Chronic Migraine as a Pre-Med Student
Hii, I'm Liv and I've had chronic migraine for almost 2 years now. They started 2 weeks after I had COVID for the first time so some doctors think they may be related to that. The big problem for me is that I'm a pre-med student and the pain began a semester into my studies. If everything works out well I'm supposed to start medical school in August. The thing is that I don't feel that family support that I had before the migraine started, because they don't think I can be a doctor anymore. I've talked to them, to my neurologist, to my therapist, and honestly there's no other profession I want to pursue but what if I truly can't do it? Even if I'm two and a half years in pre-med, med school is always harder and the job is too. I don't want to give up but they made me question my life decisions.
Hi
- Thanks so much for sharing your story. I can understand why you may feel uncertain about moving forward with medical school in August if you've been experiencing chronic migraines. Do you currently seek treatment from a neurologist who is board certified in headache medicine? If not, this may be a valuable step in the right direction. While all neurologists may treat migraine, they may not have the specialized knowledge to treat them appropriately. A specialist may have more information about what treatment options will work for you. There are also a wide variety of alternative approaches to treating migraine outside of medication, such as nerve stimulators (see more info about those here: https://migraine.com/devices), acupuncture, chiropractic care, and lifestyle changes to manage symptoms like nausea or brain fog. What are the primary symptoms that you experience before and during a migraine. If you're able to share more, we might be able to direct you to some info on managing those symptoms.
Hope to hear from you soon, - Cody (Team Member)Hey
, thanks for reaching out. I do see a neurologist for my migraines, he’s been my doctor for a little bit over a year now and is a headache specialist. I’ve tried nerve block injections twice (not sure if that’s the correct name), botox, acupuncture, I also take anticonvulsants daily and Emgality once a month. As for lifestyle changes, I started yoga after trying other types of exercises which didn’t work well for me .My symptoms are usually light sensitivity, intense pain on the back of my head, nausea and dizziness besides the aura. And I’m not from the US so there are some treatment options that you guys have that unfortunately are not available in my country.
Heard. Thank you for getting back to me. It sounds like you are doing everything in your power to tackle these migraines, and I'm glad to hear you're well supported by your neurologist.
As for the light sensitivity, some people find wearing tinted glasses to be a source of mild to moderate relief. The most common tint is FL-41, which you can find off-brand. Or there are brand name versions like TheraSpecs. Here's a link to details on those: https://migraine.com/living-migraine/photophobia-dealing-painful-light-sensitivity. We also have information on managing the nausea that can come with migraine. There's a combination of complimentary and alternative approaches, like eating ginger, or prescription solutions like Zofran, which may or may not be available depending where you live. Here's a link to a great breakdown of those options: https://migraine.com/blog/managing-nausea. Hopefully these articles will give you a few options to explore.
Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any additional questions or concerns. I am sure more people will be along shortly to share their own experiences as well. - Cody (Team Member)
