Mother, 51 locks herself away for SIX WEEKS due to horrific migraines

2023-06-04

‘I come out and my kids have grown three inches’: Mother, 51, reveals how she has to lock herself in the dark away from her children for SIX WEEKS due to ‘horrific’ migraine pains

Kerry Spalding, 51, locks herself away from her two children during migraines
Read more: Mother reveals her child ‘was made to feel like a stupid failure’

A mother was forced to lock herself in dark rooms away from her young children for weeks at a time as a result of her crippling migraines.

Kerry Spalding, 51, has suffered from debilitating migraines for 31 years and has bouts of attack of the horrific headaches, sometimes leaving her bedbound for six weeks at a time.

When she experiences a migraine, she loses her vision, feels nauseous and experiences photophobia – an extreme fear of light.

Mrs Spalding was forced to spend days in the dark without anyone talking to her including her children – Harvey, 17, and Amelia, six – and her husband, Richard, 52, an engineer.

Mrs Spalding is now treated with anti CGRP, an antibody medication, and she receives oestrogen and nerve blocking injections which has reduced her migraine attacks from 25 days a month to five.

Kerry Spalding, 51, has suffered from debilitating migraines for 31 years and has bouts of attack of the horrific headaches

Mrs Spalding was forced to spend days in the dark without anyone talking to her including her children, Harvey, 17, and Amelia, six, and husband Richard

Mrs Spalding, a hair stylist, from Hinckley in Leicestershire, said: ‘I experience extreme photophobia. I spent three days being in the dark without anyone talking to me.

‘If anyone talks it’s like a stabbing needle going through my head.

‘It’s terrible. I finally come out of a really long bout and my kids had gown three inches. It’s very depressing and isolating.

‘You can’t even sit in the garden. It’s not just a headache. I know it will end.’

Mrs Spalding, a hair stylist, from Hinckley in Leicestershire, said, ‘I experience extreme photophobia,’ during her attacks

She suffered her first migraine aged 21, when she collapsed at a step class and had to be carried out

Mrs Spalding was seen by a doctor and immediately diagnosed with chronic migraines, meaning she spent more than eight days a month with symptoms

Mrs Spalding first had an attack at a step class when she was 21, when she collapsed and had to be carried out.

‘I had no idea what was going on. I felt a horrific pain at the top of my head like I was on a rollercoaster upside down.’

Mrs Spalding was seen by a doctor and immediately diagnosed with chronic migraines – a condition where a person suffers from headaches at least 15 days per month and eight of these with migraine symptoms.

Mrs Spalding suffered with menstrual migraines, which coincided with her cycle, as well as vestibular migraines which induce vertigo and made her dizzy and nauseated.

Mrs Spalding suffered with menstrual migraines, which coincided with her cycle, as well as vestibular migraines which induce vertigo

She also experiences abdominal migraines, which made her vomit.

Her symptoms meant she had to give up her hair salon and now can only work once a week as a stylist.

She said: ‘They can last as long as six weeks. I have acute vertigo daily. Just walking can be difficult.

‘Now if I suffer vision loss it is not full blindness. My vision is like looking through a looking glass.’

Mrs Spalding says there are three phases of a migraine attack – the premonitory stage where she will get food cravings for carbs, sugar and fatty foods – the attack phase where she will experiences all her symptoms and the hangover phase.

She said: ‘The hangover phase is the most frustrating.

‘It’s mild levels of pain and you become homebound. Everything will still be a huge trigger so you have to rest to reduce symptoms.’

In the last two years Mrs Spalding has finally been able to find treatments that have eased her attacks.

She ‘begged’ to be given Anti-CGRP, a common migraine medicine- which reduced her attacks from 25 days a month to 10 bed bound.

Her symptoms meant she had to give up her hair salon and now can only work once a week as a stylist

Mrs Spalding said she feels ‘blessed’ to have the support of her family and husband who is also a care partner to her and hopes to run the London Marathon next year

With a combination of oestrogen and nerve block injections Mrs Spalding’s migraines have reduced to five days a month and her vertigo symptoms have ceased, allowing her to get out and about more.

She said: ‘I’m feeling marvelous after 31 years.’

Mrs Spalding said she feels ‘blessed’ to have the support of her family and husband who is also a care partner to her.

Next year she hopes to be well enough to run the London Marathon for the Migraine Trust – a charity supporting those affected my migraine.

Mrs Spalding said: ‘I wouldn’t be here without them.’

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