Migraine Updates
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Hi! I’m Caitlin!
I’m a multi-instrumentalist, artist, and chronic migraine sufferer. Click the button below to read my bio.
About
Born and raised in Music City, Caitlin Gray Castleberry is an 18 year old multi-instrumentalist and artist. As a child, she was always creating, humming, and singing. She started playing violin at age 6 and then declared that she would grow up to be a rock star. Castleberry studied a mix of classical and fiddle. She joined the Tennessee Youth Symphony’s “Prelude Strings” at age 10 and became concert master at age 13. At that time, she became interested in jazz and rock music. She began improving and teaching herself piano, mandolin, and ukulele. Soon she began taking lessons for guitar, bass, and improv. In 8th grade, she joined the Tennessee Youth Symphony’s high school ensemble and became concert master at age 16. By then she played 6 instruments and was well on her way to her dream of going to Belmont University for music.
Suddenly, on the 3rd of March, 2022, Castleberry suddenly became ill with vertigo which progressed into a rare migraine. School, music, and life stopped as she was in constant pain and extremely provoked by light and sound. She stumped 4 neurologists before becoming the patient of a migraine specialist. By then her vertigo was completely gone, but she was diagnosed with a chronic daily refractory migraine variant, an extremely rare condition that plagues Castleberry with constant pain in her head and around her eyes, extreme photophobia, phono-phobia, fatigue, and decreased concentration. Her migraine is so extremely sensitive to light that she lives her life in the dark, unable to go outside or turn on any lights. Despite all of this, she has not succumbed to depression and her mental state is still well. She credits all of this to God and finds extreme hope, joy, and comfort through His word and His people.
Currently, Castleberry is still learning how to live with her condition and has yet to find a medication that reduces her migraine’s intensity or duration. While living in the dark, she still plays her instruments as much as possible, and has even taught herself drums, theremin, lyre, bongos, steel tongue drum, and Irish whistles, totaling her instrument repertoire to 13.
Castleberry has always been creative and artistic. Though she mainly channeled this through her music, she has always enjoyed drawing and painting. As her illness disabled her and restricted the time she could play music, she began creating art in many forms, experimenting with paints, markers, pastels, wood burning, clay, jewelry making, and digital art.
Music
Castleberry plays violin, mandolin, piano, acoustic and electric guitar, bass, ukulele, drums, theremin, lyre, bongos, steel tongue drum, and Irish whistles. She draws her inspiration from 60's-70's rock and 50's-60's jazz. Her favorite bands and musicians are Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, ELO, Twenty One Pilots, David Bowie, The Doors, The Zombies, The Ventures, The Carpenters, The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Brenda Lee, The Bee Gees, ABBA, The Mammas and The Papas, Cream, Laufey, Doris Day, Bob Dylan, Bernadette Carol, Donovan, Supertramp, Frank Sinatra, Aerosmith, Elton John, Rickey Nelson, Santo and Johnny, Natalie Holt, Vivaldi, Chopin, Metallica, and Joshua Kyan Aalampour.
Portfolio
Caitlin has always loved creating art. As a child, she loved painting and drawing. In middle school, she experimented with colored pencils, markers, and acrylic paint. At age 14, she painted the beach scene where her parents were engaged. As her illness disabled her and restricted the time she could create through music, she began creating art in many forms, experimenting with paints, markers, pastels, wood burning, clay, jewelry making, and digital art.
Most of this art was created, not for the purpose of being art, but for the purpose of being creative. In satisfying the need to be creative, the process becomes more important than the end product. Enjoying making art is just as important as enjoying looking at art.
Physical Art
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
A Field of Flowers, 2023
Acrylic on canvas
This painting was created in the midst of Caitlin’s migraines for her grandmother, Madonna Hartley-Parks. It was inspired by the many flowers in her grandmother’s garden. The painting took several months to finish and was painted with acrylic paint on two canvases designed to be displayed side by side.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Gold Flower, 2023
Acrylic and paste on canvas
This painting was created in the midst of Caitlin’s migraines for her grandmother, Madonna Hartley-Parks. The background is abstract with many shades of light blue blending together. The gold flowers were made from a concoction of baking powder, glue, and paint, molded by hand and then covered in gold paint and sealed.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Shapes, 2023
Marker on mixed media paper
This piece was created during a bad migraine attack. Caitlin often uses art as a distraction, and on this occasion, she filled an entire page with shapes to help take her mind off the pain.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Attack of the Diamonds, 2023
Markers on mixed media paper
Caitlin created a necklace inspired by the Diamonds from Steven Universe. As she was painting the necklace, excess paint spilled onto a piece of paper. Caitlin used markers on top of the colors to create this artwork inspired by the Diamonds’ attack on Earth from Steven Universe.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Night Time, 2023
Marker on mixed media paper
Often art is created with the purpose of being art. Caitlin often creates art for the purpose of being creative. This piece was created from Caitlin’s imagination of a place where she feels relaxed and happy, with the stars and moon above the grassy hills with flowers.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Groovy, 2023
Marker on mixed media paper
This piece was created from a desire to be creative. The drawing depicts a music room from the 70’s, with a Kit Kat Clock, lava lamp, music stand, and groovy furniture.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Special Place, 2023
Watercolor and pens on mixed media paper
This piece was inspired by a relaxation practice called special place imagery, where a person is instructed to imagine a calm, soothing place that they can close their eyes and go to in a stressful time. Caitlin created her special place using watercolors and pens.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Light in Darkness, 2023
Acrylic paint, water color, and pens on mixed media paper
This piece arose out of Caitlin’s extreme photophobia. As her condition prevents her from being in bright environments, she often is alone in a dark room. The only thing bright she can see is herself, physically because she has not seen the sun is a long time, and metaphorically as she still has joy and hope in this dark situation.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Self Portrait, 2023
Oil pastels on mixed media paper
This piece was created after experimenting with oil pastels. While looking in a mirror, Caitlin drew herself with bright, happy colors, representative of her joy and hope.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Abstract Art Collection, 2021
Acrylic on canvas
While these pieces were all created individually, they have been displayed together in Caitlin’s room for so long that now they belong together. Each piece was its own experiment, playing with the combination of colors and how they lay on the canvas.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Saturn, 2021
Acrylic on canvas
This painting was created in the park during a picnic with one of Caitlin’s friends. The 4 canvases are arranged together and the planet Saturn was painted on top of them in the retro futurism style.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
SpongeBob Window, 2021
Acrylic on wood
This painting was painted whimsically to add some humor to Caitlin’s room. Even though Caitlin has never seen SpongeBob, the window is iconic and was fun to paint.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Space Trio, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
These paintings depict space from the point of view of being just above a planet’s atmosphere. The planets and their colors are all original. The canvases are designed to be displayed together with a few inches in between each piece.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Hello There, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
This painting was inspired by the 70’s style, utilizing funky lines and a harmonious color palette. Caitlin has been asked many times to create a “General Kenobi” painting to go below it to complete the Star Wars quote the painting was inspired by.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Eyes, 2020
Colored pencils and pens on paper
Eyes were one of the first things Caitlin learned how to draw realistically. Using a reference photo, caitlin would draw each eye using colored pencils to the best of her ability. She is extremely proud of these.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Proposal at Sunset, 2020
Acrylic on canvas
This painting is the beach where Caitlin’s dad proposed to her mom. Caitlin painted it for her dad in 2020 when she was 14. It depicts Wrightsville beach in North Carolina at sunset. This is the third painting of this scene; the first iteration was painted on mixed media paper. The second draft was learning how the color looked on canvas and it is displayed in her grandmother’s house in Oregon. The final draft is displayed in the foyer of Caitlin’s parent’s house.
Digital Art
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Caitlin (Shooting Star), 2023
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
This artwork that depicts Caitlin’s name was one of the first logos Caitlin created for herself. After she finished the Castleberry Crest, she felt inspired to create logos of her name. It uses Caitlin’s favorite colors, the moon for the “C”, and a shooting star for the “N”.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
CGC, 2023
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
This artwork is a logo of Caitlin’s initials. The two “C”s are positioned to create a circle; the first “C” is a crescent shape and the second “C” is a reflection of it. The “G” stands in the middle and uses a star for the hook of the letter.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Castleberry Crest, 2023
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
This is the Castleberry Crest designed and drawn by Caitlin. It is very literal, depicting a castle surrounded by berries. Caitlin has also made a hat, wax seal stamp, and ink stamp out of the design and uses the symbol in her stationary.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
What Migraine Feels Like, 2023
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
This piece is a combination of a photograph of Caitlin and layers of digital art and glitches. Migraine is an invisible neurological condition. By looking at Caitlin, you would never be able to tell she was afflicted with it. Caitlin wanted to show what it feels like. Her pain is primarily behind her eyes and spreads all around her head. Bruises and scars were drawn where the pain is. It is not pretty to look at, and it shouldn’t be. It uses ugly colors that clash and feel oversaturated. Caitlin has extreme photophobia and is extremely sensitive to light, so she saw it fitting to make the background unbearably bright and resembles what light feels and looks like. It is also blurred, as Caitlin often gets dizzy after standing up and experiences visual aura.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Girl Blowing Bubble Gum, 2022
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Tree from a Dream, 2022
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
Caitlin has very vivid dreams and saw this image in a dream. The sun was just rising and creating highlights on a big gorgeous tree. The sky was light with spots of clouds. Caitlin drew this image on her iPad the day after the dream.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Mountains, 2022
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Queen of Hearts, 2022
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Cat on a Skateboard, 2022
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Hills at Night, 2022
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Walk During Sunset, 2022
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
This painting depicts Caitlin humming and walking with flowers at sunset. Caitlin hasn't nailed down a style for drawing people and often experiments with how to draw them. She drew herself in her favorite outfit, a striped red shirt and jean bell bottoms, with a beautiful sunset behind her.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Narnia, 2022
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
This painting experiments with style, using blocks of color inspired by 8-bit art. The location is Cathedral Cove, North Island, New Zealand, which is where the Pevensie children arrive when they enter Narnia in Narnia: Prince Caspian.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Skyline, 2022
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Space Shapes, 2022
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Sunset, 2021
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Caitlin, 2022
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
One of Caitlin’s favorite movies is The Incredibles. The credits of the movie show many characters and scenes from the movie drawn in a particular style. Caitlin was inspired by Violet’s portrait and drew herself in a similar style.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Paper Cut, 2020
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
A Lovely Sky, 2020
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
This is one of Caitlin’s favorite scenes she has drawn. For this painting, Caitlin explored a variety of color palettes and chose the colors used in the painting which inspired the sunset.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Eye, 2019
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
Caitlin has always loved to draw eyes. When she first started using digital art, it was one of the first things she drew. her favorite part is shading the iris and adding dimension to it.
Abstract Art Collection
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Abstract Art, 2021-2022
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
Caitlin has a huge love for colors and color theory. Abstract art allows her to explore colors and the contrast between colors. For all of these paintings, Caitlin used her iPad in gray-scale mode and picked a color palette blindly. She would then draw the picture without seeing the colors and turn gray-scale off after she was finished. The result is a combination of colors that are sometimes unconventional. Some paintings are inverts of each other.
Animations
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Caitlin Animation, 2023
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
This is a simple animation Caitlin did of herself. She drew herself in a very blocky style and changed the texture on each frame.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
In My Mind, 2023
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
This animation shows what Caitlin imagines when she leaves the house. Because of her migraine condition, Caitlin wears a black-out eye mask during car rides. While walking to the car, even with sunglasses on, outside is extreamly bright and blinding. When she gets in the car, she puts on her eye mask and visualizes where she is to help compat her motion sickness. Instead of imagining the world as it truly is, she imagines it has her ideal world, where the sky is dark and filled with stars, the grass is long and green, and everything is softly illuminated.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Artificial Sunlight, 2023
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
This is a satirical animation about Caitlin’s photophobia. As light makes Caitlin’s pain increase, she is inside most all the time and hardly gets any sunlight. She takes vitamin D as a supplement. She plays on this in the animation, calling vitamin D “artificial sunlight.”
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Rainy Day, 2022
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
Caitlin loves the rain and wanted to animate a rain shower. The clouds start getting heavy and release rain. The rain slowly stops and the sky gets lighter.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Record Player, 2020
Digital art on iPad on Procreate
This is Caitlin’s first animation and is the best done in her opinion. A vinyl comes onto the screen and lands on the record player. As the needle hits the vinyl and music starts playing, everything becomes colorful and fun. Music brings Caitlin immense joy and she wanted to convey the joy and happiness of listening to music.
Crafts
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Pop Top Doll, 2023
Beads, wire, and pop top
This doll represents Caitlin and uses colors that she visualizes. As a result of her migraine, Caitlin has done many relaxation strategies and is a very visual person. Lots of exercises explore color and assigning colors to different things, such as pain and calmness. Caitlin sees her hands and arms as red, shoulders as orange, hips as purple, legs as blue, face as pale blue, and her pain as an over saturated red-orange. This doll uses the colors that Caitlin has assigned to herself, as well as white for the heart, which represents a pure heart. The back features three pearls in the hole of the “heart”, which represents filling yourself with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Rain Cloud, 2023
Stuffing on cardboard and beads and clay
This cloud was inspired by Celyn Haf on Instagram. The cloud is pillow stuffing and cotton balls glued onto stacked cardboard boxes. The rain is a mixture of beads and hand-made clay beads. Caitlin loves the rain and loves bringing nature’s beauty inside.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Castleberry Castle, 2023
Acrylic and craft on wood
After designing the Castleberry Crest, Caitlin wondered what else she could do with the idea. One of her good friends gifted her a wooden castle which Caitlin vowed to make into a castle with berries, a Castleberry. Every aspect is handmade. She painted the exterior and textured the walls to look like stone. She used fake moss and string for the greenery and each blueberry was individually made by hand out of clay and painted. She stained the whole interior of the castle and added wallpaper (scrapbook paper), flooring (fabric and paper), ceiling (paper), and crown molding (stickers) to each room. She hand-made all furnishings and decor. The castle has a great hall, dining room, kitchen and pantry, living room, armory, master bedroom and bathroom, library/study, and a garden and observatory. She worked on it almost every day for three months. Her favorite room is the library/study with the observatory on top.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Castleberry Crest on Wood, 2023
Wood burnt on ash wood
After designing the Castleberry Crest, Caitlin wood burnt the crest on wood. Caitlin’s grandmother, Adele Castleberry, inspired the creation when she said she’d like to be able to have the crest displayed in her home. Caitlin made four copies, one in her room, one in her parent’s kitchen, one in her grandmother’s house, and one in her grandfather’s house.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Fish Tank, 2023
Clay
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Lion, 2023
Spray paint on clay
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Caitlin’s Staff, 2023
Wood burnt on wood
Caitlin used a long stick from her yard. She whittled all the bark off and sanded it. Over many weeks, she wood burnt many designs in it. There are stars, dots, swirls, moons, clouds, animals, candles, every letter in the alphabet, checkers, music clefs, music notes, planets, three crosses, the four suits, a willow tree, a self portrait, roses, and constellations. The top is an old door knob. Caitlin uses it for walks and has also learned how to use it as a blind cane for when her visibility is limited. It is one of her favorite creations.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Tooth Fairy Garden, 2023
Crafts in a glass jar
Caitlin had her wisdom teeth removed in 2023 and was able to keep three of the teeth. She wanted to do a craft with them but in a non-creepy way. After much contemplation, she came up with a tooth fairy garden. As well as containing three of her teeth, the garden has coins, a small pillow, clouds, and little stones.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Shell Light-Switch, 2023
Shells and glue on bamboo
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Tissue Box House, 2023
Acrylic on plastic
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Two Stools, 2023
Bamboo, wood, fabric, and paint
One of the many instruments Caitlin plays is a theremin. She plays theremin sitting down and wanted to make a stool to sit on while she played it. Caitlin and her Dad, Tommy, created the bamboo stool. It was the perfect height for playing theremin, but her feet couldn’t touch the ground, so it was hard to play other instruments like guitar. They then created the small foot stool out of four 4x4s. Caitlin painted a retro-geometric pattern on it. The small stool originally had a vinyl on top, but it was not sturdy enough and was replaced with padding similar to the bamboo stool.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Moon Rock, 2022
Acrylic paint on rock
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Miss Minutes Clock, 2021
Acrylic paint on clock and cardboard
One of Caitlin’s all-time favorite shows is Loki. After watching Season 1, she wanted a Miss Minutes clock. She bought a $8 clock, took it apart, and painted it. She made the arms and legs out of cardboard and painted them too. It is fully functional as a clock but is not a fully conscious and sentient artificial intelligence entity.
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Sunset Shoes, 2020
Acrylic paint on canvas shoes
Caitlin Gray Castleberry (b. 2005)
Miniature Garden, 2020
Miniatures in a glass lantern
Concerts
As Caitlin has not yet found a medicine that decreases her migraine’s intensity or duration, she is unable to leave the house and can’t perform as she wishes she could. As her migraine allows her to, she posts short clips of her playing her instruments to her Instagram. Click here to be taken to her Instagram.
Migraine
What is Caitlin’s condition?
I am diagnosed with a chronic daily refractory migraine variant, which is an extremely rare condition and is very different from a typical migraine. After seeing five neurologists and more than 10 doctors, only my current neurologist (who specializes in migraines) has seen a presentation remotely similar to mine. Since this all started on the 3rd of March, 2022, I have been in constant pain which moves around my head and always behind my eyes, extreme photophobia (meaning any light, light bulb, tv, phone screen, or light from the sun triggers and increases my pain), phono-phobia (loud or sudden noise), fatigue, and decreased concentration. My migraine is so extremely sensitive to light that I live life in the dark and wear sunglasses a lot. Unfortunately, even if I were to avoid all my triggers, I still have pain, and often my pain increases even when I haven’t been exposed to my triggers. In addition, I have also developed hot flashes, dizzy spells, and nausea. I have tried over 10 preventative medications that have not reduced my migraine’s intensity or duration.
I am under the care of a migraine specialist who has seen my presentation before and is confident she can get me back to functioning again, it will just take time because my migraine takes a long time to respond to preventative medication. We don’t know why this started and we don’t know why this is happening; there is not enough information and research done on migraines. In addition, I am extremely sensitive to side effects from medication and most treatments take 4-5 months to see results.
I am still learning how to live with this condition and I have yet to find a preventative medication that helps. Though I rarely leave the house and live in the dark in constant pain, I have not succumbed to depression and my mental state is still well. I credit all of this to God and I find extreme hope, joy, and comfort through His word and His people.
Thank you for taking the time to educate yourself about my condition and being willing to support me! I love and miss you all!
Peace, love, and God bless,
Caitlin Gray Castleberry
Caitlin regularly posts updates about her migraine on her Instagram stories and has a highlight folder containing all these stories. Click here to be taken to her contact page.
Click here to recieve Caitlin’s monthly migraine updates through email.
How can you support Caitlin (or anyone dealing with chronic pain)?
If you want to learn more about supporting people in chronic pain, I encourage you to read this article.
And if you want to learn more about the migraine neurological condition and how different people experience and live with it, I recommend Life with Migraine.
Thank you for taking the time to educate yourself about my condition and being willing to support me!
Contact
Phone number: (615) 564-0648
Email: caitlingcastleberry@gmail.com
Venmo: @Caitlin_Castleberry
Personal Instagram: @caitlin.castleberry
Music and Art Instagram: @caitlincastleberrymusic
Pinterest: @caitlin_castleberry
YouTube: @caitlin.castleberry