Migraine

It is time to stop messing around with migraine patients and make this disorder a true disability. It needs to be recognized as such.

How I have managed over the past 14 years (when mine suddenly began)to attend classes at my college (I warn the professors about absenteeisms)and hold down jobs (I disclose the disorder during the interview and am hired anyway)for up to two years before they fire me cause they can't "deal with my migraines". Of course this would be totally illegal if migraines were recognized by the AMA, Social Security Disability and the medical community as a whole.

My fantastic neurologist knows this and is an advocate for me. He knows because his child had suffered childhood migraines. Luckily the kid "grew out" of them with the onset of puberty. mine have only worsened over the years. As I entered pari-menopause, the change in my migraines was notable. I am now on Demarol for the pain, but need to do something about the vertigo, the horrific nausea, and the pain of noise.

I am on SSI right now, but not for migraines. I fear the future. How am I going to take care of myself when I can't hold down a job? Get my career off the ground? The psychological pressure is enourmous and I need to take anti-anxiety medications since I tend to panic when I dwell on what the future holds for me. I will be fifty this month, a late bloomer to school and career seeking but they say it is never to late to chase your dream. All I dream about now is a cure for migraines. And for people to stop thinking that this is "just a bad headache, bite the bullet"!

Am just coming off a 4 day of hell. I have barometric pressure migraines and when it rains or storms, or is too humid I get struck down with one of these monsters. Anyone else suffer from this type of migraine? Love to read about it.
jhona

Jhona,

Welcome "home"!

You've found a place full of fellow migraineurs and families of migraineurs, all of whom understand what you're going through. Since we're not doctors, we won't try to diagnose you or prescribe treatments for you. We'll tell you what we have tried, though, and how it's worked for us.

According to the World Health Organization, Migraine alone is 19th among all causes of years lived with disability. Migraine costs American employers about $13 billion a year. Migraine is recognized as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 1997 revision of the 1972 Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act.

That said, we all know how hard it can be, and usually is, to get proper treatment for Migraine Disease. It's awfully hard to be assertive when you're in so much pain you can't even stand up straight, much less string words together in a coherent sentence.

Demerol is good for pain management. What does your neurologist have you on for migraine prevention? How about for migraine abortive(s)?
Do you know what your migraine trigger(s) are?

Stick with us, Girlfriend, we'll keep you going!

Rebecca

Hi, Jhona! Welcome to the forum family!

Plenty of us are triggered by various weather stuff, be it barometer changes, thunderstorms, humidity, heat, etc..

I'm lucky in that I'm a very functional migraineur, and I almost never have nausea with mine, so I manage to muddle through mostly, even if the pain ratchets up.

It would be excellent indeed to see more attention paid to migraine as a disability, with proper support given to those suffering.

I have weather-triggered migraine attacks. Changes in barometric pressure, up or down, with bad weather or increasingly good weather. My doc is letting me take Frova about 12 hours before a weather change is predicted. I estimate that it's preventing about 50% of my weather-triggered monsters.

Gretchen

Welcome Jhona. I have been hanging around here for a while. I am an occasional poster and am still listed as a Newbie. But I was on another forum for years with Teri and followed her here. These are some great people with lots of great advice and always lots of supoort, since we are all in similar situations. I totally agree with you! I have had a hard time working and have missed a lot of work over the years. I got a new job a little over a year ago. When i was hired, my migraines were a lot more under control than they are now. I have had a hard time with my doctors and medications lately and have missed a lot more work than usual. I was actually fired today for that. But my boss called me back and wants me to come talk to him Sunday,and said maybe we can work something out, so I'll just have to wait and see. I find that most people have no clue about what we really go through. They all know someone with migraines and theirs aren' that bad, so we must be lying or something. Do you get that? It is great that you have a good doctor, though, that is half the battle. I can not seem to find a good one. I had one for a long time, but we had a falling out and now I am back to square one. It think it is great that you are trying to further your education and career. Just don't give up. Does your doctor have you on preventatives? I don't recall you sayig anything about that.
I,too, have bad weather migraines. And it has been so hot and humid here all week, it is killing me. Goo luck to you and I hope to talk to you soon.

Sherry

quote:

It is time to stop messing around with migraine patients and make this disorder a true disability.

Of course this would be totally illegal if migraines were recognized by the AMA, Social Security Disability and the medical community as a whole.

Actually migraines are recognize by SSD.

I am currently on SSDI soley for my migraines.

I get weather triggered migraines - more in the summer - due to heat and humidity I think (I am new to figuring out my triggers). I think those are some of the worst for me. Sometimes none of the abortives help this kind because - no matter how much I ask, God and Mother Nature don't change the pressure/humidity or move the storm for me to move on with my day.

Good luck and keep us posted! Oh and welcome to the family - you'll love it here!!

Eileen

I've been reading the postings and comments about being fired. Have any of you applied for intermittent FMLA? My doctor advised me on it and it's the only thing keeping me from getting fired at my job which has an 8pt system for attendance. Please look into it. You get 12 weeks of FMLA which is approved medical absence due to an obvious medical condition.

Hi, welcome to the forum. And thank you for the reminder about our FMLA rights. We're glad you found us.

Some of our members have had success getting an intermittent FMLA leave. That can be a big help.

Welcome Jhona--

We're really glad to have you here, although we, of course, wish you didn't need to be here (ie didn't have the migraine monster). I too suffer from migraines that love to attack before and during "weather moments". I also have a lot of other triggers but those are the hardest to deal with because even though I can somewhat predict them, the actual when is always in question as well as how bad.

My migraine history has always been at least 1 to 2 per week, although I did end up with over 2 years of chronic daily migraines which put me through a very bad time as I was trying to work full-time then. I ended up cutting my hours to part-time and finally quit my job for about 8 months. When I had a hip replacement, the migraines went back to normal, and I have been able to work part time since then (I happen to have a really well paying job that is easy to get any sort of hours you want in, and I had sort of retired in 2001). Since my migraines are usually abortable, I don't often miss work because of them. But I did have to learn how to cope with working and the headaches. Where I worked had to learn to give some too. Fortunately, they wanted to keep me bad enough that they worked with me.

The point of this ramble is I have very bad migraines and I have had a VERY successful career--much better than I ever dreamed of. It sometimes took creativity to meet both my needs and those required by my position at work. I did have to at least go to work a lot of times with a nasty monster. But they always found a replacement as soon as they could and then I could go home.

Tracie