Diversity Colors the World, Even the Migraine World
Diversity colors the world, even the migraine world. It seems like every person with migraine I speak to lives with their own special twist on migraine disease. I have a cousin who experiences visual anomalies and nausea but has never had a headache with hers. Another relative has debilitating chronic migraines and relies on Botox treatment for the most lasting relief.
I inherited textbook episodic migraines from my paternal grandmother. An episode typically begins with my head feeling a little off, followed by pain centered on one eye, sometimes the right, sometimes the left. Sensitivity to light and sound arrives shortly before waves of nausea. Learning to recognize my symptoms has been the key to avoiding the vomiting phase of migraine. If I treat the migraine with triptan medication as early as possible, I can keep functioning with little interruption to my day.
Triggers vary for each of us as well. Changes in eating patterns, cigarette smoke, flashing light, and certain fragrances set off my episodes without fail. Thank goodness eating chocolate isn’t one of my triggers. For some people, weather and stressful situations are their worst enemies when it comes to migraine.
Being in my 60s and having heard a lot of migraine stories, I was surprised to hear a different version. My book publisher held an author day at a summer festival in Clark Summit, PA, where I met several fellow authors. I soon discovered Amy, a tall, outgoing apiary owner working on creating a spiritual retreat, was also a fellow migraineur. Her story added a new color to the portrait of migraine.
Amy didn’t have migraines until a car accident left her with a traumatic brain injury. After a long, difficult recovery from her injuries, she began experiencing bouts of migraine that would begin near an ear, progress across the temple, then around the eye, and continue down the side of her nose and end in her teeth.
Even before the accident, Amy tuned in to the deeper spiritual aspects of her body and mind. After the accident, she relied heavily upon her spiritual training for treatment and survival. Unlike me, who told the doctor, “If I have to believe a treatment is going to work before it will work, then it’s probably not going to work,” Amy steered away from medication when she recognized migraine symptoms were beginning.
Turning to her holistic methods for medical treatment, Amy learned to remove herself from stressful situations that triggered a migraine episode. She retreated to a quiet space and used meditation to relax her body so that sleep could reset her brain and alleviate her symptoms. Though her treatment method differed from mine, we shared the importance of recognizing the onset of a migraine episode as early as possible.
Migraine warriors can learn from each other, but we also need to respect each other. If you find a treatment method that works for your version of migraine, I will support you with that treatment 100%, even if it doesn’t work for me. Like how Amy and I connected via our similarities and grew from our differences. Diversity teaches and colors the world.
Originally published at WebMD.com on 7/14/25.
