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Is it possible to validate one’s pain and still live a life beyond bed when you’re chronic?

“Short and simple, Validating Your Pain is the First Step to Getting Stronger by Danielle LaPorte is astonishingly powerful in its approach to pain,” I wrote yesterday. My first instinct was to tell you it is an absolutely must-read article for anyone with chronic illness. I even wrote, “Read it now. Right now. Really.” Then [...]

Migraine & Exercise

Regular exercise can reduce the frequency and severity of migraine attacks. Exercise is also a well-known migraine trigger. I explore my attempt to strike a balance in “Riverdance” — Migraine & Exercise on Migraine.com. This post is in response to today’s Migraine & Headache Awareness Month blog challenge question, Have you found a way to [...]

Suicide and Chronic Migraine

A lovely young woman with chronic migraine whom I met in an online forum has just taken her own life. She had a smile that could light up the world. And she was in tremendous pain for which she saw no end. Though I didn’t know her well, this young woman’s death has hit me [...]

Welcome to Migraine & Headache Awareness Month!

The awesome advocates of the American Headache and Migraine Association have put together an impressive array of events and information for the June 2013 Migraine & Headache Awareness Month, all centered around the theme of Unmasking the Mystery of Chronic Headache Disorders. The second annual Migraine & Headache Awareness Month Blog Challenge is underway with [...]

Migraine Activism: How Do We Make People Care About Migraine?

“Yoda is wrong. There is only try.” I posted this on my personal Facebook page with a link to my Migraine.com piece in the hope that some of my Star Wars-obsessed friends would be intrigued enough to read the post. I want people to understand that not everyone is healthy and limited by their own [...]

American Headache & Migraine Association: New Patient Organization

The American Headache & Migraine Association (AHMA), a new patient-centered organization for people with headache disorders, is now accepting members! Although the organization is in the early stages, it is already providing great opportunities for patients, including a free, daylong patient-focused conference in this November. The conference will feature presentations by some of the top physicians [...]

Migraine Ain’t Just a Headache & it Ain’t Just Pain

People with chronic illness are known to declare that they are in some way better because of that illness. That it has taught them to value every moment, cherish the good times, accept life’s curve balls with grace, become braver and stronger. (In fact, the latest Headache Disorders and Migraine Blog Carnival is all about [...]

Patients Benefit From Group Medical Appointments

Getting in to see a headache specialist can take months and the appointments are never long enough to ask all your questions. Could group medical appointments be a solution that allows patients to spend more time with their doctors as well as learn from other patients? The motivation behind shared medical appointments is to “ease [...]

Ask a Headache Specialist: Stanford Headache Clinic Director Taking Your Questions

Have a question for a headache specialist? Robert Cowan, MD, director of the Stanford Headache Clinic and a lifelong migraineur, wants to answer them. Submit your questions by 5 p.m. Pacific time on Friday, March 8, by tweeting with the hashtag #AskSUMed or commenting on the Scope blog post: Ask Stanford Med: Director of Stanford Headache [...]

A Technique for Quieting Self-Criticism

Though I’m no public health expert, I feel well qualified to declare that self-criticism an epidemic among migraineurs. We blame ourselves for migraine attacks, berate ourselves for canceling plans, criticize ourselves for not keeping up with housekeeping. Actually, this negative self-talk seems pretty common among people with any kind of chronic illness. Toni Bernhard, author [...]