Comments on: Womens’ Health: Now Subject to Public Ridicule

By: Dani Alexis

Dani Alexis — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:02:34 +0000

Count me among those who can’t watch the clip, much less read the comments. I started having migraines when I was 12 or so (after watching my mother, aunts, grandmother, great-aunt, and great-grandmother suffer them for years). I don’t have aura, so often I don’t realize I’m going to have a migraine until I start getting nauseated or feeling like my head has been jammed onto my neck.

Sometimes, I hate “migraine” medication commercials even more than my migraines. Like the Excedrin (I think?) one with the mom and daughter on the beach that’s all “don’t let your migraine become someone else’s problem.” Thanks, TV. Because I don’t already feel awful, you need to guilt me for having a chronic disease, too?

By: Mackey

Mackey — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 01:40:43 +0000

@foureleven – I didn’t realise they were the three most common triggers. I still persist in eating and drinking those things. (coz there are somedays that the taste of a good red and some lovely soft cheese followed by a great dark chocolate are too much to resist)

By: foureleven

foureleven — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 11:47:59 +0000

emilyanne, my doctor told me the same thing about the pill.

Mackey, I think those are three of the most popular triggers. I love cheese, but I only eat it in moderation so it hasn’t caused any problems so far. Red wine, though, always gives me a migraine.

By: Mackey

Mackey — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:54:46 +0000

Migraines really do suck. Having a migraine on national tv, and having that video broadcast internationally would make the situation even worse.
I sincerely hope that Serene Branson is ok, and she keeps her job.
I too am a migraine sufferer. Though my symptoms are different to Serene’s – with auras, nausea, and the head pain. Sometimes they can turn up so quickly that any window to stop the migraine progressing is shut before I can take the first pill.
Some of the triggers that can set them off is red wine, chocolate, and cheese – 3 of my favourite things!

By: Pharm Sci Grad

Pharm Sci Grad — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 01:37:00 +0000

I have chronic headaches, although I suffered from a couple of mild migranes (light and noise sensitivity) around the time my headaches started. While I may be in pain every day for the rest of my life, I’ll take that over migraines, hands down.

To me, these idiotic comments seems to really be a case of people who know not of which they speak. Sad and disheartening.

By: baraqiel

baraqiel — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 01:32:46 +0000

@emilyanne – Same about the BC, which I was actually quite unhappy to hear as my childhood GP had known about my migraines but prescribed me an estrogen-containing pill anyway. I quit it after a couple of months for reasons unrelated to me having a stroke (thank god) but have recently gone back on BC and my new doctor was very surprised that I had previously been told to take estrogen.

By: BeckySharper

BeckySharper — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:35:47 +0000

@clairedammit: I totally get why it makes you furious, but please don’t assume that people do it because they’re diminishing how serious allergies are. There are times when saying you’re allergic is the only way to ensure that you won’t be served something that you really dislike or need to avoid. I’m guilty of this myself. MSG makes me feel really sick—jittery, headachey— although I’m not technically allergic to it. It won’t close up my throat or cause anaphylactic shock, but the only way I can make waiters/restaurants take me seriously when I ask that it not be put in my food is if I say “I’m really allergic to this.” I’ve said the same thing when I had to be on a sugar-restricted diet—claiming allergies meant I knew there wouldn’t be hidden sugar in my food. Unfortunately, if you don’t make it seem dire, restaurants generally will blow off your requests, even if they’re totally legit, so sometimes a white lie about allergies is necessary.

By: clairedammit

clairedammit — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:08:59 +0000

People like my husband who say they have a “migraine” when they merely have a really bad headache don’t help. (To be fair, his headaches are debilitating and he exaggerates about everything, but still…) Allergies are similar: they can range in severity from merely annoying to exhausting to life-threatening. Sometimes people claim to have them when they simply don’t like something. I have pretty severe allergies to certain things (although not life-threatening) and I get furious with people those people.

I can’t bring myself to watch that video either.

By: emilyanne

emilyanne — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:08:46 +0000

As a migraine sufferer myself I was interested in the stroke reports because people who get migraines are statistically more likely to suffer strokes – this was one of the reasons I was ordered to avoid most contraceptive pills by my doctor as certain makes increased the likelihood of blood clots and strokes in migraine sufferers.

It was also why recently I was unable to take a post-operative drug which could have saved me considerable anguish as it had a side effect of terrible migraine like headaches and they thought in my case it would simply trigger a migraine.

Talking of which my migraines were at their worst during my three pregnancies – often lasting 20 plus hours, a period of time during which I was not allowed to use any of my migraine drugs due to pregnancy.

Among my symptoms were severe vomiting (so severe that I have been hospitalised with dehydration in two of my pregnancies and in one of them started to contract early), auras and an inability to stand. Personally I would like to see those ignorant commentators stand in front of a TV camera and try and do their job with a migraine. Idiots.

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