WELCOME! Thank you for your interest in this Migraine Resource Packet.

I hope it will be an invaluable resource as you navigate the terrain of this grueling headache condition.

Migraine Awareness is important to me since I am one of the 36 million Americans who experience this often-debilitating neurological phenomenon. You can read more about my story, and the lessons I’ve learned along the way, at the end of this packet. For that reason, I am also presenting BrainCurve’s Migraine Surthrivel Hacks, which are my personal tried and true go-to’s for helping to soothe mind, body, and brain when a migraine is looming.

There are many different types of migraine, and for some people, migraine symptoms present without a (or with a less severe) headache. I am included in this category. For the majority of those who experience migraine, the most prominent symptom is pain. Pain, in general, is a complex phenomenon, due mainly to the fact that it is by and large a multi-dimensional and subjective experience. While I speak of pain most directly, all that I share in this packet can also apply to the discomfort of other symptoms, including nausea, dizziness, and anything you experience. Unlike acute pain – chronic pain, like migraine pain – serves NO protective purpose to us. The pain just lingers and disables.

My hope is that this packet helps create more awareness about the impact that stress and other psychological factors have on eliciting migraine pain. Thereby sharing with more people who suffer from exorbitant pain the option of adding a psychologist who is trained in multiple stress-reduction techniques to their team of providers.

Until recently, the go-to treatment for pain has been opioid and other medications, which have a high side-effect profile and are highly addictive. More and more, doctors and patients alike are looking toward non-pharmacological ways to supplement current treatment options to help reduce pain and the toll it takes on one’s quality of life.

Migraine pain may be invisible, but it is real and can be relentless.  Healing is more than possible, especially when approached from an integrative perspective.

To thriving past pain,

 

Jennifer Wolkin, PhD