That my migraine symptoms were faked to manipulate people.

One instance that stands out happened during a family road trip when I was seven. In the interests of thrift the route was planned as a series of stops with relatives who had one spare bedroom. Grandma and Grandpa got the bedroom, Mom got the sofa, and I would get a couple of blankets and pillows on the floor. Generally this worked out but one terrible evening in Ohio I begged Grandma to let me sleep on a bed that one night. I really really had a bad headache.

There really wasn't any other arrangement available without taking out a hotel room which nobody was willing to do so I was given the usual set of blankets and pillows on a carpet.

The next morning I was surprised to wake up on the sofa.

The next minutes were filled with confusion because everybody assumed I knewwhat had happened. Apparently I had never really woken up because I have no memory of this: sometime during the wee hours I had gotten up off those blankets, walked into the kitchen in the dark, and vomited across the floor.

"She was heading for the sink. At least she was trying," Grandma commented--based upon the splatter pattern.

Mother's opinion was, "She did it deliberately."

Yes, I had a mother who truly thought I would stick my fingers down my throat and vomit in somebody's home just to get my own way. And she would spread that conclusion to anyone who would listen.

I grew up thinking that chronic diarrhea was normal and getting chided for not sleeping enough when my eyes were bloodshot and sunken. Wasn't until adulthood that I finally saw a doctor for it.