a candid look at managing and living with headaches & migraines

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Big News for Relief From Photophobia & Sensitivity to Fluorescent Lighting (CFLs)

I have big news today! I’ve mentioned a couple times that I’m able to blog again in part thanks to some special glasses. Hart had them made for me based on a recommendation from my headache specialist and a bunch of research he read. They’ve been so helpful for me and the people we sent [...]

The Eternal Asterisk of Chronic Illness

“Join us for dinner, I feel like cooking.”* “Yes, get me a ticket for the baseball game.”* “See you at yoga tomorrow.”* *unless I’m too pained, dizzy or nauseated to do so For about 10 years years, this was the pattern whenever I’d make plans: My excitement would build as the dinner/concert/play/party approached. I’d spend [...]

A Little Relief, A Little Anxiety

One of my greatest fears is that I’ll find an effective treatment that will reduce the intensity and/or frequency of the migraines for awhile, then it will stop working. I’ve heard plenty of anecdotes about this, though I don’t know how often this happens percentage-wise. Just knowing it happens is enough to worry me. After [...]

Defining “Better” & Improving Even More (I Think) After a Magnesium Infusion

I’ve been “better” since going up to 700 mgs of magnesium on February 7, but I, like always, am struggling to explain what that means. I met with my headache specialist yesterday and had to encapsulate my improvement in a short, concise statement. I said that the severity and duration of the migraines has lessened, [...]

Petition to Request Congressional Hearings on Migraine & Headache Disorders: Please Sign TODAY!

Tired of people telling you to take an aspirin and get over it? Wish that migraine and headache research wasn’t controlled by drug companies? Help get the word out the migraine and headache disorders are serious, disabling conditions by signing this petition to urge Congressional hearings on the impact of migraine and headache disorders. The [...]

My Blog. My Content.

Although I call The Daily Headache my blog, it has never truly been mine. My original goal was to help others with headache disorders. I didn’t intend to write about myself and I feel selfish and self-centered when I do. While I consider my high level of empathy to be a positive trait, helping others [...]

This Blog Does Not Contain Medical Advice (But What Should it Contain?)

I am dismayed by the number of people who told me they read my post on magnesium and immediately started taking 700 mg of the supplement. They didn’t look into recommended dosages or side effects, they just started taking as much as I said helped me. In the almost seven years since I began The [...]

Prevention of Headaches or Migraines Triggered By Sex or Orgasm

Having a headache or migraine triggered by sex or an orgasm is a pretty cruel emotional injustice. Fortunately, preventing a sex-induced headache or migraine is surprisingly simple. And, no, the answer is not to avoid having sex. The most commonly prescribed treatment is indomethacin, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory that’s a close relative to ibuprofen, taken an [...]

Postdrome (Migraine Hangover) into Prodrome and Repeat

Part 1 “Did anyone get the license plate of the truck that ran over me?,” the mom of my best friend in junior high used to ask when she was sick. That’s what I’m wondering today as I’m in a migraine hangover that has me feeling completely wrung out. Magnesium hasn’t brought me out of [...]

Adjusting to Life WITHOUT Constant Migraine

I always imagined that if I found relief for my migraines, I’d be over the moon and ready to take on the world. Instead, I am cautious and disoriented. It is difficult to believe the magnesium will keep working — or even that my current good spell is the magnesium at all. I wake up [...]