This Is What A Migraine Physically Feels Like

In one word? Excruciating.

People who get migraines are all-too-familiar with the head-splitting torture that can arise at any given moment. And as if the pain itself weren't enough, the condition often comes with nausea, vomiting and light and noise sensitivity. In other words? It's a pretty excruciating experience.

Approximately 18 percent of women and 6 percent of men experience the syndrome, according to the Migraine Research Foundation. Nearly 90 percent of sufferers aren't able to perform regular tasks when they have an attack.

Adding insult to injury, it also can be difficult for sufferers to describe the debilitating severity of a migraine to those who have never experienced one. So we asked our Facebook community to share how it physically feels to have a migraine. Check out some of their responses illustrated below:

"It leaves my brain feeling like a wrung out washrag."
Alissa Scheller / The Huffington Post
"I describe it like something or someone standing on a manhole cover pressing down on my head creating a vice around my head."
Alissa Scheller / The Huffington Post
"Like a hot dull nail being hammered into the right side of my head just above the temple."
Alissa Scheller / The Huffington Post
"It feels like I'm pushing my head against a pallet of bricks."
Alissa Scheller / The Huffington Post
"Migraines feel as if my brain is being rhythmically pounded by a boxer wearing gloves, pummeling with all their might, over and over and over."
Alissa Scheller / The Huffington Post
"It feels like someone has put a bowling ball on my eye and is pressing on it."
Alissa Scheller / The Huffington Post
"Like the pounding of a drum inside my head."
Alissa Scheller / The Huffington Post
"Like an ice pick that jabs at my head."
Alissa Scheller / The Huffington Post
"It's like a tire pump constantly filling up a balloon of agony that never pops, but pulsates for hours on end."
Alissa Scheller / The Huffington Post
"The only way I can describe it is that it's as if my brain has swollen and it's trying to push through my skull."
Alissa Scheller / The Huffington Post

Sounds pretty awful, right? If you endure regular attacks, check out these ways to help prevent migraines and these tricks to help treat them once they start.

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