The Mindful Migraine

Today’s another one of my “stories matter” episodes in which I tell you a bit about someone famous with a migraine. Problem is, it’s about a basketballer, and I know NOTHING about basketball… so – apologies in advance if I mess this up, and I’ll keep it short, so I don’t dig too deep a hole for myself.

Today’s famous person with a migraine is Scottie Pippen. According to Wikipedia, “Pippen played an important role in transforming the Bulls into a championship team and popularizing the NBA around the world during the 1990s.”

As a key player of the Chicago Bulls, icon Scottie Pippen shared that the lowest point in his career happened in 1990 when he suffered a migraine. The migraine was bad, but the timing was worse. Without knowing what all these names and numbers mean, it was in the middle of Game 7 against the Detroit “Bad Boy” Pistons, and was potentially bought on by the stress of recently losing his father.

For those of us who have had bad migraines before, there’s never a “good time” to get sick, but THIS migraine apparently changed the course of the game, the season, and Pippen’s career.

On the NBA website for the history of the Chicago Bulls in the 1990s (here), the opening sentence is: “The greatest decade in Bulls franchise history began with a headache.” [UGH – migraine is not a headache!] It then goes on to explain “It was Scottie Pippen’s famous migraine headache in Game 7 of the 1990 Eastern Conference finals that many believed might be the enduring photograph of franchise misery, Pippen in excruciating pain before the game, a towel draped over his head and rival Pistons players mocking him and the Bulls.”

In a 1991 Chicago Times article I came across, Pippen is quoted as saying he was getting sick even before the game started:

“I was asking if the lights were dim or something. Then I ran to Mark (Pfeil, then Bulls trainer) and asked him to give me a couple of aspirin. I thought maybe that would calm me down. But that seemed to energize it. It got worse, and when the game started I couldn’t focus. And 25,000 people screaming didn’t make it any better.”

The article goes on to say that Pippen played all but 6 minutes of the game, but only dunked 1 of the 10 shots he took… and as a player, he was “ineffective”.

Ouch.

The team lost the game and the championship.

And, as the article points out, people have been screaming at him ever since – heckling him about his headache… or whispering, questioning whether he was up to the task of being a championship player…

I even noticed that when I put his name into the search engine, it offered up an auto-prompt of “did Scottie Pippen really have a migraine?”

Double-ouch.

Pain… shame… guilt… disbelief… criticism… demotion… despair… all the familiar friends that are the constant companions to an irregular (but dramatic) invisible illness… sigh.

I found another article online (here) in which Pippen called it the lowest point of his career, mentioning that the fans never understood… they never wanted to understand.

It seems so cruel that a sporting super-star gets derailed by a migraine in an important game, but even crueler that society chose to leave their empathy at the door and lay into him instead. Intuitively, I’ve always felt that the stigma around migraines has been tough, but this is an in-your-face example of the lack of support migraine patients often get when they’re sick.

On a brighter note, Pippen apparently went on to play more games, and help the Bulls win three straight championships… yay you, Mr Pippen. 

Here’s an interview with Pippen in the year after the event, with some footage of the game:

So… if your migraine is bringing you down… I’m sorry for your pain – I get it – I’ve been there, done that, and know that it sux… but ask yourself; is the outcome of a multi-million dollar game riding on this moment?

Chin up lovelies.

And remember – even if the rest of the world doesn’t have a lot of sympathy for migraine peeps, I do, and WE do for each other.

Take care taking care, Linda xx