Category: Resources

Chronic Migraine, Resources, Treatment

Migraine & Pregnancy: 5 Must-Read Articles

Kerrie Smyres

Most pregnant women want to avoid all medications during pregnancy, but that’s not always practical with a health issue like migraine. Doing so can lead to other problems, like severe weight loss, that could be even more dangerous than taking certain medications. These must-read articles answer questions about migraine during pregnancy and breastfeeding, which medications are safe, weighing your migraine management options and more.

Migraine and Pregnancy
A brief overview migraine and pregnancy, this article from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston starts with advice for women considering becoming pregnant and answers common questions about migraine during pregnancy and while breastfeeding.

You Are Pregnant (or Planning to Have a Baby)
Is your migraine frequency or severity likely to change during pregnancy? Can having migraine attacks while pregnant harm your baby? The National Headache Foundation shares statistics and answers questions.

What To Expect With Pregnancy and Delivery
This excerpt from The Woman’s Migraine Toolkit provides detailed and easy-to-understand explanation how hormones during pregnancy and after delivery can impact migraine. (Diana Lee of Somebody Heal Me, who is expecting a baby in July, recommends this book.)

Expert Answer: How can I manage my migraines during pregnancy?
A headache specialist talks about the importance of creating a migraine treatment plan for use while pregnant, which medications are safe to use during pregnancy and what alternative treatments a pregnant woman can consider trying.

A Migraine Mama’s Advice on Balancing Medication Usage During Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
A chronic migraineur reconsidered her resolve to avoid all migraine medications during pregnancy after her migraines spiraled out of control and she lost 15 pounds before her first OB appointment. She describes the emotional wrangling of finding the balance between getting the treatment she needed without endangering the pregnancy.

And remember, your particular situation may be different than those addressed in any of these articles. Work with your doctors to find the safest, most effective treatment approach for you. Having migraine attacks while pregnant isn’t harmful, but they are a physically stressful event. Your body is already stressed enough with the changes of pregnancy, so it’s extra important to take good care of yourself and treat your migraines appropriately.

Coping, Resources

Empathy Animated (& the Trap of Silver Lining Zombies)

Kerrie Smyres

Brené Brown‘s insight on the difference between empathy and sympathy has been animated into an instructive, informative, funny and adorable short video.

In case you’re like me and would rather read the gist than watch a video, here’s an excerpt (though I do recommend the video highly!):

“Rarely, if ever, does an empathic response begin with ‘at least.’ … Someone just shared something with us that’s incredibly painful and we’re trying to silver line it. … One of the things we do sometimes in the face of very difficult conversations is we try to make things better. If I share something with you that’s very difficult, I’d rather you say, ‘I don’t even know what to say right now, I’m just so glad you told me.’ Because the truth is, rarely can a response make something better.”

As soon as I saw this a couple months ago, I knew I wanted to share it with you, but not what I wanted to say about it. The thought I keep coming back to is not about connecting with others through empathy rather than sympathy, but with myself.

I cannot count the number of times I’ve been angry or sad about migraine and chronic daily headache and tried to make it better with “At least…” This wasn’t an exercise in counting my blessings, but in telling myself that what I feel doesn’t matter.

Silver lining my grief never made it go away, it just hid it for a while. Burying emotions doesn’t get rid of them permanently, it turns them into zombies that continually rise from the dead. Unlike zombies, for which there are surefire methods to eliminate, buried emotions return endlessly, becoming increasingly difficult to suppress.

Thanks to this animation, I now stop whenever a thought begins with “At least…” I then tell myself what I promised to say to others — “That’s awful, I’m so sorry.”

Guess what? It works.

Simply acknowledging that what I’ve been through is awful eases the pain more than I could have imagined. It serves me far better than silver lining the zombies ever did.

Community, Resources

Restaurants, Sightseeing & Shopping for AHMA Patient Conference-Goers

Kerrie Smyres

Wondering what to do in Phoenix/Scottsdale while you’re here for the American Headache & Migraine Association patient conference? Here are some highlights within a free shuttle ride from the Hampton Inn.

Food (listed in order of where I’d eat if I were visiting)

  • Pizzeria Bianco — This wood-fired pizza place has received rave reviews nationwide, including from Martha Stewart and Oprah. The original location boasts at least two-hour waits, but the new Town & Country restaurant often has no wait, even on weekends. It’s not cheap and the service gets spotty reviews on Yelp – and it’s so delicious that I still recommend it. (And you can walk here from the Hampton Inn.)
  • Beckett’s Table — My favorite restaurant in town. On the expensive side (for Phoenix), but well worth the price for perfectly prepared American and comfort food made with local, seasonal ingredients. Dessert offerings include s’mores with chocolate-covered bacon.
  • America’s Taco Shop — Excellent, relatively inexpensive Mexican street tacos (and burritos, tostadas and tortas). The meat’s the star here, though I’ve heard the vegetarian burritos are good, too. A casual, order-at-the-counter spot.
  • Los Dos Molinos — New Mexican food. Spicy and delicious.
  • Chelsea’s Kitchen — With old-growth trees, climbing bougainvillea, and a huge outdoor fireplace, this is one of the best patios in town. Good food, though pricey (part of what you pay for is organic and/or grass-fed meat). Only worth the cost if you can sit outside, IMHO, and the indoor dining space is loud.
  • Oregano’s — Calls itself “your neighborhood pizza joint,” but has a variety of pasta dishes, salads, and sandwiches. The decor is quirky and the food is tasty, it’s also fairly loud and there’s usually a wait.
  • La Grande Orange — Serves food all day, but breakfast is the best, particularly the housemade English muffins and sticky bran muffin.
  • Ajo Al’s — Typical Tex-Mex, fairly heavy and usually cheese-laden. And yummy.

Shopping

  • If you’re a bargain clothes and accessories shopper, check out Nordstrom’s Last Chance. It’s the final clearance shop for Nordstrom and the prices are dirt cheap. Be forewarned: it’s often crowded with long lines.
  • Camelback Colonnade, where Last Chance is located, also has a smattering of discount chain stores, including Old Navy and a nice Marshall’s.
  • Biltmore Fashion Park is mostly high-end stores and boutiques. It’s a fun place to wander around and has a ton of restaurants to choose from.

Architecture

  • Arizona Biltmore Hotel — Designed by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, this beautiful hotel was built in 1929. You can wander the grounds, take a guided tour, eat at one of the restaurants, or even visit the “secret” Sunday speakeasy (password required, find it on Twitter @Arizona Biltmore).

If you have a car…

  • Desert Botanical Garden — This is a stunning botanical garden that showcases the diversity of desert plants. Even better, there’s currently a Chihuly glass exhibit. Chihuly’s work is always spectacular, but it’s extra-special with desert as the backdrop.
  • Hiking — Only a short drive from the hotel, Camelback Mountain, Piestewa Peak/Dreamy Draw, and Papago Park are beautiful places to experience desert landscapes without leaving town. South Mountain is farther, but also a little more isolated and nature-y.
Community, Coping, Friends & Family, Resources

How to Respond to “How Are You?”

Kerrie Smyres

When someone asks how you are, how do you respond? It’s a tough question when you have a life-altering illness — should you shrug it off with an “OK” and deny your own experience or be truthful and risk scaring off the other person?

My response varies depending on the person, how I feel in that moment, how much energy I have, and if I really want to get into it. It’s usually along the lines of “I’m still here,” “I’m alive,” “I’ve been better,” or “OK right now, though it’s been a rough week.” If I don’t want to talk about it, I immediately follow my response by turning the question around. Most people love to talk about what’s going on in their lives and are thrilled to have someone who is ready to listen.

100 Ways to Answer the Question “How Are You?” (PDF) is an excellent new resource from ChronicBabe that’ll help you answer that difficult question. There’s bound to be a suggestion that will help you no matter how you’re feeling on a particular day and how much you want to talk about.

I particularly like the section on authenticity where she points out that answering the question honestly can establish intimacy and trust, leading to a deeper connection between you and the people in your life and, thus, greater support. Need more encouragement to open up? Check out The Power and Strength of Vulnerability.

Meds & Supplements, Resources, Treatment

Great Price on Sumatriptan (Imitrex) at Health Warehouse

Kerrie Smyres

HealthWarehouse, a licensed U.S. pharmacy based in Kentucky, charges even less for sumatriptan than Inhouse Pharmacy Europe, which I told you about last week. Bonus: it’s entirely legit and there’s no question if it’s legality, though you’ll need to send them a prescription.

I’ve ordered other meds from Health Warehouse and have been pleased with the service. The prices are low and shipping is prompt. The only drawback is that they don’t take manufacturer’s coupons.

Wherever you buy sumatriptan, you can try to simulate the effect of Treximet by taking naproxen sodium (Aleve) along with it. (See paragraph five of Save Money on Sumatriptan (Imitrex/Imigran/Treximet) for details.) Some people find mixing their own medication cocktail is as effective as Treximet, others swear by the all-in-one Treximet. It’s worth a try to save money, but be sure to let your doctor know what you’re up to — safety is even more important than frugality!

Thanks to The Daily Headache reader on Facebook who told me about HealthWarehouse’s price on sumatriptan. And thanks to Timothy who suggested asking your doctor for triptan samples at every visit and thanking them profusely for them. He also pointed out that if you take a low dose of a medication, you can ask your doctor to write a prescription for a higher dose and split the pill in half. This doesn’t work with every medication (some have a time-release coating, others aren’t tablets, others don’t come in a dose that’s easily halved, etc.), but it’s something to ask your doctor about.

If you know any other sources for good prices on sumatriptan — or any other meds! — please leave a comment. Your help is invaluable to me and to other readers as well.