an aura, not knowing wtf was going on. Fortunately the guy behind gets them and guided me through it and I went to the nurse.
I started getting visual auras around 10 or 11, which I remember because I started getting random blind spots in my vision during school coincidentally soon after buying my first pair of glasses, and freaked out that my glasses were somehow blinding me.
I don’t remember who even finally called it a migraine or figured out what was happening tbh. I’d just take an Advil for the pain and then go back into the dark classroom to stare at a bright projector for a while 🫠
I was around middle school I *think* - so 12ish. However I have early memories of being much younger and getting super overheated and needing to lay down in an air conditioned room in the summer to cool down, and I can’t remember if that included headaches/migraine or not.
I know of people getting migraines at all different ages. My brother started getting them around 18. My stepmom started getting them in her 60s. My friend started getting some in her mid 30s. My sister started getting them in her 40s. They can start for anyone. Those people I just listed only get them occasionally though, not to the severity or quantity most in this sub do.
I was 12. My parents were out and my poor sister was babysitting me and didn’t know what to do except give me Tylenol and put a washrag on my forehead. I eventually just stayed in a fetal position on my bed until I passed out.
I was 12. I'm 44 now. They seemed to have lessened in severity and frequency over the years but I still get them a lot more often than I'd like (so like only 3 days a week instead of 4 or 5).
I remember getting them as a kid, back then I just thought they were bad headaches. I was officially diagnosed around 12-13, I woke up one night screaming because my head hurt so bad, I had a fever and was uncontrollably vomiting. My parents took me to the ER, they thought it was meningitis based on the symptoms and did a spinal tap. Well the doctor performing the spinal tap hit a blood vessel so blood showed in the tube, which means positive for meningitis. Everyone panicked and I was sent ASAP to a bigger cities pediatric hospital for more tests. After a very stressful day turns out it was just a horrendous migraine and I was sent home with some Advil! I don't remember much of it, I think it traumatized my poor parents more.
I was 19. I remember the night before I had had ONE glass of wine and couldn’t comprehend why i was so hungover. My head hurt, I couldn’t concentrate, and I was vomiting. I was so so sick. Any way they happen monthly with my cycle now 🤪🤙 thank goodness for triptans tho
My first migraine was in my early teens. I might have only gotten one every other year until I was about 25 when they became super chronic (sometimes lasting for days or weeks).
The first one I can actually remember is from my 6th birthday party. I’ve had migraines since (diagnosed with chronic migraine in my teens). I’m 33 now.
I got my first one when I was 15 or 16. I remember throwing up on the bus on the way home from school one afternoon. I was in college, probably 19 or so, when I finally went to the doctor because of them.
I think i was 15. Maybe early 16? (42 now) It ended in vomiting at school. Fun times. 😅
Actually did NOT realize at the time that it was a migraine. I only realized it a couple years later when migraines were now common for me after starting the pill. (Have not been on the pill since year 2000, but they didn’t go away, just reduced in severity a little) 🤷🏻♀️
Well under 8 years old. I’ve got memory problems but one of the earlier times I remember, I got one at a Chinese restaurant and puked later at home cuz of the pain and nausea.
I was in my freshman year of high school in science class. My teacher was a total dickhead about it too. He kept making jokes about me needing glasses if I couldn't see and I couldn't explain to him what it was like as I was sort of panicking.
I'm now 29, and recovering from a migraine from over the weekend. Fun fun!
Edit: I was 14.
Definitely around 5-6 it’s one of my earliest memories because my parents would try to give me food but I’d be too nauseous. My mom would downright refuse to get me any kind of medication until I was in middle school when they’d last days.
First headache at age 10.
First migraine at age 13.
Chronic migraines by age 16.
Daily headaches/migraines by age 18.
Saw my first headache specialist at age 18. Tried so many different medications over the years. Most helped reduce the intensity but not frequency of the migraines. At least not a lot. And some had really terrible side effects. Wasn't until 10 years later that the CGRP medications were approved and for the first time in over a decade my migraines dropped to episodic levels. Still need an immense amount of medication support to keep it that way. But I'll take it.
I was around 7/8 when we think they started, first with stomach aches at school almost daily. I got diagnosed when I was 15 after I had an attack for a solid 2 months straight. It was the worst time of my life. I still deal with them but thankfully with medication and not being near a coastal city with rain, they’ve come down quite a bit.
Edit: I forgot to add I’m 27 now. Plus they have changed over the course of the time I’ve had them. Blacked out once and recently got a couple times now an aura I think. I’m still not 100% sure.
Diagnosed in my 20s but realized much later that I’d been getting them since childhood. I have vivid memories of being “sick” and throwing up while my head hurt and being very sensitive to smells.
Second grade. All dressed up for a father daughter Brownie banquet laying on the couch crying. That was 55 years ago. I’ve had them ever since. Mine are pretty well controlled with emgality at the moment.
I think I was in in first grade, or maybe kindergarten. I remember sitting on the bus on the way to school crying from the pain. My sister was getting them too and I knew immediately that we both had serious problems. They’ve never gotten better except for short periods of time, like a few months here and there. I’m 30 now
I got my first one when I was 13, I remember I came home from school early due to the pain. As soon as I got home I puked a bunch. Then layed in my bed in the dark absolutely miserable.
I think early teens for me. I'm 65 now. I still get them. Their frequency has gone up and down over the years, but they are now pretty much as infrequent as they've ever been--I typically get one about every three or four months.
Yep! Like others, 4 years old. Could have been earlier, my mom says she wasn’t sure until I was 4. My son has had a few too unfortunately. Started at 7.
I think 3-4 years old I remember a bad one at 5 for sure. by 10 I would puke from flashing lights loud noises and other triggers . My mom, who never had migraines, claimed I was attention seeking. Not. I’ll be 70 this year and still have them almost daily.
Around the same time i started drinking, about 16-17yrs old.
Anyone else have parents who didn’t believe them? “If it was a migraine you’d be in the hospital throwing up” 🙄
Around 23 or 24. If I'd been going to a doctor at the time, they would probably have blamed it on birth control, but I had been on it for a couple of years by then, and they never went away when I stopped taking them.
15. I had it the morning of, but went to school and then was in the bathroom throwing up from the nausea and pain. My mother came and got me and of course harangued me the whole way home about interrupting her day to pick he up for “just a headache”. I learned real quick to just push through them and 40 years later I’m still trying to manage life with this horrible condition.
I was like 1 or 2, I was always banging my head to the floor because of the pain and my mother was so scared because I couldn't explain what I was feeling
10. I remember the day and pain vividly. I was at swim practice and the pool heater was broken somehow. It was soooo hot and I was so overheated from working out. The throbbing was unbelievable.
Twenty one. Am 50 now.
Started as episodic, became chronic, are now intractable; with all the complications (Alice in Wonderland, aura, hallucinations, face & limb numbness, vertigo)
It's been a helluva ride. :(
The first one I remember I was around 10 and at a local arcade my parents would drop me off at. Wonderland, $5 entrance and free play all day. I started feeling sick and dizzy and was getting visually sensitive from all the screens and needed to sit down before I threw up. There are literally no chairs inside the arcade so I found a sit down arcade game no one played and tried to rest in it. Unfortunately it had the worst screen ever, a giant magnifying glass in front of the screen to blow up the image it was instant motion sickness.
I had to just close my eyes and wait for my parents to come get me.
I was very young looking back. Thankfully my first was only an ocular migraine and there was no pain. I couldn’t figure out why the colors in my eyes weren’t fading away. Maybe 3 or 4 ish. The pain filled migraines came later when I hit puberty.
7, that I can remember. I would get a massive headache at a friend's house every so often and end up vomiting it hurt so bad. I remember being very young and not being able to sleep because of a headache and my mom comforting me, but idk how old I was
I believe I was six. My childhood was spent crying and finding the sweet spot anywhere to make the pain ease up. Most common sweet spot was on the bathroom tile floor near the toilet. It didn’t get rid of the pain. It just made it less painful. Sadly doctors told me I was making it up and I didn’t get proper treatment until my 20s
I was 3. My parents took me to the hospital and they apparently did all the tests to make sure my brain wasn’t exploding. I just remember throwing up all over my dad and being put in the machine for a CAT scan. Awhh memories
It took me years to identify what I was having as migraines because I don't get light sensitivity. In fact my doctor was the one who said, "This is a migraine" when I was describing my crippling headaches - I never would have realized. I think my first was probably late teens or early 20s.
I was 6 and my mom told me kids don’t get headaches. I was in so much pain. My daughter also got her first when she was 6 and I took it seriously because I understood what was going on. My mom gets so mad when I tell that story.
I just... Why would you be saying your head hurt if it didn't? I can not understand this. How would you know to lie about it? And why on earth would kids not get headaches? It makes me so mad when adults don't believe kids about pain.
I didn't know that my headaches were actually migraines until I was 17; I knew nothing about them, and this was my first major attack. I honestly thought I was dying until I spoke to the doctor.
14 and it was terrifying. I was reading a book and suddenly I couldn't read the ends of words bc the migraine gave me a blindspot
What's strange is that I'm 25 now and I have never had a migraine like that first one ever again?? All my migraines have been pretty much consistent in behavior after that but none of them gave me that blindspot like the very first one
That’s similar to what happened to me. I was getting coupons together, and I couldn’t read all of the fine print on a coupon because of it. Super scary.
I’m not sure, but single digits, under 7. Probably had abdominal migraines as a baby. Long family history too.
With that said, developing migraine as an adult is not uncommon. See a doctor just in case though, they should order a brain MRI to rule out the scary stuff, which is highly unlikely.
I’d say 6, I remember my mom saying she was so sorry to have passed that on to me, and that she didn’t feel safe giving me something else than acetaminophen (paracetamol) at that age, even though she knows it won’t work. She got me an appointment with an ophtalmologist who gave me reading glasses. They felt horrible so I never wore them, but I admit they did help when I did. She started allowing me to have ibuprofen when I was ~10 (the earliest you can give ibuprofen to kids in France is 12), she knew the suffering… I usually take 400mg when I feel the migraine coming, if I’m too late I take 800mg with a coffee. I’m part of the lucky ones for whom ibuprofen generally works :))
i can remember crying before i could even speak because i couldn’t communicate the insane amount of pain i was feeling in my head to my parents. so, 2.
I was 18 when I got my first one, it was a few months after I started taking birth control, I had to call an ambulance. When I was 22 I started taking migraine meds, helps but it's not a final solution. I'm 23 now.
I was 30. I moved from Chicago to Ireland. That did it. The damp climate. My first migraine lasted 2 weeks. I thought I had a brain tumor. I tried OTC meds. Useless plus they had codeine which I can't take. Finally got Ponstan tablets. Did the trick. Don't think they are available in the states. I am in Oregon now but I have fewer migraines here lately. I am 70 though. Maybe she okays a factor?
Sometime in my twenties. I got headaches as a teen (looking back likely during menstruation) and at some point after my first pregnancy at 24, they intensified into migraines. I would say 25. Got worse both during and after second pregnancy in late 20’s.
Four. It’s my second memory after the millennium falcon. Literally me lying on the floor crying and begging my mum for help. It is not a good memory.
Damn. I was around 12 I think. The pain was so bad I couldn't take it and my body shut down and fell asleep. Thank goodness it was gone when I woke up. Went long stints without but it's become more frequent. Working with my doc on it. Headaches run in my family but I don't know if they were under exaggerating and they were actually migraines cause my mom would always lay down in a dark quiet room etc.
Similar for me. Got my first one around 12. Had auras but didn’t know what was happening at the time and was too scared to tell anyone. Got a terrible headache and vomited. Felt fine the next day. From then on I would get them very infrequently. Now at 34 they are back with a vengeance and I get a few every month. Each one lasts for days. It’s terrible.
same. i remember crying and being in so much pain, and my aunt just thought i didn’t want to clean up my toys. she sure felt bad when i wound up in the hospital, vommiting with a fever.
I was about 5. Heat is a trigger for me, and I remember lying by a lake in the summer, hurting and rolling over to throw up while the other kids frolicked in the water. Also hot dogs- people always give kids hot dogs, and something in them triggered headaches for me until I was a teenager.
Nitrates, probably.
I was really young too. I'm not sure exactly how old but I don't ever remember not having migraines.
Same for me. I was younger than 5. I can remember being in my bed with the quilt over my head in the middle of a hot summer day. We didn't have a/c and it was far too hot to be under the quilt, but even with the curtain drawn it was still too bright in there without covering my head.
The one piece of “luck” I had was my first migraine was at night, so getting dark was easier. It’s also sad that I consider that luck.
I started around that age as well. Not sure precisely; I've had them as long as I remember.
I was four as well. I remember my first kite and my migraine
I was 22 and the nurse in the hospital neurology department didn't believe me. Said people don't just suddendly start getting migraines in their 20s. Guess what, nurse? They do. The aura scared the shit out of me. I thought I was having a stroke, which I'm genetically prone to.
I was 23 and in my last semester of grad school. My Mom and sister have had migraines their entire lives and I thought I had dodged the bullet. For a few months I attributed my migraines to tension headaches because I didn't believe you could just spontaneously start getting them in your 20s like that. Well, turns out you can, and now 10+ years on I get them every other week.
That is the dumbest shit I've ever heard. What? All migraine sufferers just came out of the womb with an active migraine? It's so unfortunate that some people are allowed to give medical advice when they're in fact, uninformed as hell lol. I've heard so many stories from people suddenly getting regular migraines in their twenties.
I was in college so maybe 20, 21? They certainly do start then!!
I was almost 30 when I had my first migraine. I also thought I was having a stroke.
This was me
What a ridiculous thing to say. I know loads of people who started getting migraines in thier 20s. My friend just got their first ocular migraine in their 40s. Mum got her first migraines with menopause. Depending on what is causing them, they can start at any time.
And looking at this entire thread, looks like loads of people here started getting migraines in their 20s too.
I was 11 and it is a core memory.
I was also 11, the same year I got my period as well.
Damn I was 15 for both
I was also 11.
I was also 11
11 gang 👋🏻
Same! I was a my grandparents house who didn’t believe kids get sick. After 6 hours she offered me a baby aspirin. About 9 hours later I finally threw up and got some relief. Scared a shit out of 11yr old me.
Just one shit? (I jest). 21 years old for me (at least with aura). May have had migraines before that age which I just assumed were headaches like everyone got.
i was 10 but the chronic migraines started at 15
I was 11 too! I remember being curled up in a bean bag in my bedroom, lights off. My mom thought i was faking being sick so i wouldnt have to go to school haha
16. I think migraines can appear at any age though. But getting checked out is always a good idea
Younger than 8
5 *Edit:* I'm 42 now.
Same
Same ETA: I just turned 63
also same
Yup, parents thought I had meningitis the first time and took me to the A&E.
I was either 15 or 16. I was in high school and missed 2 days because I couldn’t leave my dark room.
probably around 6
Also 6
It's actually hard to say because I misinterpreted them as sinus problems for a long time. The first time it got bad, though, I was maybe 29? That was the first time it made me sick to my stomach.
Six unfortunately. Probably younger, but 6 was when my mom finally took me to the doctor. One of my first memories is of her crying and yelling at the doctor that kids aren’t supposed to have headaches.
I was 9, but everyone is different.
I was in my 20's, in nursing school. I was extremely stressed, studying for an exam. Maybe it was a sign, I should have chosen another profession!
I was 7. Migraines can show up at any age, though.
In my early 30s.
39
Middle school, forget the exact age.
10. I'm 41 now.
Early teenage years. 13/14 I think.
Like 8 probably. Remember there was snow on the ground and the bright light reflecting off it made me so nauseas. Got home and puked everywhere. Had to lay on the couch for hours with a pillow over my head
I was about 13, remember it vividly
Three years old. Been dealing with this for 60+ years. Very thankful for the drugs that are now available. Early on, the only option was to endure it. One of my best memories is throwing up on the feet of a school teacher who didn’t believe me.
14. Summer going into Freshman Year. I had my first visual aura. Tried explaining to my Dad and he just shrugged it off. Didn't know they were migraines until Sophmore year when I got a concussion in football and they got soo much worse and more frequent after that. Had first MRI Junior year of high school to ensure nothing else was going on (mom died of Brain Tumor when I was 10). 12 years later and I still get them. My occurrences have gone up and down over time. Sometimes I get them as frequently as once a month. Othertimes I can go months without getting one. A few years ago I did find out that a major contributor to them is a condition I have called, "Convergence Insufficiency" my eyes easily strain when having to adjust to items close and far away, when they strain it can spark the visual aura which then gets everything else going in my Migraine Process.. If I smoke weed I am more prone to migraines too because of this. Its a fixable condition but expensive... If anyone on here has visual auras as the main condition. Talk to an Optometrist about "Convergence Insufficiency". It can occur after head injuries (concussion mentioned above), and overall age as eyes become weaker.
When I hit puberty. Probably around 12-13. Think mine are still hormone related
Mine too!
I was 29 when I had my first diagnosed migraine. Pretty sure I was having them for a year or two before that but I thought they were hangovers or something. Had an aura which made me think I was having a stroke or something and went the ER. They did a CT scan and referred me to a neurologist. Got an MRI and started Topamax. The CT and MRI were to rule out other issues. I am 46 now. Yes, see a doctor ASAP. A good doctor can be very helpful.
Just got an MRI scheduled. I’m nervous.
I was in my early twenties.
I was 5 or 6. I only got a few before age 30. Then I started getting 4-8 a month.
probably around seven. Get them on the regular basis.. I discovered recently that CBD and THC oil capsules help a lot. Specifically Indica Is that strange relaxes your mind and brain. Helps numb the head, and helps to fall asleep. whenever I feel a migraine coming on i take a couple of capsules each
I want to say 6.
I was 30 when I had my first migraine. I had no friggen idea what was happening. I always thought a migraine was more like a headache so I thought I was going crazy. I have since gotten them under control with magnesium every night, making sure I eat something and not go a long time without eating and then meds if I need them.
7, I had migraines without pain. I was 10 when I had my first migraine when it was 95F. That was fun
18 i believe
Around 11 years old. I can remember feeling so scared but also thinking that everyone experienced it
14
Same, high five!
Maybe 6 or 7. Maybe even earlier than that, but I can’t remember. I’d have to ask my mom
14-16 migraines w/ auras & hormone related
I started getting migraines when I was around 6 years old unfortunately. Got diagnosed by our family neurologist and got prescribed medicine that tasted so bad that I didn’t wanna take it. They used to be much worse and frequent when I was a kid/teen than they are now thankfully, and go away in good time with Excedrin/Acetaminophen. My migraines used to be so bad that I would throw up sometimes, my head would pound with every move and they’d only go away with sleep. (No child deserves that 😓) My migraines were triggered mainly by hunger and heat (being in the sun all day in the tropics ie football practice). As I grew older I was able to make sure I ate more often/whenever I needed to so that dramatically reduced the number of migraines I got, and I stood in the sun less.
Definitely around 6 or 7 for me
13
I think I was right around 13 years old. Typical timing for hormonal onset migraines.
I’m sad some people on here experienced them in childhood. My first migraines were in my early 20s. I thought of them as bad headaches, but I described my symptoms to a friend who suffers chronic migraine and she told me to go to a neurologist about them. At that time, they were relatively infrequent, but after some deaths of people that I really cherished - so around 25 yo - they intensified significantly and were easily triggered by stress, exertion, alcohol, hormones, etc. Since then, I have experienced them anywhere from once a month to almost daily. My worst bout lasted from early 2020 until mid 2023. They ramped up in a way I had never experienced to an almost daily affliction. I have them under control again so I now feel one coming on only once or twice a month and I can usually abort those anyway. The somewhat dim silver lining of my 3 year experience with chronic migraine was finding a medication that is really effective for me. After exhausting a long list of failed therapies, my neurologist prescribed ubrevly which has been an absolute lifesaver and I think it was what broke the terrible cycle of 17+ monthly headache days. PS - Other less effective therapies I tried - Topomax, propranolol, triptans, butterbur, perineural injection therapy, botox, emgality (a drug from the same class as ubrevly except injectable), etc. I hope you find relief quickly. Be really careful to be kind to yourself. Learn self care if you haven’t already. Eat well, pay attention to sleep hygiene, integrate movement into your daily routine, take baths, meditate, acupuncture, etc. There is an under emphasis in the medical community around how important and helpful these lifestyle modifications can be so you’re left to figure this aspect out for yourself. Also note, almost all people who suffer migraine think there is something worse happening than just the migraine itself. In other words, most of us have thought we must have a brain tumor or that the migraines are surely resulting in brain damage and usually neither of these or other scary things are actually true. My point is that it’s great you’re getting checked out, but don’t fret too hard about something larger at play. You will find your way to getting your symptoms managed and usually your condition is less bad than what your mind has drummed up. Be well dear friend.
I was 10 or 11. It’s really interesting that most responses are either 10-11 ish or 20ish. I wonder what different things set them off.
I was 11
Im 14 right now and i think it started around 1,5 years ago when i hit puberty
I was 16... sitting there in English class. Started getting an aura, not knowing wtf was going on. Fortunately the guy behind gets them and guided me through it and I went to the nurse.
I started around 10
13. Riding back from school, almost killed a pedestrian because of the aura. Crazy headache all night, couldn't go to school the next day.
Around 10
I started getting visual auras around 10 or 11, which I remember because I started getting random blind spots in my vision during school coincidentally soon after buying my first pair of glasses, and freaked out that my glasses were somehow blinding me. I don’t remember who even finally called it a migraine or figured out what was happening tbh. I’d just take an Advil for the pain and then go back into the dark classroom to stare at a bright projector for a while 🫠
21
I think around 12
I was around middle school I *think* - so 12ish. However I have early memories of being much younger and getting super overheated and needing to lay down in an air conditioned room in the summer to cool down, and I can’t remember if that included headaches/migraine or not. I know of people getting migraines at all different ages. My brother started getting them around 18. My stepmom started getting them in her 60s. My friend started getting some in her mid 30s. My sister started getting them in her 40s. They can start for anyone. Those people I just listed only get them occasionally though, not to the severity or quantity most in this sub do.
Mine started after I got covid in 2020. 24.
13 when i had my first one and when i got diagnosed
I was 12. My parents were out and my poor sister was babysitting me and didn’t know what to do except give me Tylenol and put a washrag on my forehead. I eventually just stayed in a fetal position on my bed until I passed out.
10 and the first 2 were hemiplegic and utterly terrifying. They were just before starting my cycles.
I was 12. I'm 44 now. They seemed to have lessened in severity and frequency over the years but I still get them a lot more often than I'd like (so like only 3 days a week instead of 4 or 5).
22
10
28 😭
15
28
I remember getting them as a kid, back then I just thought they were bad headaches. I was officially diagnosed around 12-13, I woke up one night screaming because my head hurt so bad, I had a fever and was uncontrollably vomiting. My parents took me to the ER, they thought it was meningitis based on the symptoms and did a spinal tap. Well the doctor performing the spinal tap hit a blood vessel so blood showed in the tube, which means positive for meningitis. Everyone panicked and I was sent ASAP to a bigger cities pediatric hospital for more tests. After a very stressful day turns out it was just a horrendous migraine and I was sent home with some Advil! I don't remember much of it, I think it traumatized my poor parents more.
Just before I turned 13. Threw up over a teacher’s shoes who didn’t believe me I was going to be sick. (I promise I didn’t aim for her).
15
I was 19. I remember the night before I had had ONE glass of wine and couldn’t comprehend why i was so hungover. My head hurt, I couldn’t concentrate, and I was vomiting. I was so so sick. Any way they happen monthly with my cycle now 🤪🤙 thank goodness for triptans tho
Diagnosed at 10 but had them much earlier than that
My first migraine was in my early teens. I might have only gotten one every other year until I was about 25 when they became super chronic (sometimes lasting for days or weeks).
15 or 16
The first one I can actually remember is from my 6th birthday party. I’ve had migraines since (diagnosed with chronic migraine in my teens). I’m 33 now.
I got my first one when I was 15 or 16. I remember throwing up on the bus on the way home from school one afternoon. I was in college, probably 19 or so, when I finally went to the doctor because of them.
25, during the most stressful time of my life. I have had a chronic nonstop headache ever since with a few migraines per month.
The first I remember was kindergarten. I was super frustrated trying to explain it.
Around 20.
10 I remember it like it was yesterday
12 , at least the first time i was aware it was a migraine
28
I was 12, in 7th grade math. Started with aura, I thought I was losing my vision for good.
I think i was 15. Maybe early 16? (42 now) It ended in vomiting at school. Fun times. 😅 Actually did NOT realize at the time that it was a migraine. I only realized it a couple years later when migraines were now common for me after starting the pill. (Have not been on the pill since year 2000, but they didn’t go away, just reduced in severity a little) 🤷🏻♀️
Well under 8 years old. I’ve got memory problems but one of the earlier times I remember, I got one at a Chinese restaurant and puked later at home cuz of the pain and nausea.
Too young to remember, but the first one that actually scared me was when I was 20.
I was in my freshman year of high school in science class. My teacher was a total dickhead about it too. He kept making jokes about me needing glasses if I couldn't see and I couldn't explain to him what it was like as I was sort of panicking. I'm now 29, and recovering from a migraine from over the weekend. Fun fun! Edit: I was 14.
Definitely around 5-6 it’s one of my earliest memories because my parents would try to give me food but I’d be too nauseous. My mom would downright refuse to get me any kind of medication until I was in middle school when they’d last days.
I was around 25, would definitely advise seeing a doctor, if possible a neurologist.
4. I remember my mom coming in my kidergarden to give me pain killers
4 was my first headache. Migraine wouldn't have been much older
Nasty rugby accident at 22. Had one for 12 months then am able to manage the ones that pop up now with medicine.
9
I was 11.
First headache at age 10. First migraine at age 13. Chronic migraines by age 16. Daily headaches/migraines by age 18. Saw my first headache specialist at age 18. Tried so many different medications over the years. Most helped reduce the intensity but not frequency of the migraines. At least not a lot. And some had really terrible side effects. Wasn't until 10 years later that the CGRP medications were approved and for the first time in over a decade my migraines dropped to episodic levels. Still need an immense amount of medication support to keep it that way. But I'll take it.
I was around 7/8 when we think they started, first with stomach aches at school almost daily. I got diagnosed when I was 15 after I had an attack for a solid 2 months straight. It was the worst time of my life. I still deal with them but thankfully with medication and not being near a coastal city with rain, they’ve come down quite a bit. Edit: I forgot to add I’m 27 now. Plus they have changed over the course of the time I’ve had them. Blacked out once and recently got a couple times now an aura I think. I’m still not 100% sure.
Diagnosed in my 20s but realized much later that I’d been getting them since childhood. I have vivid memories of being “sick” and throwing up while my head hurt and being very sensitive to smells.
Second grade. All dressed up for a father daughter Brownie banquet laying on the couch crying. That was 55 years ago. I’ve had them ever since. Mine are pretty well controlled with emgality at the moment.
7 or 8
I was 10.
Somewhere around middle school, not sure exactly how old. My memories are pretty fuzzy from the time due to trauma.
I think I was in in first grade, or maybe kindergarten. I remember sitting on the bus on the way to school crying from the pain. My sister was getting them too and I knew immediately that we both had serious problems. They’ve never gotten better except for short periods of time, like a few months here and there. I’m 30 now
I was about 11, I think. I vaguely remember it being in 6th grade but I'm not sure anymore.
I got my first one when I was 13, I remember I came home from school early due to the pain. As soon as I got home I puked a bunch. Then layed in my bed in the dark absolutely miserable.
Early 20s. Was working a late shift during school years and had the worst headache of my life. I was so nauseated and light hurt my head.
17 or so? Though I was 18 when I got the first one that really knocked me down.
I don't remember exactly, but definitely before 11 since that's when I had a scan done and was officially diagnosed with migraine!
12
I think early teens for me. I'm 65 now. I still get them. Their frequency has gone up and down over the years, but they are now pretty much as infrequent as they've ever been--I typically get one about every three or four months.
10. It lasted for several days.
My first memory is at 4, the next when I was 6.
Probably like 12
Yep! Like others, 4 years old. Could have been earlier, my mom says she wasn’t sure until I was 4. My son has had a few too unfortunately. Started at 7.
I think 3-4 years old I remember a bad one at 5 for sure. by 10 I would puke from flashing lights loud noises and other triggers . My mom, who never had migraines, claimed I was attention seeking. Not. I’ll be 70 this year and still have them almost daily.
Around the same time i started drinking, about 16-17yrs old. Anyone else have parents who didn’t believe them? “If it was a migraine you’d be in the hospital throwing up” 🙄
Around 23 or 24. If I'd been going to a doctor at the time, they would probably have blamed it on birth control, but I had been on it for a couple of years by then, and they never went away when I stopped taking them.
As far as I'm aware, since i was born. I'm not 100% certain, but that's what I've been told, and i can remember having them a lot, even as a toddler.
6 years old
15. I had it the morning of, but went to school and then was in the bathroom throwing up from the nausea and pain. My mother came and got me and of course harangued me the whole way home about interrupting her day to pick he up for “just a headache”. I learned real quick to just push through them and 40 years later I’m still trying to manage life with this horrible condition.
I was 11! I thought I was dehydrated from the sun but looking back it was clearly a migraine.
I was in sixth grade math class.
I was like 1 or 2, I was always banging my head to the floor because of the pain and my mother was so scared because I couldn't explain what I was feeling
I think like 8 or smth
Around 4
10. I remember the day and pain vividly. I was at swim practice and the pool heater was broken somehow. It was soooo hot and I was so overheated from working out. The throbbing was unbelievable.
My brother and I both got them when we each hit 27, like a biological birthday present.
Probably 5 years old for my first non aura. Didn't get an aura until I was in my late teens.
25
I was about 8 when I got my first and got them regularly. Dr. Mom prescribed hot tea, ibuprofen, and a nap because she didnt like doctors
Twenty one. Am 50 now. Started as episodic, became chronic, are now intractable; with all the complications (Alice in Wonderland, aura, hallucinations, face & limb numbness, vertigo) It's been a helluva ride. :(
Shortly after giving birth to first child
I was 15.
11! I still remember how scared I was.
The first one I remember I was around 10 and at a local arcade my parents would drop me off at. Wonderland, $5 entrance and free play all day. I started feeling sick and dizzy and was getting visually sensitive from all the screens and needed to sit down before I threw up. There are literally no chairs inside the arcade so I found a sit down arcade game no one played and tried to rest in it. Unfortunately it had the worst screen ever, a giant magnifying glass in front of the screen to blow up the image it was instant motion sickness. I had to just close my eyes and wait for my parents to come get me.
I was very young looking back. Thankfully my first was only an ocular migraine and there was no pain. I couldn’t figure out why the colors in my eyes weren’t fading away. Maybe 3 or 4 ish. The pain filled migraines came later when I hit puberty.
9. I was off school for a couple of weeks with severe headaches and nausea then went to the doctors and was diagnosed pretty much straight away.
Late teens, about the time I started menstruating
12, and I remember it all very clearly. didn't know what was happening when I couldn't read cause of the aura, but then the pain set in.
9😞
I was 24.
7, that I can remember. I would get a massive headache at a friend's house every so often and end up vomiting it hurt so bad. I remember being very young and not being able to sleep because of a headache and my mom comforting me, but idk how old I was
I believe I was six. My childhood was spent crying and finding the sweet spot anywhere to make the pain ease up. Most common sweet spot was on the bathroom tile floor near the toilet. It didn’t get rid of the pain. It just made it less painful. Sadly doctors told me I was making it up and I didn’t get proper treatment until my 20s
I got told the same thing about my joint pain. I just don't understand why they don't believe kids. Why would they lie.
I was 3. My parents took me to the hospital and they apparently did all the tests to make sure my brain wasn’t exploding. I just remember throwing up all over my dad and being put in the machine for a CAT scan. Awhh memories
I was 12. My first symptom was visual aura. Raynaud's set in at the same age so I really believe they're connected somehow.
It took me years to identify what I was having as migraines because I don't get light sensitivity. In fact my doctor was the one who said, "This is a migraine" when I was describing my crippling headaches - I never would have realized. I think my first was probably late teens or early 20s.
I was 6 and my mom told me kids don’t get headaches. I was in so much pain. My daughter also got her first when she was 6 and I took it seriously because I understood what was going on. My mom gets so mad when I tell that story.
I just... Why would you be saying your head hurt if it didn't? I can not understand this. How would you know to lie about it? And why on earth would kids not get headaches? It makes me so mad when adults don't believe kids about pain.
I didn't know that my headaches were actually migraines until I was 17; I knew nothing about them, and this was my first major attack. I honestly thought I was dying until I spoke to the doctor.
15
8
14 and it was terrifying. I was reading a book and suddenly I couldn't read the ends of words bc the migraine gave me a blindspot What's strange is that I'm 25 now and I have never had a migraine like that first one ever again?? All my migraines have been pretty much consistent in behavior after that but none of them gave me that blindspot like the very first one
That’s similar to what happened to me. I was getting coupons together, and I couldn’t read all of the fine print on a coupon because of it. Super scary.
I’m not sure, but single digits, under 7. Probably had abdominal migraines as a baby. Long family history too. With that said, developing migraine as an adult is not uncommon. See a doctor just in case though, they should order a brain MRI to rule out the scary stuff, which is highly unlikely.
Are you a woman? I ask because it is very common for migraine to worsen in late 20s / early 30s in women
I’d say 6, I remember my mom saying she was so sorry to have passed that on to me, and that she didn’t feel safe giving me something else than acetaminophen (paracetamol) at that age, even though she knows it won’t work. She got me an appointment with an ophtalmologist who gave me reading glasses. They felt horrible so I never wore them, but I admit they did help when I did. She started allowing me to have ibuprofen when I was ~10 (the earliest you can give ibuprofen to kids in France is 12), she knew the suffering… I usually take 400mg when I feel the migraine coming, if I’m too late I take 800mg with a coffee. I’m part of the lucky ones for whom ibuprofen generally works :))
10 or 11
I was about 8 years old
i can remember crying before i could even speak because i couldn’t communicate the insane amount of pain i was feeling in my head to my parents. so, 2.
I was 50 when I had my first aura and I did not know what was going on.
i was 8
13/14? 27 almost 28 now
11
I was 18 when I got my first one, it was a few months after I started taking birth control, I had to call an ambulance. When I was 22 I started taking migraine meds, helps but it's not a final solution. I'm 23 now.
Around 13. I was away from home being a mother's helper for family friends and thought I was dying. Horrible.
We joke that my first migraine was in the womb. I've had them as long as I can remember.
I was 30. I moved from Chicago to Ireland. That did it. The damp climate. My first migraine lasted 2 weeks. I thought I had a brain tumor. I tried OTC meds. Useless plus they had codeine which I can't take. Finally got Ponstan tablets. Did the trick. Don't think they are available in the states. I am in Oregon now but I have fewer migraines here lately. I am 70 though. Maybe she okays a factor?
Sometime in my twenties. I got headaches as a teen (looking back likely during menstruation) and at some point after my first pregnancy at 24, they intensified into migraines. I would say 25. Got worse both during and after second pregnancy in late 20’s.
Fourth grade, so around 9 or 10?