Author: The Mindful Migraine Blog

  • Sage, coach, cheerleader or filter-less friend…?

    Sage, coach, cheerleader or filter-less friend…?

    What am I to you? It probably doesn’t matter, but I have been thinking a lot about which kinds of people I prefer to take advice from, and equally importantly, which kind of person YOU might prefer to listen to.  Each ‘label’ represents a slightly different approach to sharing wisdom. …

  • Darwinian migraine madness

    Darwinian migraine madness

    Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution is often summarized down to a key concept: “survival of the fittest”. Given this fact, I have often wondered why – given how much migraine reduces functionality – why has migraine not been “bred out” of humanity…? Surely when our ancient ancestors needed to pack…

  • Green light therapy for migraines

    Green light therapy for migraines

    A while ago, I was listening to a podcast about migraines when the pain patient said something like, “if I won the lottery, I would build a green light therapy room in my home.” What, I wondered, is green light therapy? According to Time.com, people with chronic pain can be…

  • Glimmers versus triggers

    Glimmers versus triggers

    You’ll hear a lot on this website about chronic pain triggers: “dehydration triggered my migraine last week, and stress triggered my pain-brain yesterday”, and so on and on. Sometimes the potential triggers can be super-quirky, but potentially still very real, and might include your pillow, drafts, or even nightmares. This…

  • Lessons learnt from Icarus

    Lessons learnt from Icarus

    When I was young, I was an enormous fan of Greek Myths and Legends. I was in awe of Zeus on Mt Olympus looking down on humanity, and adored the idea of Apollo, the sun-god riding a gilded chariot across the skies. Soon, single words were enough to conjure up…

  • I am more than my body

    I am more than my body

    Across the centuries and all cultures, there has always been a sense of something ‘beyond’ us mere mortals.  Perhaps because we ‘travel’ in our dreams, humans have no problem believing in this other realm.  Moreover, there has also always been people who claim they can act as the intermediary between…

  • The 7 types of rest

    The 7 types of rest

    The other day I woke up after 8 hours of sleep and said to my husband; “I’m STILL tired!” And I don’t mean I spent 8 hours in bed tossing and turning and staring at the ceiling – it was 8 hours of deep sleep. I’m almost always so exhausted…

  • Keep doing today

    Keep doing today

    A while ago I wrote a post titled “Migraine Snakes and Ladders” about a rough migraine I experienced which involved a lot of projectile vomiting (sorry). It was a pretty grim post reading back through it. I confessed to feeling distressed by the setback in my health and feeling bitter…

  • Welcome to my revelation

    Welcome to my revelation

    Every now and then something “clicks” in my mind; thoughts align (or collide) and I think “ah ha”. It doesn’t happen very often when it comes to migraine material (I had my first migraine when I was 11 years old), but with all the reading I’ve been doing, I still…