Migraine Sufferers’ Most Critical Questions

Until recently, treatment for migraine has focused on the patient’s cry for help: “I have to get better; please get rid of my pain!” A wide range of medical and alternative medicine resources are available to address this plea.

Migraine sufferers who cannot find sufficient relief have developed a new request: “Please help me live my best possible life, despite my pain!” Professional coaches specializing in migraines can work with migraineurs to address this area.

In my view, the primary physician should be your initial resource for migraine treatment. Your doctor will be able to order tests to rule out any major physiological reasons, hopefully, for your headaches. Many patients will find that their doctor’s recommendations – whether for medications, stress relief, lifestyle modification, etc. – reduce the frequency, duration or severity of their migraine attacks. Others will be referred to neurologists or migraine specialists for more detailed consultations.

Every migraine sufferer is different and has their unique response to treatment. There is a wide array of treatment options available, both inside and outside the traditional medical system. Some of these alternatives include acupuncture, therapeutic massage, meditation, and so on. If you are fortunate, at some point you will find adequate long-term relief from one or more of these therapies.

Migraines, as described by Dr. Carolyn Bernstein in her excellent 2008 book, “The Migraine Brain”, are caused by a common neurological condition called cortical spreading depression, which is ‘superexcitement’ of the brain when it is confronted by one of your triggers. There is no cure for migraine at this time.

After trying a number of alternatives, you may come to the realization that there is no combination of treatment options which can give you sustainable pain relief.

Even though you don’t want to give up the ongoing search for relief, your focus begins to shift to versions of the second question:

“I want to improve how I deal with my pain.”

“How can I have a better quality of life?”

“Please help me live my best possible life, even though I have regular pain.”

You find yourself in the position of anyone else who faces a life-long medical condition, such as arthritis or heart disease. The condition, and your response to it, can only be managed in future; it is unlikely that it will ever be resolved.

But there is a silver lining to this new reality: in general, when you look around, you realize that people respond to the same circumstances in very different ways. The way that you have reacted to your migraine pain up until now is not the only way — there may are better migraine management strategies which will allow you to achieve the improved quality of life which you seek.

The manner in which you react to a migraine attack may very well be ingrained and habitual by now, and it’s hard to modify it by yourself. The better way is to bring in a third party like a coach who will recognize and identify your hard-wired reactions, and help you to transform them into productive responses that will set you in the direction that you would like your life to go. Working with a coach tends to be more beneficial if you have episodic (less than 15 migraines per month) rather than chronic migraines (more than 14).

Migraine sufferers should work through their primary physician to see if they can relieve their pain. Sometimes significant pain relief cannot be obtained. Even then, the coaching alternative can provide them with hope that the quality of life that they can achieve will still be better than otherwise expected.

Posted in Headaches