Personal Narrative: A Migraine That Changed My Life

It’s 5a.m and I can barely move; everything is blurry, my right hand is numb, and the right side of my head is pounding. A couple hours later everything transferred from my right side of my body to the left side of my body. It is a migraine that I am having, and this has been my life since 6th grade.

Andrew Sullivan, author of, What is a Homosexual, portrays his experience growing up; trapped in his own identity. He paints a detailed portrait of the hardships caused by being homosexual. He explains the struggle of self-concealment, and how doing so is vital for social acceptation. The ability to hide one’s true feelings make it easier to be “invisible” as Sullivan puts it. “The experience of growing up profoundly different in emotional and psychological makeup inevitably alters a person’s self-perception.”(Sullivan)This statement marks one of the many reasons for this concealment. The main idea of this passage is to reflect on those hardships, and too understand true self-conscious difference. Being different can cause identity

Mrs. Greene is a 52-year-old female here today for followup regarding her migraines and hypothyroidism.

Greenan & Tunnel (2003) posit that the societal marginalization exerted on same-sex couples, translates into internalization of an inferior status (as cited in Wetcher & Bigner, 2012). Herdt (1989) describes the process of coming out as the process of introducing an individual’s sexual orientation to broader circles of people, commencing with the self. The fear of coming out is often associated with fears of emotional rejection by family members, or internal belief of disappointing one’s parents. To cope with this fear, often gay men resort to concealment of their identity (Herdt, 1989; Ramirez & Brown, 2010). The social construct of belonging to a minority community, the avoidant attachment style and the threat of conflict within the family of origin system acts as the reagent that evokes Steve’s emotional distress which he regulates by withholding disclosure. Brain’s feeling of insecurity and wanting reassurance could be attributed to the vast discrepancy between the interactions he has experienced with his family of origin and current family system he shares with Steve.

As a child I suffered tremendously with confusion, self hatred, and misunderstanding about my own sexuality. Growing up queer in a small town is never an easy thing. I went through years of denial, and hid all of my thoughts about what I thought could be. I was so muddled in an all too common train of thought that my first conclusion was that I was incapable of loving another human being. Having never experienced honest crushes or any emotional or physical attraction to the opposite sex, I was very frightened for my ability to one day have a family. This thought put me into a mode of paranoia and panic. I began to search any place I could for any other possibility, hoping for some form of medication or therapy to ail me of what I thought was a mental illness. After only a few minutes at the computer, I realized there was nothing wrong with my mind, or capability to love. I am just gay.

For a long time, the minority of silent and ignored homosexuals has had to face and cross over not only internal fears, doubts and shame, but also the external fears of the risk of disapproval, rejection and maybe even death. Such fears stem from the widely-held belief that homosexual acts are abnormal behaviors as a symptom of a mental disease. As a consequence, this preconception, along with the displeasure with the idea of homosexuality, leads many families who have gay or lesbian children to seek a “cure” for what are called “unnatural” impulses. The afflicted individuals might suffer numerous methods of sexual reorientation therapy. However, considering the characteristics of a disease, homosexuality should not be considered as such if

I am in your 9:00am-12:00pm Human Growth and Schooling class. I am a migraine sufferer, and this morning I woke up with a bad migraine. I am going to try and make it to class, however, if it does not go away I will not be at class today. If I do not make it to class, would you like me to email you a picture of my classroom layout and reaction reflection paper? Or would you like me to just bring it to next

Migraine headaches are the result of a disturbance in the neurochemistry of the central nervous system. They are relatively common, affecting three times as many women as men. Migraine sufferers typically report a definite pattern to their headaches, and they can report what stimuli bring them on. Most migraine sufferers experience their first attack before the age of 20. There is no single cause of migraines, but the tendency to get migraines does tend to run in families. When a migraine occurs, it means that something has altered several of the neurotransmitter-sensitive receptors located on the outside surface of the nerve cells (neurons) so that the nervous system is no longer able to constantly maintain the natural balance that the

Alan Downs opens his book with five coming out stories from his patients that explain the difficulties that gay men face when trying to obtain a happy and fulfilled life. Throughout this section of the novel, Downs introduces the reader to how unique the situations of the beginning stages of life can be for each gay man. Downs

The mental health of individuals in the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered) community is something that is a serious problem. For most of the history of the United States and many different parts of the world LGBT people faced much persecution and in some cases even death. This constant fear of discovery and the pressure that one feels on oneself when “in the closet” can lead to major mental distress. Research has shown that people who identify as LGBT are twice as likely to develop lifetime mood and anxiety disorders (Bostwick 468). This is extremely noticeable the past couple years in the suicides of bullied teens on the basis of sexual identity and expression. The stigma on simply being perceived as LGBT is strong enough to

“Don’t ruin this for the family Jamal we need this meal!” screamed Jamie, Jamal’s sister. The two have been hunting for server hours and had not found anything until they found a lonely elephant, and even with their primitive weapons they decided that because the family hadn’t eaten that week to go out and try to get the elephant and bring him back to the hut in the wood.

I woke up with a headache i took medicine for it. It kinda helped not that much. I was not feeling good when i walked in school but the medication wore of and now i have a headache.

Neil is a twenty- three-year-old gay man who appears to have an inner conflict with his mother’s ready acceptance of his homosexuality. She seems to have accepted his homosexuality on an intellectual level, however not on an emotional level. The mother and son relationship appears to have issues that involve sexuality, boundaries/territories, tolerance, embarrassment, expectation, and shame. Neil’s story exemplifies the life course perspective in that it emphasizes diversity in his life journey, linking his early life experiences with later experiences in adulthood.

Growing up everyone is told that they are unique. “Be yourself,” “use your God-given talent,” and other expressions such as these impress the aforementioned narrative into our minds. Thus, when I was around thirteen years old, I thought my sexuality was just a part of me that only I had. I wanted to share this feature about myself; I wanted to take pride in it and show it off. Coming out to a close few friends showed positive and emotional responses. Riding on this high, I was ready to embrace myself in high school. Yet, my naivety took the best of me as I was going to an all male, religious high school. My sexuality has provided me with experiences that have and will continue to shape my life. These struggles, whether they are internal or external, have provided me with invaluable skills.

Being 17, I look back at the homophobia my world was full of. I remember laughing along with the degrading jokes my brother flung at them, like they were vile, dirt under our feet. I strained to understand what he saw. I remember my face flushing as the blood rushed to my cheeks when my mother laughed quietly with disgust seeing two men holding hands as we walked down the beach. I didn’t remember the soft sand, or the warmth of my mother’s love for me. All I saw was the hate they had for humans. And the hate they had towards me, thought they didn’t know I was gay. I was young. I remember looking up to Jack