Male, 15

by Jack

Hi, I am 15 years old, and up until a couple years ago, I had serious issues, and no way to deal with them. When I was in kindergarten, I took physical therapy due to my sensory integration disorder and proprioceptive dysfunction. I would go every day after school, play games, spin around on a swing, find pennies and pop bubbles in silly putty, numerous activities, all of which made me feel more relaxed and in control than I had ever been.

When i was four, I would refuse to remove my jacket, even in the dead of summer. Once i started visiting my therapist, I stopped having as many problems. I could walk on the beach without extreme, torturous discomfort, I could write without my pencil breaking. I could do so much more. Unfortunately, as I learned later, my disorders were not so easily overcome. I moved away, went into first grade, and the amount of pencil tips I broke increased greatly. I found the tags on my uniform shirt unbearable. I couldn't sit for more than a few minutes at a pep rally. I even developed a case of OCD. I COULD UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES step in an orange tile, touch the wall in certain spots, or allow my foot to cross in front of an outlet. I wore my jacket to school every single day.

Going into sixth grade, I began getting migraines. When I told my family that I had a headache, however, it was ignored, or dismissed with a single advil. By seventh grade, It was so bad that my parents sent me to a therapist to see why I was acting depressed. They did not even tell me that she was a therapist, or why I was sent there. Eventually my mom realized what was going on, and took me to a doctor, who prescribed antihistamines to me.

Nowadays, I get migraines less often, but only because I know how to stop them before they get really bad. The migraines i do get are from excessive light, sound, smell, and contact. For me, however, excessive light can be not wearing polarized sunglasses at 4 in the afternoon. Or maybe watching tv or video games for too long. Once I do get a migraine, however, there is no going back, only lessening the pain till it goes away.

One method I found efficient was taking three or four advil, stripping down, closing my blinds, and lying down on the nearest flat surface, sometimes the bed, sometimes the floor, it doesn't really matter at that point. That night, and for days after, I will take antihistamines before bed, just so the migraine doesn't come back, which it will. It is an extremely painful and emotional ordeal, and I wouldn't wish it on anybody. I obviously have more to learn about dealing with my own problems, and I might not be able to make my sensitivity go away entirely, but at least I may be helping others by posting this, helping them to realize and address what's wrong in themselves, and maybe even others close to them.

P.S. I STILL hate the beach