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The Importance of Finding a Headache Specialist
Those with migraine face many challenges accessing quality care and treatment. Insurance barriers, lack of knowledgeable practitioners, stigma, and nervousness and anxiety due to previous negative experiences can make it very difficult to obtain appropriate healthcare. That’s why one of the most important things you can do is find a certified headache specialist or doctor who understands this complex disorder and is willing to partner with you on a treatment plan.
Read MoreMedical Gaslighting and Migraine: It’s Not All in Your Head
Medical gaslighting happens when healthcare providers dismiss, explain away, or don’t believe a patient’s symptoms. While this can happen to anyone, it’s especially common for women, and those struggling with invisible illnesses like migraine. It’s a dangerous practice that often results in misdiagnosis and/or the inability to receive appropriate and timely treatment and care.
Read MoreNavigating Insurance With Migraine
With more migraine treatments available than ever before, people with migraine can feel hopeful that they may find an option that brings them relief. Unfortunately, this process is not always as simple as it may sound. Insurance companies frequently construct barriers to treatment.
Read MoreWhite Coat Syndrome and Migraine
Many people with migraine experience what is called white coat syndrome, also known as white coat hypertension, which happens when someone develops higher blood pressure in the presence of a physician or other healthcare professional than is normal for them. White coat syndrome can happen to anyone, but for those with migraine, a trip to the doctor’s office can be especially anxiety-producing. As a result, in addition to higher blood pressure patients can experience increased anxiety, palpitations, fear, tightness in the chest, and more. What is most sad is that for some people the experience is so severe that it impacts their willingness to see a doctor, and access the care they need for disease management.
Read MoreMigraine Symptoms: Central Autonomic Parasympathetic Symptoms
Many people with migraine experience central autonomic parasympathetic symptoms. This
unique set of symptoms are rarely recognized as being part of migraine, which often leads to
misdiagnosis and inappropriate treatments. Though these symptoms are underrecognized, they
are actually fairly prevalent, and learning to recognize them may help guide diagnosis, provide
insight into treatment options, and help us understand the overarching burden of migraine
disease.
Migraine Symptoms: Speech Changes
Many people with migraine experience speech disturbances, also known as transient aphasia, which affect one’s ability to communicate. Speech communication is a complex process and more research is needed to fully understand how and why they are impacted by migraine. According to one study in which half of the participants experienced speech changes during migraine attacks, speech dysfunction could be as common of a migraine symptom as nausea and unilateral headache, and more common than vomiting. The study concludes that, upon further research, speech changes may be considered a key feature of a migraine attack. Despite this, speech dysfunction is not a migraine symptom that is frequently talked about.
Read MoreMigraine Symptoms: Mood Changes
Many people with migraine report mood changes before, during or after a migraine attack. Anxiety and depression are common in people with migraine, but other mood changes can also indicate that an attack is on its way. This rarely discussed symptom can greatly interfere with day-to-day life and be quite difficult to manage.
Read MoreMigraine Symptoms: Dizziness and Vertigo
Dizziness and vertigo are two other challenging migraine symptoms. Like visual disturbances, fatigue and brain fog, dizziness or vertigo may be an early warning sign that an attack is starting. They may start prior to the onset of head pain, but some people may also have these symptoms with no head pain at all, and they can be disabling. Those who experience dizziness and vertigo frequently may be diagnosed with vestibular migraine.
Read MoreMigraine Symptoms: Brain Fog
Brain fog is another common and often debilitating migraine symptom. Like fatigue, brain fog can occur at any phase of a migraine attack. In the prodrome and aura phases, brain fog can be an early warning sign that an attack is beginning. It can last through the attack stage and continue on through the postdrome phase, lasting for hours or even days. In fact, some people experience varying levels of brain fog all the time. Brain fog is a challenging and invisible migraine symptom.
Read MoreMigraine Symptoms: Fatigue
Fatigue is a common and often debilitating symptom that can happen at all stages of a migraine attack. In the prodrome phase, it may signal that an attack is coming and can be a good reminder to listen to your body, to slow down, rest and practice self-care. Fatigue can continue through the aura and attack stages and is often at its worse during the postdrome stage, sometimes lasting for several days. Many people with migraine report feeling tired and low-energy most of the time, regardless of where they fall in an attack cycle. Fatigue is a difficult and invisible symptom that impacts all aspects of life.
Read MoreMigraine Symptoms: The Aura Phase
Aura symptoms are sensory disturbances that generally signal an attack is coming. They typically last 5-60 minutes and precede the onset of head pain, though they may be ongoing for some. It’s also possible to experience aura symptoms and never get head pain at all. Like all migraine symptoms, aura symptoms and their intensity vary from attack to attack, and some people never experience them at all.
Read MoreAttack-based Care: Responsibilities
Throughout our Attack-Based Care series we have looked at several different approaches to treating different migraine attacks. We started off by looking at what the “Stoplight Theory” is (how to rate our pain) and the Migraine Toolbox we need to build to better manage this disease. Then we looked at different aspects that might guide us in deciding how to treat each migraine attack focusing on timing, pain level, symptoms and triggers. Today we are going to wrap up the series by looking at the tough topic of responsibility. This asks the difficult question about what treatments are actually FEASIBLE to take based on our responsibilities during any given attack.
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