The Mindful Migraine

  • “In bed” by Joan Didion

    “In bed” by Joan Didion

    Joan Didon (1934-2021) is an American writer and journalist. Her obituary in Vogue casually mentions: “She was afflicted by migraines and was frequently depressed, even wearing dark glasses through the wedding ceremony.” I found a picture on Joan’s website, and sunglasses indoors does appear to confirm she is a person…

  • My first migraine

    My first migraine

    It occurred to me the other day that whenever we experience an event for the FIRST TIME, there is the potential for our hearts and minds to “learn” from how that event unfolded and assume that this is the “normal” way such an event ALWAYS unfolds… that we might accidentally…

  • Hello, my name is “crippled pirate mother”

    Hello, my name is “crippled pirate mother”

    Many months ago, I wrote that “my migraine’s marshmallow snowman” was the strangest heading I could imagine writing for a blog post… well, hold my non-alcoholic lite beer (ginger ale), because life just took a massive turn for the weirder… I didn’t know this, but my phone apparently collates photos…

  • SWIPED (a short story)

    SWIPED (a short story)

    “One last time,” Jim said as he opened the dating app.  He hated to think how much time and money he had wasted to go nowhere and get nothing, but today could be his lucky day so, “one last time.” He popped a heart onto several lovely lady’s profiles, skipped…

  • Sandcastles for pain relief

    Sandcastles for pain relief

    A while ago, I was down the coast and took the dogs for a walk on an isolated beach.  This beach has signs up that tell you “no dogs off leash”, but, due to the beach’s remote location, it happened to be completely free of other people or dogs.  I’m…

  • Migraine and neck pain

    Migraine and neck pain

    OK, so this is one of the last posts from the notes that I took during the Migraine World Summit that took place at the beginning of 2024.  This summary is of the presentation by Dr Rashmi Singh, a professor of neurology at the Mayo Clinic in Arizona. It was…

  • Mini-mindfulness course

    Mini-mindfulness course

    A couple of people have asked me if I have any plans to write a mindfulness course to purchase… the answer is no… I don’t have the time, energy or skills to create the additional content to a level of quality that you all deserve, AND I want everything I…

  • Hypnic jerks… um.

    Hypnic jerks… um.

    OK, so that title looks a lot like ‘hippy jerks’ or something possibly ruder, but ‘hypnic jerks’ ARE a real thing… + Ever twitched violently while you were resting in bed? + Perhaps your leg or arm suddenly jerked in your sleep – so much so that you woke yourself…