The Mindful Migraine

Yesterday I wrote about receiving advice from Julius Caesar in a dream. I ummed and ahhed about whether to include information about his death in the post. I decided against it, because I wanted the post to end on an upbeat tone. The reason I considered including it, is the way I remembered it; Caesar was stabbed by his fellow senators on his way into the Forum – and as such, if he had walked a different way to work that day, he might have delayed or avoided the negative outcome.

As I was umming and ahhing, I (poorly) typed into my search engine “How did Julius Caesar die?” I wanted to make sure that I was remembering my history correctly. (Turns out I was right and wrong – he was killed by a group assassination and died of 23 stab wounds on the senate floor after proceedings had started (so a new-walk-way would not have saved him)).

Anyway – here is a screen shot of how my computer replied:

Julis Caesar died from… bleeding?

From a paper-cut to the finger?

If that’s not the understatement of the year, I don’t know what is!

OK – so this might seem like a strange thing to post about – assassinations, political or otherwise are not a pleasant topic to discuss on a blog that aims for peace-love-joy-hope-happiness… BUT as a chronic pain person this sort of ‘medical gaslighting’ is not uncommon.

VERY OFTEN, migraines are referred to as a ‘bad headache’. They’re not. They may share similar attributes (if the migraine person is lucky), but more often than not, a migraine is a whole-body catastrophe that pulls people down mentally and emotionally, as well as physically.

People who live with a chronic illness or chronic pain are often given ‘soft’ advice like “drink more water” or “get more rest,” even; “relax a little”. It rarely helps, because the advice is better suited to ‘softer’ medical conditions like a tension headache from spending too long on a computer or self-inflicted messes like a hangover. Chronic – by definition – is recurring, long lasting, and acute. In the case of chronic migraine, it is a complex neurological condition that doctors and scientists still haven’t found a cure for.

Saying a migraine is just a bad headache is a bit like saying Julius Caesar died from bleeding… it’s the kind of understatement that doesn’t do anyone any favors.

That’s why I bought the t-shirt designed by Migraine Australia (included at the head of this post). The t-shirt reads: “saying migraine is just a headache is like saying Godzilla is just a lizard”.

Not sure how the link works overseas, but here’s the site where I got mine, and if you can click on ‘designed and sold by Migraine Australia’ you can see their other migraine-related products: “Godzilla is just a lizard (white)” Classic T-Shirt for Sale by Migraine Australia | Redbubble

The t-shirt doesn’t take away the pain, but it does make me feel empowered, and happy to help spread awareness, with a little bit of tongue-in-cheek humor. Good job Migraine Australia!

Take care people, and may your day be more lizard-like than Godzilla-ish!

Linda x