My stomach and back hurt so much right now that I’m having a bit of trouble breathing. But not only am I standing at my desk writing code (and blog posts), I’m feeling cheerful about how well I feel.

Migraines have seriously skewed how I respond to and rank pain and disability.

I classify my migraines as mild, moderate, severe, or extreme. Lately, I’ve had almost no severe or extreme migraines. My doctors are more thrilled by the reduction in pain levels than I am and seem a bit confused when I keep pushing for frequency reduction. Sometimes I feel a bit like a whiner.

Here’s why I’m still whining: a mild migraine typically causes me to feel worse than this and limits my activities more even when there’s no pain at all. I think I need to clarify for my doctors what I mean by “mild.”