Category: Chronic Illness

Chronic illness can be hereditary, environmental, and a result of trauma both physical and emotional.

The 2019 Migraine World Summit

The 2019 Migraine World Summit

Claim your FREE ticket now at The 2019 Migraine World Summit

The largest patient event in the world for headache returns this March 20-28.

The Migraine World Summit will bring together 32 experts including doctors and specialists to share new treatments, research, and strategies to help you improve your migraine and chronic headache.

WHY ATTEND?

  • World-Leading Experts: At the Migraine World Summit, you’ll learn first-hand from 32 of the world’s top migraine and headache experts from leading institutions including the Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School, John Hopkins Hospital, Stanford Medical, John Hopkins Hospital, and the International Headache Society.
  • Full Access: Many of these world-leading experts have long waiting lists and fees that are beyond the affordability of the average insurance policy. Skip the waiting period and get straight into the room with these experts.
  • Free: The event is entirely free whilst live from April 18-26. Visiting dozens of specialists in one field would take years and costs thousands of dollars. This is an incredible opportunity to hear from dozens of leading experts in migraine for free during the week. After April 26 transcripts and interview copies are available to order.

Claim your FREE ticket now at The 2019 Migraine World Summit

Join more than 100,000 informed attendees and tune in to 32 NEW interviews to find the answers you need to help better manage migraine and chronic headache. Questions answered include:

  • What new treatments are available or coming soon?
  • What can I learn from successful patient case studies?
  • What new non-medicinal alternatives are recently available?
  • How can I break refractory chronic migraine?
  • When I should get a scan for my headache condition?
  • How are neck pain and migraine related?
  • How important are sleep and exercise really for those with migraine?
  • Are supplements or vitamins worth considering?
  • What are some common drug interactions and side effects we should know about?
  • How do I need to know about hemiplegic and vestibular migraine?
  • How important is diet for migraine and headache?
  • How can I interpret migraine research?

The virtual Migraine World Summit is free from March 20-28, 2019.

Register now for your complimentary pass.

Claim your FREE ticket now at The 2019 Migraine World Summit

See you at the Summit!

Break in the Fog

When the brume clears, no matter how brief the reprieve, capture the moment. Hold it dear and remember there will always be another break in the fog. ~Undeniably Sara

When the brume clears, no matter how brief the reprieve, capture the moment. Hold it dear and remember there will always be another break in the fog. ~Undeniably Sara

Supermodel in an Alternate Reality

That’d be me.  Call me by my supermodel name, Chronic Migrainelle.

Fancy Men and Women

Today, Yesterday, Last Week…

Its been going on for weeks now. Every day feels like an attack from one side or the other. Just when I think there will be one calm day with somewhat reasonable expectations of me, then I get hit again.

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The Map

I remember planning my future, where I’d go to college, what I’d study, and how my future career would allow for some flexibility for the unexpected.  It was a logical, researched and well-thought-out plan.

I’ve come to realize much of the anxiety, distress, and ultimately dis-ease in my life originated from my stubbornness to follow this plan at all costs.  The amount of energy expended trying to control my life depleted my ability to respond to the inevitable “shit show.”

It takes great restraint to focus my efforts on what is happening right now rather than attempting a stranglehold on the cornucopia of “what ifs.”  Now, my plan is like following a map to a destination unbeknownst to me.  The map helps guide me, but I must find my own way.

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The Tangled Mind

The tangled mass of vibrant colors shooting out of the head makes visual the struggle to explain the traumatized mind.  Surviving each day is challenging enough, but then we face trying to describe the sensation to others.

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Breaking Point

Burning stress, piercing hurt, and crushing fear
Pile on, forming a jagged mountain of pain.  
Then, a feather lands atop with a whisper of breath. 
Giant boulders crash down, roaring like a freight train.
The taste of blood in my throat, a migraine of molten lava, 
And my heart, pounding out of my chest, beating in my ears.
The breaking point smoulders from holding it in too long.

Good Question

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He Sleeps Soundly

How can you sleep at night, Mr. Narcissist? We hardly sleep at all, yet I suspect you sleep just fine. After all, you never did anything wrong, and these memories we all fight so hard to resolve are an elaborate fabrication.

What a beautiful, fantasy world you in which you dwell. Beware, for it will all crumble down eventually, and when it does, we will be stronger than ever. Relish your memories of when you had full power and control over us because those times are extinct!

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The Passage of Pain

Migraine is often passed on from mother to daughter. Image: Migraine Action 436

So many things are passed on to our children including some of our most significant struggles.  What a joy it is to see the positive aspects of family traits reflected in our children and what a devastating reality it is to see them struggle with pain.  My youngest daughter has migraines.  She got them from me. My mom and my maternal grandmother both had migraines, and I suspect this genetic condition goes back many generations more than any of us know.

Today, after missing another school day, my sweet daughter is in bed with her head on an ice pack and her room as dark as can be in the middle of the day. I know exactly how she feels, yet I am powerless to end her pain. It was just after she was born that my migraines became chronic and, ultimately, intractable. She knows what her future could hold, and it both scares her and makes her sad.

Another journey is at hand because we must find a way to control/prevent my daughter’s migraine attacks before they take over her life. I’m so sorry little one. It is part of who we are, but I won’t let it overtake you.