After more than 7 years away from blogging about living with chronic migraine, I’m wading back into these waters.
The landscape of online migraine advocacy has changed a great deal in the past seven years, so much so for the better, so I’d like to reintroduce myself.
I initially started experiencing migraine attacks around age 6. Following a head injury I sustained when I was 18, I experienced a dramatic increase in migraine attack frequency. I was diagnosed with chronic migraine at age 25 and became disabled by unrelenting, debilitating chronic migraine when I was 28. As a result, I lost my career as a lawyer and have dealt with varying levels of depression in addition to intractable, debilitating chronic migraine in the years since. (I am now 43).
I experience approximately 25 days of migraine each month. I’ve been there and back with treatment and prevention, fully exploring both traditional and complementary medical options. For many years there were no good solutions for those of us living with chronic migraine, and I’m incredibly grateful to have the first preventive medications developed specifically for migraine available to try.
I am mom to a 7-year-old kid and have been married for 18 years. Chronic migraine consistently interrupts our time as a family, limits our opportunities, and requires a great deal of patience and understanding from my husband and daughter. Because of my limitations, my husband bears a tremendous amount of the responsibility at home and in caring for our child on top of running his demanding business. He is a wonderful partner and parent. I often don’t feel like I’m as good at any of it as he is because of how chronic migraine impacts my ability to function and how much it has shifted my identity in ways that were very important to my sense of self.
I started blogging about my experiences living with chronic migraine in 2007, shortly before I became fully disabled by the condition. Over time I became actively involved in migraine and headache disorders advocacy efforts through the American Headache Society and American Migraine Foundation. I also participated in the Headache on the Hill advocacy event to lobby Congress for more appropriate research funding for migraine and other headache disorders. I created content for the wonderful patient resource Migraine.com from the site’s launch until 2014.
I participated in the 2021 Headache on the Hill lobbying event, and I’m currently doing an intensive online patient advocacy training program with the Miles for Migraine organization. Lately I’m most active on Twitter, but also share on Instagram and Facebook.
Diana's Thoughts 