Migraine Treatments - We're running out of time. Can you spare five minutes?
Good morning, dear readers,
Today, I'm writing to you somewhat differently from my usual way of doing things. This is more personal. More from the Migraine and headache sufferer me. More from the your friend me.
Some thanks and a plea...
To all of you who responded to the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy Action Alert and emailed your members of the house, my very, very deepest thanks.
To those of you who have not yet responded to the Action Alert, I make this plea...
Can you spare five minutes, please? That five minutes will help everyone who has Migraine disease and / or other headache disorders now AND in the future.
This is an extremely important issue to me; not only professionally, but personally. Generation after generation of both sides of my family have lived with and suffered with Migraine disease. From my great grandmother to my grandchildren, this disease has taken its toll on our lives. For years, I have wished for a way to DO something that would make all of our lives easier, healthier, and happier.
I have lost 50% of the vision in my right eye and 25% of the vision in my left eye because of low-tension glaucoma. Glaucoma specialists have told me that it was most likely caused by the years of having horrid Migraines before type of abortive medication was available to me. Intraocular pressure (the pressure inside the eye) is elevated during a Migraine, and the periods of elevated pressure during the years of untreated Migraines damaged my optic nerves, causing the glaucoma and the vision loss.
Now, we have two daughters in-law and three grandchildren who have Migraine disease. Our granddaughter Alexandra had her first Migraine at the age of 2-1/2. I don't want her to go through what I have gone through over the last 47 years of Migraines; what many of you have gone through. I don't want her education, career, having her own family to be disrupted. I don't want her to face the possibility of blindness because of this disease. As you do for your children and grandchildren, I want better for her and for our other grandchildren. And it goes without saying that I want better for you and for myself.
Monday, March 17, is the last day for your Member of the House to sign the "Dear Colleague letter" from Congressmen Welch and Moran. So, we are down to the last days to send your emails.
I know everyone is busy and that many of you may well be in pain. That's one reason we're doing all we can to make this very easy to do. This was our first Action Alert, so we've had a few things to learn along the way.
The easiest and least time consuming way to send an email to your Member of the House regarding this Action Alert is to go directly to THIS PAGE.
The image above is of the "Take Action" section of the page. Just follow the directions, and you'll have a great email to your Member of the house in just minutes.
You can read the two sections of preset "required" text that we've put in place so you don't have to worry about an introduction or wording the closing section, which specifically asks our Members of the House to sign the Dear Colleague letter.
You can see the arrow pointing to the area where you can write a bit of a personal message about how Migraine disease and other headache disorders impact you or others you know.
Even a brief paragraph or two can be very powerful, but if you're not comfortable adding anything in that area, you can leave it blank. If you do write something for this part of the email, you may find it helpful to save it on your computer as a text document so you can use it again later when we write to our Senators.
After you click the red "Send Message" button, the next page that comes up presents an opportunity to enter the names and addresses of six people. If you choose to enter those names and email addresses, an email will go to them asking them to join you by writing an email of their own. If you don't want to do this, that's fine.
Following these steps, you will get a confirmation screen showing that your email has been sent. You will also receive an email from me and the other officers of the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy thanking you for your help.
No system is perfect, so if you do not receive that thank you email, please repeat this process to send your email. This has only happened in a few cases, but I do want you to know about it so you don't miss out on this opportunity.
If you subscribe to our mailing list, you'll receive email updates when it's time to act again. I promise you that your email address will not be shared with anyone or used for any purpose other than keeping you updated on our advocacy efforts.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for taking the time to read this and for taking the time to email your Member of the House. Together, we CAN make a difference in the future of the treatment available to us.
The Aches & Pains index forecasts the potential for
weather-related pain issues on a scale of 0 - 10. The index is
calculated using barometric pressure, absolutely humidity, chances of
precipitation, temperature, and wind.
migraines
How is your holiday shopping coming? If you're like me, it seems to
get more and more difficult to find the right gifts for everyone. And
we all understand that finding appropriate gifts at reasonable prices
is more difficult each year.
Too
much, too little, or disrupted sleep is a very common Migraine and
headache trigger. Experts recommend that we set times to go to bed and
get up and stick to those times, even on weekends and holidays and
during vacation. If you often wake with a Migraine, don’t feel rested
after a night’s sleep, or experience excessive daytime sleepiness, talk
to your doctor about your sleep patterns.
For
some people, even mild dehydration can trigger head pain, so drinking
lots of fluids is essential. Take a bit of care with what you’re
drinking as some fruit juices and caffeine can be triggers. Proper
hydration is essential to good health in general, so you’ll be working
on more than head pain prevention!
In our forum, our members' SharePosts, and my email correspondence
with Migraineurs, there is a very distressing recurring problem being
brought to my attention. The problem is that entirely too many people
don't understand Migraine disease or other headache disorders.
The statistics are shocking. Nearly 50 million Americans suffer from persistent pain. Nearly 36 million are affected by Migraine disease. At least 80% of the world's population will be affected by tension-type headaches at some time in their lives. These “invisible” illnesses can be disabling and can make those afflicted by them feel isolated, alone, and powerless. 
