a candid look at managing and living with headaches & migraines

• Home
• About

Coping

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 as Solitary Confinement, Controlling Lover

A non-migraineur who was close to the young woman who took her life a couple weeks ago, but didn’t know how much she was suffering, emailed me after reading my post and expressed regret that they hadn’t been able to help her. I tried to describe the isolation of chronic migraine, but capturing the experience [...]

Migraine Can Be Life-Threatening

A young woman who had chronic migraine “took her own life,” I told you Saturday. Originally, I wrote that she had “committed suicide,” but changed it after being told the mental health community prefers the phrasing “took his/her life” because “committing suicide” sounds like a crime. The corrected phrasing doesn’t sit right with me either [...]

Migraine Beliefs & Their Cultural Context

Who do I blame for my beliefs about myself because of migraine? No one. I can’t single anyone out because I can’t deny the cultural context in which my notions were formed. (Yes, I know that sounds like grad student speak. Stick with me anyway.) Think about how few doctors understand migraine today and how [...]

Migraine Beliefs

I am a faker. If I tried harder, I wouldn’t have migraine. It is my fault that I have migraine. I’m only sick for sympathy or attention. If I were a stronger or somehow better person, I wouldn’t have migraine. I have chronic migraine because I don’t want to work (and I have specific migraine [...]

Emotional Whac-A-Mole (Plus Lots of Untethered Anxiety)

After my therapist noted that I was emotionally shut down, particularly when talking about certain topics, I read Depression Part Two from Hyperbole and a Half with trepidation, wondering if I was once again in a depression without realizing it. Fortunately, my fish aren’t dead, they’re just hiding from me. The last couple weeks have [...]

A Mental Leave From the Reality of Chronic Illness

A dear friend from high school has generously offered me the guest room at her apartment in a Seattle suburb so I can escape the heat and storms of Phoenix in July and August. I’m so excited to spend time with her and to be in my favorite part of the country in its most [...]

Emotions & Migraine, Revisited

Writing about the possibility of a connection between suppressed emotions and migraine frequency prompted an influx of comments and emails with messages that have run the gamut from “hogwash” to “absolutely” to “watch out for charlatans.” Whether you’ve shared your reaction with me or not, your reaction probably falls into one of those three categories, [...]

Depression Explained Compellingly and Hilariously

Depression Part Two from Hyperbole and a Half may be the most illustrative, eloquent, and hilarious description of depression you will ever read. If you struggle with depression or know someone who does (and everyone falls into at least one of those those categories), do yourself a tremendous favor and read it now.

Goals, Dreams, and Chronic Migraine

A headache specialist who also has migraine wrote an article about the importance of setting goals even if you’re mired in chronic migraine. I can’t find the article to share with you, but remember the gist being that having goals keeps you from succumbing to illness and gives you a reason to keep trying to [...]