ONE morning Gary Smart-Stead woke up with a headache, so he took a couple of painkillers thinking it would go away.

It didn’t. Eight years later, Gary is still plagued by chronic head pain 24 hours a day.

Now the 35-year-old data analyst who lives in Westbourne, is keen to raise awareness of the condition, known as the hidden disability, which affects around one in seven people in the UK.

He explains: “Although I was never a big drinker, I had been out the night before, so I thought it was a hangover but it just didn’t go away.” The headache developed into his first ever migraine.

“It felt as if I was being stabbed in the head with a needle. I can remember vividly the different sensations; watering eye, pain behind the eye, and there were other sensations like confusion, speech and mobility problems.

“Experiencing all of these sensations for the first time is unnerving and you immediately think the worst.”

Gary made an appointment to see an optician who couldn’t find anything wrong so he was referred to the eye hospital.

They were also unable to find anything amiss so he was told to speak to his GP.

Numerous checks and tests followed, including an MRI scan, until Gary was finally diagnosed five years ago as suffering from chronic migraine.

He says: “I suffer from a migraine approximately 15 days per month and they can last from one hour to several days.

“Most of the time I carry on – I think my pain tolerance level has improved over the years, but when I go through a bad spell, I can’t function, it even affects my legs. I just have to go and lie down in a dark room.”

Over the years he has tried many different medications and alternative treatments including acupuncture, mindfulness and meditation to name a few.

“Painkillers, whist dulling the pain are not a cure and can often leave worse side effects. At the moment I’m trying Botox injections which can help as they relax the muscles, although it’s not been particularly effective so far.”

Gary just hopes the migraines might stop as suddenly as they started.

“It’s important to raise awareness as people often don’t appreciate how devastating the effects can be, as you don’t look ill and it’s dismissed as just a headache.”

Headaches are the most common disorders of the ner-vous system. For more details visit migrainetrust.org