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 ..read more

My talk on approachable self-care at Miles for Migraine’s free education day has been rescheduled for THIS Saturday, September 25, 11 a.m-12:45 p.m. Eastern. To join me, register here—there’s no charge to attend, but you need to register to get the link. I’m really excited about my talk and have now been practicing it for weeks. I’ll share my experience of realizing I needed self-care if I was ever going to improve my physical health. But I mostly will talk about ways to incorporate self-care into your daily life that doesn’t cost any time or money. I’ll be joined by Dr. Karissa Arca, a headac ..read more

I’ll be speaking about approach self-care at the free Miles for Migraine virtual education day this Saturday, September 18, 11 a.m-12:45 p.m. Eastern. There’s no charge to attend, but you need to register in advance to get the link. The other speakers and their topics are: Dr. Karissa Arca – Know Your Migraine: A Guide to Migraine Disorders Juliana Kroese – Yoga Practice Rebecca Hill – Patient Warrior – My Advocacy Journey I’ll be sharing my approach to self-care and how to incorporate self-care into your life without spending time or money. The topic is similar to my 2020 RetreatMigraine t ..read more

Online, it’s easy to find people sharing what it’s like to life with migraine and the impact it has on their lives. Take a look at medical literature and patients’ experiences are scarce. In part, that’s by design—medical research largely looks at the pathophysiology and treatment options for an illness rather than focusing on patients’ experiences—but it’s also incomplete. How can health care providers know how to best treat people with migraine if they don’t understand the experience of living with the condition? There are excellent studies based on surveys of patients responding to question ..read more

Aanya Patel was 13 when she fell on the stairs at her home and developed post-concussion syndrome. Nine months later, she was diagnosed with migraine. Now 16, Aanya is thriving as high school junior and an advocate for people recovering from traumatic brain injuries and who have migraine. Calming My Storm, the unincorporated nonprofit that Aanya founded, is a big part of her advocacy work. The organization seeks to help people with concussions and migraine thrive by offering expert interviews and advice, educational resources, and personal stories of people recovering from concussions and/or l ..read more

Until Monday afternoon, I drove a beloved 2005 Subaru Outback. Although I’m not normally sentimental about stuff, I loved that car. As with so many things in my life, that attachment comes back to migraine-related grief. My Outback’s story Hart and I bought the Outback new not long after we moved to Seattle. Outbacks are so common in Seattle that it felt almost like a rite of passage. It was a new model year and caught so much attention that we joked it felt like driving a Ferrari. We had people wave us down to ask about it and one person even did a U-turn and followed us into a parking lot to ..read more

Five minutes and two email messages is all it takes to bolster the message of last week’s Headache on the Hill advocacy efforts. To reinforce our message, members of Congress need to hear from as many constituents as possible by Friday, April 9. We are asking Members of Congress to support two requests this year: Urge NIH to Focus Research on Headache Disorders Expand Access to VA Headache Disorders Centers of Excellence At these links, you’ll find details on the issues, what we are asking of Congress, and a simple form to complete with your name and mailing address (this directs your email ..read more

The 2021 Migraine World Summit will be March 17–25, 2021. The online virtual summit will include videos from 32 experts, including headache specialists and health care providers, that address new treatments, research, and ways to improve migraine and chronic headache disorders. Click here to register for the free 2021 Migraine World Summit. The summit is free from March 17-25 and a new set of videos is available each day. You can also purchase access to watch the videos after the summit is over and other helpful materials. Each day of the summit, you’ll receive an email with a link to that day ..read more

If you’ve never attended Headache on the Hill, your first time can be a little intimidating. Knowing what to expect goes a long way toward reducing nervousness. Here’s what my in-person experience was like last year. Since this year will be virtual, I spoke with Katie MacDonald from the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy about the differences, which I’ve noted throughout the post. The “Ask” The HOH leadership works ahead of time to determine what “asks” are likely to be most effective. Last year, we asked for legislators to sign onto a bill supporting funding for additional funding in tr ..read more

After noticing that our evening conversation usually ended up in a muddle of work-related details that neither of us really wanted to rehash, Hart and I changed the daily conversation by changing the question we ask each other. Instead of asking how each other’s day was or what happened that day, we ask what was good about the day. We noticed a change immediately. Instead of digging into the nitty gritty of the day or focusing on frustrations, we’re both cheered by talking about the good parts of the day. If either of us encountered a major frustration in the day, we still talk about it, but t ..read more