16-year-old girl
Hello, I’m now 16 years old. I was in the Vestische Children’s and Adolescents’ Clinic in Datteln in the winter of 2011/2012. The time before that was rather difficult for me, you can probably understand. I had headaches, every day, always. If I got together with friends I often felt better, but I could never really forget about the pain. It was my constant companion. But that changed me, too. I stayed home from school and didn’t do very much. Finally I changed from the high school to the real school because I had missed so much school and couldn’t deal with all the pressure that was weighing on me. Along with that comes also maybe the fact that I’m a perfectionist and want to do right by everyone and so give myself even more stress. My headaches lasted about two years during which my parents and I tried many things. I don’t even know anymore where all we were, but it was many places (pediatrician, naturopath, psychologist, neurologist) and no one could say to me what I had. I was in a hospital for a week where I got to know all sorts of machines, MRT, EKG, EEG, and what they’re all called. But it all had no result. At that time I had almost given up the belief that someone would be able to help me. But my friends and my family always stood behind me. Even when in school sometimes there were strange reactions from classmates, like they thought I was just skipping school, the teachers always took me seriously. I think that also helped me. My parents also cared a lot about me and took my pain seriously.
My mother searched on the internet for a suitable health resort, because no one else knew what might help. That’s how she accidentally came upon the Vestische Children’s and Adolescents’ Clinic. When she told me about it, we finally had something to hold onto again. We wrote to the clinic and then everything went very quickly. I was able to come directly in the winter vacation and didn’t have to wait very long. I was rather skeptical about the whole thing, but I got right into it and I think that that’s the most important thing. The time was really great. I made new friends who feel exactly like I do. And I think it’s also very important that you speak with others, because they can understand you. I always found it good to understand more and more about what was going on in my head (in the truest sense of the word). I unlearned my chronic headaches during that time. That doesn’t mean that I avoid stressful situations, but now I know how I have to deal with them. I think what helped me the most was the fact that there were people in the clinic who were able to explain to me what was wrong with me.
In the last few weeks I was able to write my real school exams and that without always having headaches, and I think that I’ve now got very good control of my pain.
If you read this now and think that you feel the same as I did, then I advise you to go to the clinic. They really can help you out. You just have to let yourself get into it and want it. Then it works well. :-)