You can help make a difference
I am sick and tired of all the sympathy, understanding, and support going to patients of other diseases while migraineurs are dismissed, ignored, and accused of faking our illness. Please don’t misunderstand, all patients with debilitating diseases deserve our caring, loving support. They deserve the best possible treatments and research dollars to find a cure. It’s just not fair that Migraine and other headache disorders are not taken as seriously. If I think about it too long, I get really angry. However, anger can be useful if it motivates you to facilitate change.
Here's the problem.
Much of the research into the cause of a disease is done by the National Institutes of Health. Various disease groups are allocated specific amounts of the NIH budget by Congress. It takes lobbying efforts to change a specific disease group’s allocation. The current budget for Migraine is $20 million per year. The most recent estimates tell us that there are over 38 million people with Migraine in the US. That’s about 53¢ worth of research per person.
Out of 237 funding areas, Migraine ranked 190th with only $19 million allocated for 2013. The estimated amount for 2014 and 2015 is only $1 million more. Without the dedicated efforts of patient advocates who participate in Headache on the Hill each spring, we wouldn't even have that. Additionally, there is only $25 million allocated for Headaches in general and nothing allocated specifically for Cluster Headaches. That is a grand total of $34 million going toward research for over 200 different headache disorders.
In comparison, the 2013 NIH allocations for other diseases with similar disability profiles are almost all higher than for headache, migraine, or cluster headache.
| Cancer | $5,621 million | Autism | $ 192 million |
| HIV/AIDS | $3,074 million | Epilepsy | $ 156 million |
| Aging | $2,593 million | MS | $ 115 million |
| Diabetes | $1,061 million | Lupus | $ 108 million |
| Obesity | $ 836 million | COPD | $ 101 million |
| Breast cancer | $ 800 million | Child leukemia | $ 77 million |
| Alcoholism | $ 455 million | Infertility | $ 74 million |
| Depression | $ 429 million | Chron’s | $ 76 million |
| Colorectal cancer | $ 302 million | Huntington’s | $ 65 million |
| Pneumonia | $ 115 million | ADHD | $ 60 million |
| Brain cancer | $ 281 million | ALS | $ 44 million |
| STDs | $ 275 million | Uterine cancer | $ 42 million |
| Arthritis | $ 258 million | Smallpox | $ 40 million |
| Influenza | $ 251 million | West Nile Virus | $ 29 million |
| Lung cancer | $ 233 million | Headache | $ 25 million |
| Asthma | $ 229 million | TMJ | $ 21 million |
| TB | $ 218 million | Migraine | $ 19 million |
| Hypertension | $ 215 million | Cluster Headache | $ ZERO |
The latest estimates tell us that Migraine costs the US economy over $31 billion a year in lost productivity. That doesn’t include the healthcare costs and the emotional toll it takes on families. Migraine patients are also at increased risk of stroke, cardiovascular disease, and major depression.
Fortunately , there is an opportunity to make a difference.
A large patient organization dedicated to raising awareness and research dollars can make a difference. That’s how cancer and HIV/AIDS got to the top of the list. Fortunately, an organization already exists just for migraine patients. It’s the American Headache and Migraine Association (AHMA). Sponsored by the American Headache Society, AHMA is dedicated to providing support and education to migraine and headache disorder patients and their families. Whether you struggle with daily migraine attacks or have achieved total remission, AHMA is for you. If you’d like to know about AHMA and how you can be a part, just visit www.AHMAisHope.org. Membership is affordable and open to patients with all types of headache disorders, not just Migraine.
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