I’ve never had a headache that wasn’t agonizing pain. If I don’t take medicine, I get completely dysfunctional, hide in a room with no lights or noise, and stim like crazy until I throw up around ~6 hours into it. About 15 mins after throwing up, the pain subsides, and I get amazing sleep. I have never had a headache that wasn’t like this. The only medicines that work are ibuprofen (so I have that with me literally everywhere I go because these headaches are truly traumatizing) or if they’re really bad and go to the hospital, an injection of an NSAID, benadryl, and diazepam.
Yet, I hear people say they have a headache and are still out about doing things. For example, I specifically remember my middle school bus driver yelling at a student, “Not today, Jiovani! I’ve got a headache!” How in the world was she able to drive a loud school bus in the sun and yell at the same time with a headache??
I’m wondering if this is an autism thing because of the overstimulation and stimming, or if that’s just how I handle the stress of a headache because I’m autistic. Does anyone else have similar experiences or can function with a headache?
It sounds like you’re getting a specific kind of headache, perhaps a migraine or a cluster headache, that can be debilitatingly painful. The fact that you throw up sounds a lot like it’s a migraine.
I can’t function with a migraine. I have to take pain medication, lie down in a dark room and hope I can sleep it off.