How Successful Women Manage Their Migraines
I’m sharing my personal migraine story in partnership with Promius Pharma as a paid spokesperson. The story, thoughts, and opinions below are expressly my own.
As a woman who runs her own business, I know a thing or two about being overworked, overwhelmed, and overstressed. That is the trifecta of entrepreneur life. As someone who suffers from migraines, I can tell you that it isn’t always easy to power through my days. When deadlines are creeping up or when the weather isn’t on my side, sometimes it’s simply impossible to get through all that I have to by the end of the day. But we have no choice, right? Life doesn’t stop just because one has migraines. Successful people find a way to get through it all and still make it to the finish line.
I’m lucky enough to be surrounded by a number of successful women—all of whom manage their own businesses. I reached out to a number of my favorite colleagues who I know suffer from migraines and asked each of them how they personally manage migraines while working through such busy schedules. I received such a variety of responses back and was so thankful for it. Not only did it offer me ideas that I had never thought of, but it also encouraged me to continue to keep searching for alternatives to my current plan. If you are looking for ways to manage your migraines, here are a few ways that have worked for me:
- Reduce stress / work on self-care
- Add acupuncture to weekly routine
- Stay hydrated
- Avoid bright lights
- Make sleep a priority
- Practice yoga
- Practice meditation
- Take breaks from the computer
How I Manage My Migraines
Managing stress is another key factor that was repeated constantly amongst my peers. In fact, the majority of people who responded to my emails all said the same thing. They tried to manage stress one way or another. Whether they took up yoga, made sure they got in a quick nap every afternoon or scheduled a weekly massage—stress is a huge trigger for migraine sufferers. My neurologist always tells me that we (he is a migraine sufferer as well) are sensitive people. We have to watch what we eat and we have to be mindful of our environment. We do not handle stress very well. So, we have to stay on top of our emotions.
I am now going to try to incorporate more meditation and massage techniques into my day-to-day routine. Very powerful. This is a great reminder to always keep talking to your community. We cannot help ourselves if we don’t try to help each other. Do not try to fight these migraines on your own. And no matter what, I will always continue to lean hard on my neurologist and foster an open relationship with him. I can tell him everything that is bothering me and welcome news about alternatives that are available to patients to fight these migraine monsters.
There are plenty of different ways to fight back these days. If what you are doing to manage your migraines isn’t working, talk to your doctor to learn about additional ways you can combat your migraines.
How do you handle your migraine attacks? I would love to hear your advice and tips.
