Sweet Migraines

So living with migraines and trying to find my triggers has been a struggle and a blessing. I have found some triggers that I am not happy about like aged cheese. Some of my favorite places to eat have aged cheese in my favorite meals. It is also a blessing by knowing what to avoid to try to reduce the number of migraines that I have to suffer through.

The other day I am sitting at work and my co-worker/dinner buddy comes over to my desk and wants to know if I want to go out to dinner with her. She tells me she going to Bread Co. for a salad to which I tell her, oh I cant eat there anymore because of the blue cheese in the salad. It is a big trigger for a me to have a migraine. She is totally put off. Like I am making it up because I just don't want to go out to eat with her or something. She is like just a little bit wont hurt, or cant you just pick it out? Pick it out, seriously? Have you ever tried to pick out blue cheese crumbles, there are tiny pieces everywhere! Then she says you could always get the salad without the cheese. Yes I realize this, and maybe she is just trying to be helpful, but now it just feels like she is patronizing me. I am trying to deal with this in my own way right now. If I told her that I would have some visible reaction like my face would swell up with red blisters if one little piece of blue cheese made it into my salad would she have dropped it and thought of somewhere else to eat?

I do try to put myself into the other person's shoes, they cant see migraines. It is a hard disease to understand. They don't have them, so there is no reason for them to be educated. I don't want their sympathy. I don't want to be treated any differently. What I do want however, is for other people to know that I know my body and I do know what is best for it. I am the one living with this disease, and when I say no I don't want that glass of wine, that salad, or to stay up that extra hour, I am not trying to put you off or inconvenience you in any way. I am just trying to keep my self healthy and pain free.