Pain Is Consuming Me

by Lily O'Brien
(London, Ontario, Canada)

I'm a 35 year old woman who has suffered from migraines for almost a decade.

I did this painting last week to try and express what pain feels like to me - not just the physical experience of it but how it seems to be radiating outward and consuming my personality and life.
I feel like my life, my self, my reality is slowly being consumed by pain.
It feels like pain is radiating outward and effecting, infecting everything - not just the localized area where the physical pain itself exists.

Migraines have a huge effect on my social life. I don't want to seem like a whiner to friends and family but 'being polite' has led to me feeling very isolated with my pain.

Due to chemical sensitivities, I am unable to take any pharmaceutical drugs, so when I have a migraine I have no pill that I can take.
The pain is excruciating and an average migraine lasts 3-5 days for me and happens at least once a month.
In the last few years, I have had a low to moderate level migraine for at least 2 weeks total out of each month in addition to the severe ones I get at least once a month.