Living with Migraine

I recently attended a coaching workshop for health and wellness coaches. The women I had the privilege to meet while there overflow with optimism and sincerity. They are helpers, encouragers...

Chronic migraine has a way of aging us early such that young people are living like senior citizens. How do we handle feeling as if we are decades older than we actually...

Who would you have been without migraines? What would you have accomplished in this lifetime if you hadn’t been hampered by severe pain and related symptoms? It’s heartbreaking to consider...

I recently attempted to decrease my dose of amitriptyline (an antidepressant often prescribed as an off-label daily preventative for people with migraine). I had done this successfully in the past...

It’s 3 p.m., and your children get out of school in 45 minutes. The school is 30 minutes away so you start packing up to leave. As you grab your...

December was rough for me in a lot of ways. Besides having increased migraines and an extremely busy schedule with Zo's Nutcracker Ballet performances, I did something to my left...

This invisible condition that is migraine can make it appear as if we are totally fine when we are absolutely not.  On the outside, we seem completely normal. We can...

In a writing class recently the teacher brought up something I hadn't considered. He talked about why stories are important. From Greek myths and the Epic of Gilgamesh to Star...

Visual aura, pain, nausea, and vomiting are some well-known symptoms of migraine, but people with migraine often experience a wide range of other symptoms. Some of these lesser-known symptoms include...

Seeing your child in pain is one of the worst feelings a parent can experience. Looking back on my childhood and teen years, I can only imagine the agony my...

You’ve probably heard that if you have migraine, the best kind of doctor is a headache specialist. You’ve probably also heard that there aren’t very many of them, you’ll probably...

Ask any person who deals with pain how they feel about the 0-10 pain scale commonly used in doctor's offices and hospitals, and you will likely get a very colorful...

Like a car screeching to a stop, or a light switched off.  Like a helium balloon floating away. Who am I?  Where did I go? How is it possible?  Just...

You’ve probably seen that photo on social media. It depicts a woman sitting on a counter with her feet soaking in the sink basin and an ice pack on the...

In early June 2014, I was sitting with my mom in my headache specialist's office, nervously wringing my hands while speaking to the headache nurse coordinator. I rarely got to...

One of our readers asks, “Why do neurologists not want to prescribe narcotics even if that's the only thing that stops the pain?” When used for a limited time, narcotics...

My 81 year old grandfather recently had his bladder and prostate removed. I had the privilege to stay long hours in the hospital with him, to comfort him and be...

It’s easy to find research espousing the benefits of a good cry. According to Dr. Judith Orloff of Psychology Today, continuous crying (i.e. the emotional kind as opposed to the...

A frustrated, worried reader asked us: “I’ve had this same migraine for two weeks. This has never happened to me before. How do I break this?” This problem can happen...

It began with a post I saw on Facebook from someone in one of my migraine support groups. "Is it just me??" It began. "I looked back over my pain...