Welcome Bienvenidos Bienvenue

First and foremost, let me say...."Welcome to My Blog".  I don't know how or why you came across this page, but I am glad that you did.  The title of my blog is "Live, Laugh, Love, Dream."   They are four words that I try to govern my life by.   Live Simply. Laugh Often. Love Lots. Dream Big. 

 My name is Tierra and I am what you call, chronically ill. There isn't a day that goes by, that I am not in some sort of pain or discomfort.  I suffer from chronic migraines and degenerative disc disease a.k.a. osteoarthritis of the spine. 

Most people understand, to an extent what migraines are, but have no clue about CHRONIC migraines. People can get an occasional migraine or even be conisdered episodic, which is less than 15 headache days a month. Chronic migraine sufferers have 15 or MORE headache days in a month. That basically means, we have a headache more often than not. I have suffered with migraines since childhood and I am 30 years old. The saying, that no two snowflakes are the same, applies 100%  to migraines as well. No two people with migraine are the same.There are a plethora of migraine types...for example, migraine with aura, migraine without aura, occipital migraine...etc.  Just about everyone has gotten a headache in their life. But,a migraine is not just a bad headache.It is a neurological disorder. It usually includes a severe throbbing, recurring pain on one side of the head,but can be on a different side depending on the type of migraine you are experiencing. For example, my sinus migraines appear over my eyes and in the middle of my forehed. Whereas, my tension migraines usually start from my neck up the middle of my head. It can vary depending on the trigger. Attacks can last from an hour up to days....yet again, being based upon your triggers. Some of the other symptoms, other than the pain, are visual distrubances, nausea, vomiting, extreme sensitivity to light, sound, touch or smell, dizziness...etc. Of course, everyone is different and symptoms vary by person and sometimes by attack. 

  

About 5 years ago, I was diagnosed with degenerative disc disease. It isn't really a disease, but it is a term used to describe normal changes that can affect our spinal discs as we age. Our discs act as shock absorbers for the spine, allowing movement such as flexing,bending and twisting.  Those changes, over time, can result in osteoarthritis, which is the breakdown of tissue that protects and cushions the joints, herniated disc, an abnormal bulge or breaking open of a spinal disc, or spinal stenosis, the narrowing of the spinal canal. For the last few years, I only had osteoarthritis of the spine. However, winter break 2016 changed yet another part of my body and health. I thought I was having a terrible flare up and requested to have an MRI done. I found out a couple days ago(on Valentine's Day actually)that not only do I still have degenerating discs, but now I also have a moderately herniated disc.

I AM NOT MY ILLNESS!!

Chronic illnessess have the ability to rob us of our joy,changes our perception on life and sometimes forces us to isolate ourselves. Even though we know that we are going to be in pain,more often than not, I charge you to look for the silver lining in your cloud. Every day may not be good, but there is good in every day. If chronic illness robs your joy, just know that someone is going through a hardship and may need that joy. It changes our perception on life and makes us hate it but, please realize that atleast you have air to breathe. Instead of isolating yourself through the pain,try isolating the negativity and accept positive vibes only. If you don't remember anything from this blog post, please remember this....LIVE SIMPLY, LAUGH OFTEN, LOVE LOTS AND DREAM BIG!!