Awareness Color for Migraine & Headache Disorders

As of March 2012, we finally have an official color for Migraine and headache disorder awareness!

PURPLE

There is a website dedicated to "Fighting Migraine, cluster headaches and other headache disorders by standing united through awareness to educate, dispel the myths, and lift the stigma." The website is called Fighting Headache Disorders (...through awareness).

The following organizations have endorsed purple as the awareness color for all headache disorders:

• The American Headache SocietyACHE (The American Headache Society Committee for Headache Education)
• Clusterbusters
• MAGNUM (The National Migraine Foundation)
• The Migraine Research Foundation
• The National Headache Foundation
• O.U.C.H. (Organization for Understanding Cluster Headaches)
• The PFO Research Foundation

Some groups and organizations will be using purple with variations or additions to signify specific headache disorders or subsets of a headache disorder. For example, Catherine Charrett-Dykes has been using a purple ribbon with a red stripe in an awareness campaing for Chronic Migraine on Facebook.

Much thanks to Teri Robert and Ellen Schnakenberg, who have been vital to our continued mission regarding Migraine and headache disorder awareness and advocacy.

This post was written as part of the Health Activist Writer's Awareness Challenge (HAWMC).

Keep Calm & Stay Strong

This post was written as part of the Health Activist Writer's Awareness Challenge (HAWMC).

Holding on to Hope

Image by jenlemen

Building and maintaining hope, when your life is dominated by Migraine disease (or another headache disorder), is both a challenge and a blessing. Living in constant pain makes holding on to hope difficult, but I've found it necessary to make it through each day... each moment.

Faith in God
My faith in God is, by far, the source of my hope. Knowing that I have a Lord that loves me unconditionally is such a comfort. I know that He will never give up on me, so I do my best to never give up. It can be very difficult to hold on to hope through the pain / isolation / etc, onslaught of other people's opinions and misunderstandings, and all of the uncertainty of living with chronic pain... but, we must remember that our God suffered too, He is always with us, He understands us, and He knows our future and will equip us to handle it.

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future" (Jeremiah 29:11)

Today is Easter Sunday, which is perfect for explaining my hope. In His death, we see the magnitude of our Lord's love for us... and it is in His resurrection that we see the mighty power He has. There is nothing that can separate us from His love.

"For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39)

Christ loved us so much that He sent His son to die, so that we could have eternal hope! Hallelujah, Christ is risen!

"The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay" (Matthew 38:5-6)

Family and FriendsI'm also extremely blessed to have a family that loves me unconditionally.

• My husband helps me in more ways than I can ever even begin to explain. Besides loving and caring for me, he helps me to keep my faith in the Lord and hold on to hope for better days.
• My family has supported me so much through this, too. They've taken the time to educate themselves on Migraine disease, they listen to me explain my experience of it, and they share their love and support with me.
• My friends (especially my chronic pain online friends) each help support me, indifferent ways. My online friends and I are able to support each other in ways that many others cannot help support us because we all experience chronic pain and all of the obstacles that come with that. They offer me such love and support; and they help hold on to hope when I need help and can't do it myself.

Writing & Blogging

Writing has always been cathartic for me. I find a lot of peace and comfort in writing. It allows me to express myself in ways that other activities / outlets can't. When I write, I'm frequently reminded of how great our God is because He has given me the ability to write. What a wonderful gift to have... it gives me hope that He can still use my life to touch others.

Along the blogging journey I've had so far, I've come into contact with quite a few people, several of whom I've been able to help. What a blessing to be able to help others by sharing my experiences and offer support for their own journeys.

Here are some Scripture verses of hope:

• "Through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us" (Romans 5:2-5)
• "For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently" (Romans 8:24-25)
• "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" (Romans 12:12)
• "For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope" (Romans 15:4)
• "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13)
• "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see" (Hebrews 11:1)

I previously made a playlist with songs of hope... you can check it out here, My Playlist: Songs of Hope.

Migraine disease may take away a lot of things in my life, but my hope is not one of them. I refuse to let this disease define or destroy me - it will not win! I will continue to do my best to hold on to hope!

Image found here

This post was written as part of the Health Activist Writer's Awareness Challenge (HAWMC), and the April 2012 edition of the Headache and Migraine Disease Blog Carnival.

Artificial Sweeteners

So, today is "Health Activist's Choice," so I'm going to actually finish one of the blog posts that I started a while back.

I've known that aspartame, NutraSweet, sucralose, Splenda, and any other artificial sweetener can cause problems for Migraineurs, but something that was mentioned in an article titled, Migraine Triggers: Artificial Sweetener, go me thinking...

I've known for some time that I'm sensitive to artificial sweeteners. But, my tolerance for migraine triggers have definitely changed since my auto accident in 2008.

I was thinking back to the years before the accident, and it occurred to me that I used to drink Crystal Light (contains aspartame) almost daily while I worked. I had headaches (I experienced migraines, too, but not frequently), but I always attributed it to long / unusual work hours and stress. I didn't notice any correlation with consuming aspartame.

I also remembered that I had told my mom a little while back that I used to get headaches when I ran - cross-country and track (middle- and high- school). What just occurred to me was that it might've, at least in part, been due to all of the gum I used to chew. I always had gum in my mouth when I ran and/or played softball. And, since the dentist was so concerned about cavities, I chewed the sugar-free gum... which has aspartame. I know I'm sensitive to aspartame, and I wonder if that's actually part of what my "workout headaches" were. It's an interesting thought.

I loved running so much (they helped me deal with every emotion - depression, anxiety, fear... and even happiness... I also thrived off the competition and I loved being able to push myself harder and reach my goals)... I guess I just dealt with the headaches. I should note a few things here... these were headaches, not migraines. I was still able to function. Even if they were moderately severe, they improved as I cooled down and re-hydrated after a run... my migraines don't improve with much of anything really.

Anyway, it's interesting to me how what we eat and drink can affect us so much. Even things like the type of gum we chew can trigger headaches in some of us (I don't even chew it anymore - between the chewing motion and the choice of sugar / cavities -or- aspartame... it's just not worth it).


This post was written as part of the Health Activist Writer's Awareness Challenge (HAWMC).

Health Haiku & Tanka

Haiku is a “miniature Japanese poem consisting of 17 syllables – 5 syllables in first line, 7 in second, and 5 in the last. No rhyme or meter scheme is employed when writing haiku. The aim of the haiku is to create something greater than the sum of the parts.” I wrote a haiku during last year's challenge - HAWMC Prompt 5: Haiku & Tanka. It was a bit more difficult to write this year, but here's what I wrote:

Living life with pain
and growing uncertainty
means my life has changed.

     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Migraine agony,
Why do you do this to me?
Please leave me alone.

And, I'm feeling a little ambitious today, so I'm going to include a tanka (which I also did in last year's challenge - HAWMC Prompt 5: Haiku & Tanka). Tanka is a type of Japanese poetry that "consists of five units usually with the following pattern or onji: 5-7-5-7-7."

Horrible migraine
Why do you always show up
To ruin my day?
You interrupt my whole life
And leave me wondering why.

This post was written as part of the Health Activist Writer's Awareness Challenge (HAWMC).

Ekphrasis Post - Darkness & Light

I've written a couple Ekphrasis posts before (HAWMC Prompt 12: Ekphrasis and Ekphrasis Post). I love looking at different photos and images - they can evoke such a variety of emotions.

That being said, I've had a little trouble with this post... I found some images that really moved me, but they were "all rights reserved." I tried to find a different image (one that I'd be allowed to share/show directly here on my blog), but none of them were doing anything for me.

There are 2 different photos (by the same person, heather ~) that really moved me today. I really hope you'll take a moment to click on the links below to see the images.

Image 1
The first one can be seen here. There's a woman sitting with her head wrapped with her hands and resting on her bent knees. I think it offers a glimpse at the desperation that someone living with a chronic illness feels - the pain, anxiety, depression, isolation, disappointment, etc... There is so much emotional wear and tear that affects those that have chronic illness (and perhaps more-so for those living with invisible illness because others often don't know that you're ill at all). Unless you've experiences chronic pain, you really can't understand the amount of energy and work that it takes to make oneself look "normal" or make things look easy - there are numerous thoughts and choices that are required each moment of the day (including things like weighing whether or not the choice to participate in an activity is worth the increase in physical and emotional pain that will come from your participation).

The woman is sitting in the shadows, but there is light coming from outside. There is always hope, even in the midst of the darkness that chronic illness can bring.

Image 2
The second image is here. This photo shows a woman walking or jogging along the coastline - the waves are crashing on the beach and the wind is blowing. To me, this photo can be viewed several different ways. The way I choose to see it is that this woman is facing an obstacle or fear. She's not retreating from the crashing waves and high winds - she goes forward to face her fears. She appears to be confident in her ability to face what's ahead, and I think that's beautiful. As she moves on the coastline, she stays back from the vast ocean - she is somewhere between being on land and being in the ocean. There is a battle in each of us to decide whether we're going to face our fears or retreat from them.

Black & White
Both of these photos are black and white, which I think make them all the more intense / powerful. Living with chronic pain, depression, and so forth can leave you feeling like all of the color has been sucked out of your life... When you're faced with the limitations, stress, and choices that life with chronic illness brings, it can really make your life feel lifeless. But, the light in black and white photos always seems to be vibrant, offering hope to the subject in the dark shadows. There is always hope, even amidst the darkness.


This post was written as part of the Health Activist Writer's Awareness Challenge (HAWMC).