Millions of Americans suffer from chronic migraine headaches. So why do you feel all alone? Your closest family members and friends don’t always understand the depth of your pain, but know that there are vast communities out there who can help you understand your migraine symptoms, share their experiences with migraine remedies and provide emotional support.
When Alice had a migraine, she found even the pretty things were too much to bear.
Here are 20 excellent migraine resources, listed in alphabetical order, including non-profit headache research sites, personal blogs and chronic migraine patient forums:
1) ACPA – American Chronic Pain Association: To provide support to patients diagnosed with chronic migraines and to their families, to help them find appropriate healthcare, education and to raise public awareness about migraines.
2) American Pain Society: Another excellent resource for finding out about recent advances in migraine treatment and other pain management tools.
3) Blog Carnival: A rotating collaboration of blogs which address health issues such as migraine headaches.
4) The Daily Headache: Blogger Kerrie Smyres writes about the issues migraineurs want to know about, including research, opinions and forum.
5) Head Wise: Migraine blogger Steph shares some inspiring life stories about her battle with migraines.
6) Help for Headaches: Managed by leading migraine expert Teri Robert, author of “Living Well with Migraine Disease and Headaches,” Help for Headaches is a great landing base for all topics related to migraines and other headache symptoms. Robert’s posts can also be viewed on Migraine.com and Health Central’s My Migraine Connection.
7) LiveJournal: Online migraine patient support group.
8) MAGNUM: The National Migraine Association: Their mission is to raise public awareness about migraines as a debilitating neurological illness. Find out how you can help.
9) Meetup: Find out about local migraine support groups, and meet other headache sufferers in your area.
10) Migraine.com: Join the largest virtual community of migraine patients and experts on the web. Migraine.com features articles written by some of the top experts in migraine treatment, education and social issues, including the Migraine Girl, Teri Robert, Diana Lee, Prof. Joanna Kempner and Dr. Whyte.
11) The Migraine Action Association: Formerly a British association, this website features quarterly newsletters, a telephone hotline and current migraine information.
12) Migraine Chick: You’ve seen her pics on some of our blog posts. Blogger and artist Deborah Leigh shares her unique, thought-provoking attitude about the social impact of migraines on our culture.
13) MigrainePage.com: Online community of migraine sufferers. Participate in chat discussions, forums or the online migraine journal.
14) Migraine Puppet: Anecdotes about life and pain management, and an updated list of blog posts by fellow migraine patients.
15) Migrainista: Unique, nostalgic and sometimes controversial insights by blogger Migrainista.
16) The National Headache Foundation: The world’s largest non-profit voluntary organization for finding migraine treatment clinics, resources and local community programs.
17) Painfully Speaking: Blogger Jessica opens up about her battles with chronic headache pain and anxiety.
18) Somebody Heal Me: Famous blogger Diana Lee writes about chronic pain management and headaches, and shares her database of sites, blogs and organizations which deal with a variety of health issues.
19) WebMD- Migraines: WebMD is a comprehensive website which provides health tips, information, slideshows and support for medical issues from A to Z; their migraine page is particularly helpful.
20) WHA- World Headache Alliance: Migraine news, global headache awareness activities and links to support groups.
Some good reads:
Migraines Caused by Eye Strain? Tinted Glasses can Help
Migraine Sufferer to World: It’s not just a Headache, People!