The Mindful Migraine

I don’t often comment on what’s happening in the news, but the tragedy in Nepal is overwhelming. My heart goes out to everyone affected💔🙏

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For a long time now, I’ve been saying that the biggest step forward in my healing journey was learning how to calm down my over-stressed (potentially broken) nervous system.

I’ve previously written about the Vagus Nerve in particular, and my Nervous Breakthrough in more general terms… that’s why I was so interested to find a book titled “The Vagus Nerve Reset: Train your body to heal stress, trauma and anxiety” (2023) by Anna Ferguson.

Today’s post is a (long) introduction to the ideas covered in this book. Whilst it might take you 10 minutes to read, I would still recommend it if you suffer from chronic pain, even if you have to return to it over a couple of sessions.

The book opens with the description of a literal roller coaster ride gone wrong. Ms Ferguson was 10 years old when the carriage she was in crashed into the one in front due to a mechanical malfunction. She spent a month in hospital as her spleen, shoulder and more, repaired themselves. As time went by, her body healed, but something inside her remained fragile. Statistically, Ferguson notes that it is a 1 in 24 million chance of being injured on a roller coaster, but, as unlikely as the event was, it happened, and it was traumatic.

She notes that the accident “changed my life – and altered my nervous system.” She “shifted from being an outgoing, adventurous and energetic child, to feeling disconnected and constantly at war with my body and mind” (3).

[This being at war with yourself, is exactly why I stopped using the ‘migraine warrior’ phrase – it was just too exhausting and demoralizing for me (read more here).]

Polyvagal Theory

The book then launches into an explanation of The Polyvagal Theory and the various parts of your nervous system. She describes it as an onion you can peel back the layers of, and notes that it includes (page13):

• The central nervous system – your brain, spinal column (and nerves)
• The peripheral nervous system – everything outside the brain and spinal cord
• The somatic nervous system – which is voluntary: such as how you walk
• The autonomic nervous system (ANS) – which is involuntary: such as your heartbeat and breathing.

As she writes, “Like many things in life, it’s easy to take our ANS for granted.” We breathe without thinking about it, so we don’t pay it any extra attention. However, “given the widespread effects of this system, it is important to understand what the ANS does and how it influences other aspects of our health, including our cognitive and emotional experience of ourselves and the world around us.” (14-15)

[It’s why I can’t exaggerate enough the importance of learning how to breathe better. I never realized how often pain made me shallow-pant or hold my breath. Learning how to breathe from my belly (rather than the top of my lungs) felt like a revelation. Yes, you breathe automatically, but you CAN learn to breathe in a way that fills your body and brain with healing oxygen.]

Vagus Nerve

The book then turns to the Vagus nerve – “the body’s superhighway” (15).

The word ‘vagus’ comes from the Latin “to wander” because the nervous system wanders all through your body and is made up of 2 parts;

• the ventral (front) vagal pathway – which relates to social connection, and safety: it’s activated when you feel relaxed and happy, and
• the dorsal (back) vagal pathway – relates to stress, shutdown, immobilization, disconnection and withdrawal: when you feel emotionally detached from what is happening (imagine a turtle pulling its head back into its shell).

Traditionally, as the book notes, the nervous system was considered to have 2 states which were essentially either on or off (17-18):

• parasympathetic system – which is quiet and calms us down, or
• sympathetic system – which includes an activated or excited state

However, Dr Stephen Porges, a professor of psychiatry and bioengineering, developed the Polyvagal Theory which suggests that it is more complicated, and that there are actually 3 states that the nervous system is trying to generate depending on how your ANS interprets safety of danger (18-20):

• Mobilization – which is the hyper-aroused fight-or-flight response of an activated sympathetic system (staying in this state too long can lead to restlessness, agitation, irritability, hypervigilance, intrusive thoughts, lack of concentration, even heightened feelings of anger),
• Immobilization – which is the freeze response of the dorsal vagal system (spending too long here can make you feel perpetually anxious, exhausted, withdrawn, numb, forgetful and indecisive),
• Social engagement – which is the ventral vagal system or parasympathetic nervous system, which comes on when you feel safe and relaxed.

So then, what does the vagus nerve do to our bodies? Well, when it’s working as it should, it regulates our heart rate, oversees digestion, assists in the release of insulin, regulates the muscles in your neck and throat, controls inflammation, maintains a healthy immune system, carries sensory information from your body to your brain, controls facial movement, and allows you to tune into other people (22-23).

It’s not hard to imagine the reverse when all of this goes wrong…

Vagal Tone

How well your vagus nerve is doing its job is referred to as Vagal Tone. It is influenced by genetics, lifestyle choices, diet, and environment: “Vagal tone is a physical and emotional barometer that gives us insight into our physical and emotional health” (27).

The book uses a metaphor to describe where out vagus nerve might be at anytime: “Like a grandfather clock that has a pendulum swinging back and forth, so too does our nervous system. It’s in constant motion, adapting to the current environment, stressor or event in front of it,” and it moves quickly if it perceives a threat, in order to help you survive (26).

She gives the example of how you react when you are resting in bed and hear a bang in the dark. Perhaps your heart starts beating faster ((fight-or-flight = adrenalin and cortisol are released to increase the blood flow to your muscles). Or perhaps you hold your breath (freeze = your body is releasing endorphins to decrease your heart rate and keep you calm and increase your tolerance to pain). In theory, once you realize you’re safe, your nervous system returns to functioning normally and you calm down again (37).

Using a car analogy, she notes that the fight-or-flight response is like an accelerator or gas pedal. The ventral vagal system is the brake which slows you down calmly, whilst the dorsal vagal system is the emergency ‘off’ button for when things are too intense and you need to stop completely. The trick is that the more you use a particular mode, the stronger it gets. If you’re always rushing around, it starts to feel normal to have your foot on the accelerator and you forget how to use your brake and this ‘pedal’ gets weaker and smaller from disuse (38-40).

[It took me a while to realize that I lived fulltime in flight-or-fight mode. When my body couldn’t take it anymore, it skipped the slow brake maneuver and simply turned me off, putting me to bed for 72 hours with migraine pain which prevented me from doing anything other than staying completely still, barely breathing…]

A dysregulated nervous system can lead to a number of symptoms, including nausea, dizziness, sweating, allergies, insomnia, sensory sensitivity, headaches, and yep… migraines (54).

OK, ok, so it doesn’t sound great, so then:

How do we regulate our nervous system?

“At its core, a regulated nervous system is a resilient nervous system” that can “bounce back, even flourish, after challenges or difficult experiences”. When we feel regulated, we can cope with difficulties, be flexible and adapt, confident that we can navigate whatever the world throws at us (52).

The remainder of the book then helps you to recalibrate yourself to improve your regulation, in too much detail to go into here – the book is well worth a read if you have time. Overall, we can summarize it as having three main steps:

1. secure your base: developing a sense of safety and expanding your knowledge of your nervous system as well as improving the world around you as much as possible.
2. build body awareness and welcome tension-release: now you turn towards yourself and start to reconnect with your own body, understand how your body functions, explore emotions, release muscle tension, and learn to breathe better.
3. Integrate your learnings and nurture yourself though connection with others: build connections with others but also set healthy boundaries and use clear communication.

[So, without even knowing it, I jumped too quickly into step 2 before I had covered off step 1. I was doing the Yin Yoga and meditations – which is good – but I was still so frozen in chronic pain that I was too disconnected from myself to truly benefit. (Such as when I wrote about “when mindfulness feels risky“.) It was only when I started to feel at peace with myself that I could take on the new tasks more readily. Moreover, even when I was feeling better, my relationships still needed some work, so setbacks were potentially inevitable. (Read more about foundations here, communication here and boundaries here).]

The book then becomes something of a workbook with blank pages in which you can record your worries and moods as well as writing out your personal needs and preferences. (Including how many hours of sleep you like and ways that you might improve your sense of belonging in your community).

You are also encouraged to start to understand your nervous system by recording what triggers you out of your sense of safety. (Triggers can include anything, such as someone running late to an appointment and not letting you know). And don’t forget to identify your glimmers and what makes you feel warm and fuzzy (such as witnessing a kind act).

[There’s a free trigger-tracker on my RESOURCES tab.]

A few more links to try

There are pages and pages of ideas you can try on this blog to help you reduce the stress in your nervous system. My suggestion would be to start with the activities listed under the “easy” tab. The internet also has many more you can explore. Here’s three pages I found:

8 vagus nerve exercises to help you calm your body and mind which includes things I’ve written about before such as humming

5 Ways To Reset Your Vagus Nerve which includes self-massage

10 Ways to Reset Your Vagus Nerve, Naturally which adds acupuncture

Towards the end of the book, Ferguson recommends 3 lifestyle changes to help: get enough sleep, expose yourself to natural light, and try cold exposure. (Cold exposure can include cold showers, ice baths or just spending time outside if it’s cold).

The book ends by noting that as you regulate your nervous system you will improve your connection with yourself. “Letting go of old, unhelpful beliefs about yourself will allow you to see and greet yourself with fresh eyes. As you do this, you will find that your body responds in kind by becoming more vibrant and resilient” (232).

That’s exactly what I had hoped for myself as my New Years Revelation: “radiant” was a phrase that came to mind when I was making my mood board (read more here).

Yay us for improving our health and happiness… step by step… breath by breath!

Take care taking care my lovelies (and well done you if you made it all the way through this long post! Congratulate yourself on your commitment to learning and growing – you are amazing!),

Linda x