Help If You’re Living With Migraines

Living with migraines can be extremely difficult. If you struggle with migraines, it can affect your sense of well-being, your physical health, work or school, and your relationships. Learning to live with migraines can require not only the right medical treatment but also some behavioral and lifestyle changes.

According to the American Migraine Association, around 36 million Americans are affected by this condition. This accounts for around 12 percent of the population, and people from 15 to 55 years old are most affected.

Quick Migraine Facts

The following are some general migraine facts to be aware of if you’re living with migraines or your loved one is.

• Migraines are severe recurring headaches
• Migraines with auras have visual warning signs that happen before the actual headache
• Someone with migraines may experience pain and symptoms for hours or even days
• 2 to 3 million people suffer from chronic migraines
• An estimated 5 million people in the U.S. suffer at least one migraine attack per month
• 11 million people attribute their moderate to severe level of disability to migraines
• 91 percent of people who have migraines miss work or can’t function at a normal level during an attack
• In one Canadian study, 70 percent of migraine sufferers said they affected their relationships in a negative way
• 49 percent of surveyed people who suffer from migraines said they had to limit or miss activities for at least one day during a migraine attack

Coping When You Have Migraines

If you struggle with migraines, the first thing you should always do is talk to your health care provider. If you don’t yet have a neurologist or headache specialist you work with, speak with your primary care doctor. Your doctor will be able to advise you on the best steps to take.

Once you have a health care provider who can work with you to help treat your migraines, what else can you do? How do you go about living with migraines in a functional way?

The following are some general tips for living with migraines.

• Follow a treatment plan as advised by your doctor. Don’t take medications not recommended by your health care provider, because some medicines can actually make migraines worse or increase the frequency of attacks.
• Work on alleviating stress in your life. Experiment and find different tactics that work well for you in terms of reducing emotional stress. For example, maybe you implement meditation or deep breathing exercises into your life when you’re living with migraines.
• Along with emotional stress, you would also consider ways to reduce your physical stress. For example, do you spend a lot of time seated at a desk and working on a computer? If so, try to incorporate stretching and regular movement into your day.
• Get regular exercise. You should aim for at least 30 minutes of exercise every day.
• Create a routine, particularly when it comes to eating and sleeping. Sometimes people who struggle with migraines find that deviating from their routine is a trigger.
• Start keeping a headache journal. This will help you hone in on your routine and start to identify migraine triggers.

Keeping a Migraine Diary

When you’re living with migraines keeping a diary or journal is extremely important. It can help you and your health care provider better identify triggers. Then, you can focus on preventing migraine attacks more than treating them once they occur.

Some things to include in a migraine diary when you’re living with migraines are:

• Time a headache began and ended
• Warning signs
• Where the pain was located and the type of pain
• Pain intensity
• Any accompanying symptoms
• Medications taken before or during an attack
• Effect of headaches on daily functionality and routine
• How much sleep you got the night before the headache started
• What you ate before your headache
• Any activities you were doing prior to the headache
• Stressful events that may have happened

Migraines and Your Diet

Migraines and diet often have a significant link to one another. When you’re living with migraines, you might want to explore what’s called the low-tyramine diet. Tyramine is a substance found in different kinds of aged and fermented foods.

For example, tyramine is found in certain aged cheeses, cured meat, and smoked fish among other items. Foods may naturally have tyramine if they’ve been stored for a long time as well.

Some people get migraines if they have foods high in tyramine, so you might consider making dietary changes if this could be one of your triggers.

Of course, tyramine is just one of many potential migraine triggers.

Yoga For Headaches

Getting enough physical exercise is an important component of living with migraines. Some people find that yoga is a particularly beneficial physical activity when they struggle with severe headaches and migraines.

Research indicates around 10 percent of people who get migraines practice yoga. Studies also show that people who combine yoga with medication have fewer, less intense migraines than people who only use medicine.

There are different theories for why this might be the case. One is that yoga reduces stress, and stress can trigger migraines.

How Do Migraines Affect Relationships?

With any kind of chronic pain or debilitating illness, relationships are often affected. Migraines are no exception.

When you suffer from migraines, it may cause you to miss out on important events with your family. You may not even be able to do daily tasks and your family members, spouse or partner may have to pick up the slack for you. This can all put a strain on relationships.

This can be a challenge, but sometimes having a plan in place can be helpful. Maybe you know when you’re more likely to get a migraine and you can take steps to get things done before that and you can reduce your responsibilities when you know you’re most likely to have a migraine.

It’s important to talk with the people who are important to you about your migraines, how they can support you, and the steps you plan to take to make things easier on everyone affected.

Support When You’re Living with Migraines

Having not only a strong personal support system but support from other sources can be a critical component of living with migraines and thriving. Support can come primarily in the form of your medical providers, but there are also support groups online and in-person for people who suffer from migraines.

Sometimes learning that you aren’t alone can be valuable as you’re living with migraines.