The Mindful Migraine

The Mindful Migraine is a blog about migraines, written by someone with migraines.

Hi! My name is Linda. I’m a chronic pain person turned patient advocate. I’m in my mid-fifties and live in Sydney, Australia. I’ve trained as an architect, worked for decades as a project manager, researched metaphors for a PhD (and recently graduated as Dr Linda). I’m also a fulltime mother, part-time worker, and spend as much time as possible learning how to make peace with my chronic migraine pain.

I’ve had migraines on and off since I was 11 years old. More recently, my ‘episodic hemiplegic migraines’ began to merge together, and I was diagnosed with ‘chronic migraine’.

Chronic migraine reduced my ability to parent, work, study, travel and socialize. It is a debilitating condition, which is not yet fully understood and is not currently curable. It’s more than ‘just a headache’ – it’s a ‘full body catastrophe’. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it can lead to isolation and depression.

But it doesn’t have to be all bad news. I’m turning my life around, and if I can do it – so can YOU.

After months of relentless pain that wasn’t responding to medication, my neurologist recommended I change my mindset and follow a more holistic approach to healing.

Through a journey of exploration, I have been learning about a variety of alternative approaches with the aim of reducing my migraine triggers and increasing my ability to tolerate those triggers.

Whilst I still have a permanent low-level pain in one eye, practicing mindfulness has helped. I pay attention to my body, stay calm and focus on the positive. I have reduce my ‘full blown’ migraines from 3+ days per week, every week, to 1 day every 3 weeks (with a few setbacks). 

When I told my neurologist about how his advice had turned my life around, he congratulated me and said, “why don’t you write a blog to help others?”

How The Mindful Migraine Blog started

I spent a long time wrestling my inner-demons that suggested I wasn’t qualified enough, or interesting enough, or wordy-wise enough. Eventually, however, I ‘braved-up’ and started this blog on the 17th of January 2024. I had two aims. One; I hoped reaching out would be a way to cure my loneliness. Two; I really wanted to help others who were suffering from persistent pain and didn’t feel heard, understood or valued.

I realized the internet had a lot of information ABOUT people with migraines, but not a lot of material that was written BY people with migraines. Where was the material that explained what living with migraine was like – warts and all? Hopefully you’ll find that material here, as we change the online dynamic together.

On this blog you’ll find the program that I initially used to structure my healing journey and personal strategies I adopted. There are resources that have helped me. These include links to breathing exercises, Tai Chi and Qigong YouTube classes, meditations, Yin Yoga, stretching, self-massage tips, fitness routines and healing music.

Anything I create I give to you for FREE – either in the blog posts themselves, or on the RESOURCES page. I believe healing should be a gift. No catch, no ads, no affiliate links, no advice hidden behind sneaky paywalls, no request for credit card details – ever.

Over to you

If you’re reading this, I’m sorry for your pain. And I RESPECT you for pushing through it to be here. Know that you’re not alone. I hope that the resources here help you achieve more-pain-less days, and that the comments from others bring you closer to likeminded people who are going through what you are, right here, right now.

Remember it’s ‘your brain – your pain – your journey’. Every body and every situation is different. You should always work with your health care support network on which strategies will best suit your individual condition.

But also remember: we’re more powerful when we band together and help each other out. Empower yourself to keep going and keep growing, but reach out to others so we ALL emerge stronger than before.

Take care taking care, Linda x

My interviews on mindfulness for migraines

PS – If you’re curious to hear me speak about my healing journey, there are lots of interviews you can listen to. Watch me get up close and passionate, with Michelle Greenwell as I talk about the metaphors of healing: S6 E6 Migraine Awareness: The Mindful Migraine with Linda

I also talk specifically about living a life with migraine with Ellen at Studio Migraine in the Netherlands: Studio Migraine meets The Mindful Migraine blogger Linda

There’s also a more casual chat with Amber Horrox from Warrior Within which includes laughter and brutal honesty: Overcoming guilt & shame with Linda X

If you’re interested in mindful movement, there is also a discussion with Violet Li, Tai Chi Master. We discuss how mindful movement helped reduce my migraine pain: Migraine Relief Through Tai Chi: Linda’s Path

Lastly, but by no means least, you can pop over to listen to me on Roi Shternin‘s Chronically Empowered Podcast: How mindfulness got a 3 year long Migraine under control! – Sick notes

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(DISCLAIMER: Please be sure to speak to your health care provider before making any major lifestyle changes. I am NOT a medical doctor. I write about what has (and hasn’t) worked for me based on my 40 years of lived experience with migraine.)

Join our migraine community

If you want to stay in touch, pop over to the CONTACT page. Or say hello on one of my other sites:

The Mindful Migraine Blog | Linktree

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