People always look at me askew when I say that I read with a Migraine but then they don't get chronic migraines. People do not comprehend what you are capable of enduring with chronic Pain. A person has to function in some capacity in life in general and therefore that means you have to figure out how to do many, many things with a great deal of pain. It is the suck it up buttercup approach. Not one I recommend. It is in fact doctor recommended. They are not big on treating pain in the long term. But if you break your leg they will pump you right full of more painkillers than you likely even need. So chronic pain people figure it out. Dance baby dance. And smile. Scream in your head, but smile. Once you figure that out reading is a piece of freaking cake. And another thing we learn is that distracting ourselves from pain is extremely vital to our long term survival. There are things we must do while in pain that are very unpleasant, such as work, that are part of surviving because we have to eat and so forth. But any other time we like to engage in activities that do not requite massive amounts of pain, concentration or whatnot that we enjoy, we are passionate about and distract us from the pain to some extent. Reading is one of mine. Escapism to some extent. I throw myself into a storyline and I use more of my brain than staring at a TV so it is more distracting... and therefore focus less on the pain. Just a fact. Research has shown it literally distances us from our awareness of pain.

Even though I do have visual snow (a constant static in my visual field seperate from a migraine aura) which impairs my vision. Even though I have various persistent migraine auras which also impair my vision. Which actual means I read in dim light... very dim, which people also think is odd but I read better in it. Or very soft, indirect lighting. But then I'm extremely sensitive to light. I do get double vision, pulsing vision, hazy vision... I just literally ignore it and keep reading. A really intense migraine aura will obviously prevent me from doing so but those are the ones that don't last long... my persistent migraine aura is a constant ever fluctuating phenomena I am used to dealing with. Obviously extreme pain stops me from reading too but then it stops me from doing everything so that is consistent at least. You have to get that reading doesn't make a migraine worse... the pain is just there. It is always just there at some intensity or another. I can't take anything to deal with it other than a limited medication infrequently. Things like light or moving make it worse because they aggravate it... but reading doesn't. Maybe if I had to focus intently or memorize something it would... but I read rapidly and don't focus on each word, due to the fact my vision is warpy. It is literally the least strenuous activity I can think of and the most relaxing and distressing. I can't go to sleep and hide in a dark room for every migraine as one might think a person does... because then I would be sleeping all the time. Chronic migraines are classified as more than fifteen a month, mine are currently daily. Right now I am lucky if part of the day is migraine free which is quite the success at this point. If I slept all day that would make it significantly worse.

I also love writing as a distraction from pain. Migraines impair my ability to write which means I spent a great deal of time editing, but it is still something I value greatly. I am passionate about it, it engages my mind and I can escape the pain when I dive into my own world. So it is something I will never stop doing. In that way fiction writing is something of far more value to me than nonfiction, even though I actually make more money with nonfiction. Although that is not a huge difference. Not like I could quit my day job at this point which would be awesome if I could... now that would be pain management!

Anyway I am a total bookgeek and a disabled writer. That's how I roll.