Resources

Talking Head Pain: A must-listen migraine podcast

Podcasts were a refuge for me when my migraine attacks were at their very worst. Reading was a trigger and watching TV was often overwhelming, so I’d lie in bed, listening to one podcast after the other. How I wish Talking Head Pain, a podcast from the Global Healthy Living Foundation hosted by advocate extraordinaire Joe Coe, had existed then.

Talking Head Pain tells in-depth stories of people living with migraine. The episodes are heartfelt and honest. They’re a chance to feel connected to other people—which can be tough in the throes of migraine—and also offer practical information to help you understand migraine better.

In choosing people to interview for Talking Head Pain, Joe specifically sought out people whose stories often don’t get told. So there aren’t a lot of straight white women in their 30s-50s, like most of the people telling their migraine stories. It’s wonderful to hear the range of experiences from a wide variety of people’s perspectives. I love hearing how much we have in common as well as the ways in which our experiences differ.

To learn more about Joe’s goals for the podcast and the stories he wants to amplify, read Talking Head Pain: A Podcast About Life With Migraine, the article I wrote for Migraine.com after interviewing Joe.

You can subscribe to Talking Head Pain wherever you get your podcasts. They have bonus episodes that will drop between seasons, so subscribing will ensure you don’t miss a thing. It’s a great listen and the episodes are 15-20 minutes long, so they don’t require a huge time investment.

Community, Patient Education, Resources, Treatment

Virtual RetreatMigraine This Weekend—Join Me!

Please join me this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, April 17-19, for the virtual RetreatMigraine experience—a series of information sessions on migraine that will stream on Facebook Live on the Coalition for Headache and Migraine Patient’s Facebook page. Here’s a schedule of the free events so you can watch live. I’ll be on a panel on Friday and will be leading a session on self-care on Saturday that I’m really excited about. I’d love for you to join me!

virtual RetreatMigraine schedule

If you’re not familiar, RetreatMigraine is an annual in-person retreat sponsored by CHAMP. The second annual retreat was scheduled for this weekend in California. When it had to be rescheduled, CHAMP decided to make some of the sessions virtual and open them up to anyone who was able to attend. It’s a great lineup of knowledgeable speakers, so I hope you’re able to watch some of the events.

Relevant links:

Patient Education, Resources

Migraine World Summit Starts Sunday!

Imagine hearing from 36 different migraine experts, from physicians and researchers to patient experts, all in one week. That’s what you get with the Migraine World Summit, a free online event that runs from Sunday, April 23 to Saturday, April 29.

The Migraine World Summit will address topics like:

  • The best migraine treatments
  • What do do when you feel like you’ve tried everything
  • The most effective non-drug treatments
  • Coping with anxiety, judgment, and social stigma of chronic migraine
  • New treatments on the horizon
  • Migraine myths (and what the truth really is)
  • Hurdles that people with migraine face

Peter Goadsby, MD, David Dodick, MD, and Richard Lipton, MD, are just three of the renowned physicians interviewed for the summit. Joanna Kempner, PhD, (author of the fantastic Not Tonight: Migraine and the Politics of Gender and Health) will talk about changing perceptions of migraine. Vidyamala Burch, who book You Are Not Your Pain, I highlighted in last summer’s series on mindfulness-based stress reduction, will speak about using mindfulness for chronic pain. And I just finished my interview about creating good doctor-patient relationships. The full lineup of Migraine World Summit speakers is impressive.

New videos will be posted each day of the week and are available for free for 24 hours. You can purchase permanent access to the videos (and get audio-only recordings and transcripts) for $79 until April 22 ($99 after that date). This is an affiliate program, so the referrer gets a portion of that fee. I’ll donate whatever I earn to the American Migraine Foundation.

Here’s the link to sign up for the Migraine World Summit. Then poke around on the website for the full schedule and speaker bios. It’s a great lineup.

Diet, News & Research, Resources, Treatment, Triggers

This Time Last Year, March 3-10

Posts from The Daily Headache, March 3-10, 2006

Nerve Stimulator-Imposed Restrictions
According to Medtronic’s Living Well newsletter, these activities might be harmful for people with nerve stimulators: using an electric blanket, skiing, sledding, golfing, amusement park rides. Would I have still gotten the implant if I knew about all these limitiations?

Woman Heartbroken After Ending Love Affair
After years of agony, I finally say goodbye to one of the great loves of my life.

Getting the Attention We Deserve
ABC News aired a piece on new treatments for migraine, the first of a three-part series on migraine. It appears to be a good step toward reducing the stigma of migraine.

Acupuncture & Birth Control Deja Vu
Results of new studies on these migraine topics were released.

Pain Resource: Doctors for Pain
Get a glimpse of this excellent website on treating and coping with chronic pain.

The Ultimate Question
I finally try to answer the question about my occipital nerve stimulator that I’m asked the most: How much does it help? Since I had my stimulator removed in September, this post now seems quaint.

News From Annual Pain Meeting
Studies discussed at the American Academy of Pain Medicine‘s meeting included nerve stimulation and opioid levels in the blood of chronic pain patients.

Diet, Resources

Children & Headaches

Nearly every child has a headache at some point. Like in adults, an occasional headache is normal. Although headaches are typically benign, they could signal something serious. If kids have headaches frequently or the headache seems different than usual, it’s time to see a doctor.

Contact a doctor if your child’s headaches:

  • Occur at least once a month
  • Keep him or her out of school
  • Follow an injury, such as a blow to the head
  • Awaken him or her from sleep
  • Feature persistent vomiting or visual changes
  • Are accompanied by fever, along with neck pain or stiffness

Causes of headaches in children include a genetic predisposition (especially to migraine), head trauma, illness and infection, environmental factors, emotional factors, and certain foods and beverages. See the Mayo Clinic article in the above link for details about these causes.

Information comes from the Mayo Clinic. See Headaches in Children: Common, But Sometimes Serious to learn about causes, types of headaches, diagnosis and treatment. The National Headache Foundation also has a guide to children’s headaches, which even has a section for kids to explore.

Your child having headaches isn’t a reason to panic, but it isn’t something to ignore.