When It's Not Just a Headache with Lisa Jacobson

In This Episode…

What a migraine is and its stigma – 2:56
What causes a migraine – 5:15
Lisa's story – 7:30
How to manage your migraines – 9:28
The importance of a support group – 14:23
Tracking your migraines – 15:54
The making of the Migraine Hat – 19:19

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Key Points

Migraine is a neurological disease. There is a stigma that migraine is just a headache. But it's much worse… it's very debilitating.

Some of the things that trigger migraines are light, sounds, smells, certain foods, genetics, TMJ and stress. These triggers can cause an electrical storm in the brain, and can cause one to be dizzy, experience paralysis, and makes it impossible to carry on every day activities such as work and caregiving.

National Institute of Health (NIH) has very low funding for research. Only 500 doctors in the U.S. Are credentialed to treat migraine.

There is no cure, but there are ways to manage migraine disease.

Lisa created The Daily Migraine website to give migraine sufferers a voice. It's her passion project; she receives no revenue from it, but hopes to create awareness and help find a cure for migraines. All the proceeds from her invention, the Migraine Hat, go to research.

What You Can Do

Find a really good doctor. Use the Physician Finder (mostly neurologists) on TheDailyMigraine.com.
Plan for an attack. Have medicine, ice ready and practice self-care. You can keep a small freezer with ice in your bedroom, have sunglasses with you at all times, and if you grind your teeth at night (TMJ), wear a mouth guard at night.
Make an "MEK" Migraine Emergency Kit: Some examples of things to put in it are meds, fan, peppermint essential oil, food, ginger candy, water, sunglasses, bandana.
Avoid stress and negativity whenever possible.
Join a support group, like The Daily Migraine Facebook group.
Track the migraine occurrences to show your doctor.