This is a sponsored post. I was compensated by Med-IQ through an educational grant from Allergan to write about migraines. All opinions are my own.
I’ve suffered from migraines since I was a child. I can’t tell you how many birthday parties I missed as a girl, lying in my dark room, while all of my friends and family celebrated me without me there. It makes me sad to this day. And unfortunately, the headaches still plague me to this day as well. Last year I had an intractable migraine that lasted 5 months and landed me in the hospital. It was really scary.
My husband also suffers from migraines. His are different. He gets them frequently, they last for a much shorter duration than mine, but they come with major auras and vision issues. I can’t tell you the number of times he’s had to pull off the road and have me come get him because he is blinded by his headache. It’s not pretty.
And of course, our son gets migraines too. He didn’t only inherit my eye color and dad’s everything else (seriously, the only thing the kid got from me is his iris pigment!) but he got our migraines, too! One of the scariest days of my life was spent at Stanford Hospital with my tiny son while I awaited a diagnosis for his debilitating head pain. At first they thought it was a brain tumor. I have never prayed so hard for something not to be true in my life. I remember lying on the hospital bed, curled around him, watching the LEGO movie, trying to pretend like everything was OK so he wouldn’t be scared while my insides were screaming in fear. Thankfully he was diagnosed with migraines and my prayers were answered, but the headaches are their own level of awful. And they strike him frequently.
So when MedIQ asked if I would host a Facebook Live with the amazing Dr. Jessica Ailani, the Director of the MedStar Georgetown Headache Center and Professor of Clinical Neurology, I jumped at the chance. I’m anxious to learn anything and everything that will help my family with these terrible headaches. The session was sponsored by Med-IQ through an educational grant from Allergan.
So enjoy our conversation. Dr. Ailani covers everything from triggers to hormonal migraines that come that time of month, to new therapies and drugs, to non-drug treatment options and MORE! And she’s so lovely I felt like I was chatting with a very smart, brilliant friend! And I even gave myself an honorary medical degree mid-stream. So you can call me Dr. Deva (kidding!).
I hope you get as much from our conversation as I did! Oh – and to help your care providers with future initiatives, Med-IQ is conducting an anonymous survey and would appreciate your input. The survey, which includes additional education on this topic, will take less than 5 minutes to complete. TAKE IT HERE! Survey responses are shared only in aggregate. Your responses to these survey questions will provide Med-IQ with important information about your experiences with migraine and your care team, which will help them develop future educational initiatives. Once you’ve completed the survey, you will have the option of providing your email address to be entered into a drawing administered by SOMA Strategies to win 1 of 10 $100 VISA gift cards. So not only will you be helping with vital research, you might win some spending money!
