Welcome migraineurs!

This hopefully this will be a place where we can chat about how this disease, yes disease, that is affecting our lives. Hopefully, we can share how we have successfully treated the attacks, prevented the attacks and lived our lives when they happen anyway.

Just a bit of information about migraine disease for anyone unfamiliar.

Myths about migraine disease:

A migraine is not just a "bad headache".
Migraine is a disease and a "headache" is just one of many symptoms of the disease. The cause of migraine pain is the opposite of the cause of the headache pain.

A migraine is caused by psychological factors like stress or depression.
Migraine is a neurological disease, not a psychological disorder. Attacks result from biological and physiological changes.

A migraine isn't life threatening, it's just annoying.
Migraine attacks can be life threatening inducing such conditions as strokes, aneurysms, permanent vision loss, severe dental problems, coma and even death.

Any doctor will know how to treat and or diagnosis migraine disease and treat it properly.
Sadly, no. Migraine disease is widely misdiagnosed, mistreated, and many General Practitioners and Family Practice Doctors are unaware that it is classified a serious neurological disease. People believing they suffer from migraine disease should be referred to Neurologists for confirmation and all future treatment for the disease.

Lastly, from M.A.G.N.U.M. the site run by The National Migraine Awareness Association - "If you are not a Migraine sufferer, then remember the next time you offer advice to the person in your life that suffers from Migraines, make sure it's not toxic (i.e., you need to avoid stress, cheer up, don't drink Coke, or other well-meaning but emotionally debilitating statements)."

Migraine disease is a serious medical condition which can cause great financial and personal losses to people who suffer from it.

Also from M.A.G.N.U.M. "...Dr. Fred D. Sheftell, M.D., Director and Founder for the New England Center for Headache specifically stated in his letter of endorsement that "Migraine is absolutely a biologically-based disorder with the same validity as other medical disorders including hypertension, angina, asthma, epilepsy, etc. Unfortunately, there have been many myths perpetrated in regard to this disorder. The most destructive of which are 'It is all in your head,' 'You have to learn to live with it,' and 'Stress is the major cause.'"

Migraineurs often are treated like the attacks are completely controllable or that it's just not as bad as they make it out to be.

Migraineurs not only have to fight a debilitating disease, but they also have to fight tremendous public ignorance and prejudice due to years of misinformation and disinformation.