Laura I had 13 years when he began to experience some Headaches so intense that his classmates thought he was lying. Paola (fictitious name) had 25. He was working and he remembers always being with the glass of water and the pain pill. A few years later, both joined the list of people diagnosed with migraine. Today there are more than 5 million, only in Spain. However, according to Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN), there is still a 40% of migraineurs who have not received a diagnosis.
That is why today the European Day of Action against Migraine, to raise awareness about a disease that, unfortunately, continues to carry a strong stigma. “Headache? It won’t be that bad either. ” But it is. In fact, more than one 80% of patients with migraine have some kind of disability. Such is the number of people affected in this way that it is the leading cause of disability in Spaniards under 50 years old.
Diagnosis: migraine
When Laura started with the headaches, being still small, the first reaction was to send her to the optics. There they initially put glasses on him to look at the blackboard in class, but the headaches didn’t stop. “My mother was still very worried, so she took me to the family doctor,” she says on the other end of the phone. He advised him to do a daily, indicating how many episodes he had, how intense, how long they lasted and some other data, which also included, for example, the food he ate. The analysis of this diary allowed him to finally be diagnosed with migraine at the age of 14-15.
Paola had to insist that they refer her to a specialist. “In the end I found a very good family doctor who did refer me, but since I had a history of anxiety and depression, they first sent me to mental health.” There she was lucky enough to be treated by a psychiatrist who suffered from migraines and immediately knew what her problem was. “He told me he had a book migraine.” It was she who decided refer her to the neurologist. There he finally received his diagnosis.
Both began with a preventive treatment, on a daily basis. Laura was prescribed flunarizine already Paola pregabalin. Laura says that at first it helped her to distance the episodes of migraine, but that one summer she forgot to take them and saw that there was hardly any difference. Therefore, he discussed it with his doctor and finally decided to leave them.
Paola also says that she was doing well, it lessened her migraines a lot, but it left her “wrecked”. “Your blood pressure drops a lot, you get dizzy when you get up … and driving wasn’t going well at all.” She also stopped this drug with the agreement of her doctor and, like Laura, to this day she only takes rescue medication when they give him the episodes. They both speak of the Nolotil. Laura also resorts to Ibuprofen, but Paola to Paracetamol, because she is allergic to these anti-inflammatories.
Today, Laura is 37 years old and Paola 38. Both have lived with migraine for many years and have learned which drugs they feel best with. This is the case for many migraineurs. However, as they also explain from the SEN, only 17% of people with migraine use the correct medication to treat their crises. Many decide not to take drugs on a daily basis, since, according to Laura, they fear ending up with ulcers or stomach problems.
Triggers
Migraine sufferers don’t just learn which drugs are best for them. Also what are your triggers; because, although there are many points in common, each case is very different. And it is something they learn little by little. The stress, very loud noises or lack of sleep are common. As for food, exciting substances, like chocolate, they make Laura feel very bad. On the other hand, he does not feel that the coffee affects him, as for example his cousin, who also has a migraine. Paola does notice that if she overdoes it with coffee she can have more headaches and, in general, she should avoid large meals.
This variability is something that the doctor also points out Pablo Irimia, Coordinator of the Headache Study Group of the Spanish Neurology Society, in a SEN press release. However, note that, in general, triggers can be divided into five groups: “Stress, fasting, atmospheric changes, factors related to sleep, and in women, hormonal changes”.
If the patient detects all this, he can anticipate the crisis and resort to rescue medication. The two people interviewed for this article pretty much do it. In fact, Laura laughs that her sister compares her to Storm, one of the X Men, because an incipient headache alerts you when the weather is about to change.
Much more than headaches
“When I have a strong crisis I feel a stabbing pain in the eyebrow and the upper area of the eye that pulls back, occipital”Laura narrates. “Loud sounds bounce off my head like a hammer.
Paola’s description is equally harsh. “They can be episodes of several days, with constant pain. You sleep with him, you wake up with him, but at least he allows you to work, ”he says. “However, strong crises are shorter, but much longer painful and disabling. You throw your hands to your head and scream, because you feel like a burning nail is driving you into the side of your head ”.
In addition, both explain that when they have a crisis they need to lie down and go into a room low light and no noisebecause the slightest stimulus is painful for them. These episodes can last for days, followed by another in which, in Laura’s words, she feels “like a hangover“. In Paola’s,” as shoelaces“There is still some pain and weakness and, according to the latter, if any of these stimuli return, a new episode can begin.
Dr. Irimia explains that migraine symptoms include headache, malaise, nausea, vomiting and intolerance to light, smells or sounds, among others. In addition, it points out that ” headache crisis They cause a great impact on the patient, both in physical, emotional and social aspects, as well as with the family, work and social relationships and could even determine limitations in education or professional development due to their early onset, in many cases in childhood or adolescence ”.
Despite all this, there are still people who prefer not to consult their doctor, for fear that he thinks it is an exaggeration. Specifically, 25% of patients with migraine in Spain still have not seen a doctor for this reason. For a long time that was the case with Laura’s aunt, who ended up going very late, when the pain was already very strong. And this is a problem, because neurology specialists warn that many of these people only decide to seek help when the migraine has already become chronic.
The stigma behind a migraine
If there are so many patients with migraine who prefer not to go to the doctor, it is precisely because today there is still a stigma behind, due to the perception that they exaggerate the effect of their Headaches.
“It was especially hard when I started when I was little, because the children didn’t understand it,” Laura recalls. “As an adult I have also seen a lot social stigma, for example at work. It has ever happened to me that they have looked at me badly, because they think I am making it up ”.
Paola says that people don’t say it, but you can tell they think it. “I am lucky that at work one of my colleagues has a brother who suffers from migraines and understands me very well,” she explains. “Other colleagues show themselves empathic when I ask that we lower the light a little or speak more quietly, but after a while they forget and they raise the tone again or slam the door. But fortunately in general in my current job they understand it. Not so much in the past ”.
The problem is that those who do not know what migraines are cannot imagine what these people feel when they are taking a pill at work or have to go home without finishing the day. “They don’t understand our pain threshold. If we take a pill it is not because it hurts a little bit ”.
Laura, without knowing Paola, thinks the same. “The migraineurs we learn to live with pain and that is something that people do not understand ”.
And this is a really sad thing. It is sad that they have to assume this. Although it is fortunate that there are increasingly effective treatments. But it is also a shame that there are people who have not yet been able to access them. That is why days like today are necessary to raise awareness about the importance of diagnosing this type of disease. And about the importance of eliminating one of the many stigmas related to health. There are quite a few people who have to deal with the pain of migraine or menstruation. Or those who learn to live with anxiety or feel that getting up every day is a world because of depression. Deal with pain, physical or mentalIt’s torture enough to have to prove it’s true on top of it. This is something we should never forget.