Make Peace, not War: How to Reverse Your Suffering from Migraines

Migraine has a double-sided effect - pain and suffering. Pain is biological...it is the physical "it hurts' part. Suffering, on the other hand, results from the interpretation our brains attach to the pain signal. You have the power to choose to alter that interpretation, and then your quality of life will begin to improve. This article explains where and how that power to re-interpret begins, and gives strategies to implement the change.

The best way to handle migraine pain is through medical intervention. Learning to limit your suffering will help you in your family, social and work lives.

Suffering has been described as "the inability to accept pain". We have all railed against the latest migraine attack. We resist, we get upset and we take part in what amounts to a futile inner conflict. "Why me?" & "Why now?" are common desperate questions that trouble our minds. We may go far beyond reality in musing about the effect of the attack on our career or reputation. The cumulative effect of migraine episodes can cause unhappiness or depression, which in turn may make further episodes more likely.

These negative reactions don't help. I learned from experience almost 20 years ago, and researchers now agree, that a thought-out response to pain was the better way. I was tired of my inner war and I wanted to improve the quality of my life. The results have indeed been life-changing.

Perhaps you too are tired of fighting automatically with your migraine pain. Has doing that helped you, or has it increased your overall stress level? Your life circumstances are challenging, to be sure...is it now time to make the best of your situation and work towards a better future?

Making peace and cultivating acceptance - these are the first steps along that road. I believe that it will serve you to accept your pain, to make a peace treaty with it and then go on.

Nations make peace treaties - as a result they can re-focus to a large degree, and concentrate on constructive tasks rather than the arts of war. Bitter enemies have reconciled in our lifetime. Even the Cold War ended; you have the chance to show the courage in your interior life that Mikhail Gorbachev did in the 1980s.

Acceptance of your pain will release such energy that you will be able to develop positive strategies to cope with your pain. Here are some ideas to consider:

Develop a Plan:
When you are having a migraine attack, your creativity is low. Make a written list of things beforehand that you can do or say to yourself to help you cope. If you have a menu of non-drug interventions such as cold packs or diversionary activities, write them down. Or if you have a favourite mantra - like mine, "Tomorrow is another day" - find and repeat it.

Spiritual Approaches:
If you are religious, it can help to ask God to help you endure the pain, or you can engage in other religious practices. If you aren't, there are ways to disassociate yourself from the pain experience, to conceive of yourself as almost an observer.

Pain as Learning:
Ask yourself, after or even during your attack, what might have caused it - was it additional stress of some kind, or have you discovered a new trigger? If you can learn from your pain, you have established a new kind of control over it.

Pain as a Metaphor:
I often think of successive migraines as a series of storms which batter my brain. Others see the condition as an enemy which must be outwitted. These analogies permit the imagination to develop creative defense tactics. For example, storms are temporary, and blue sky always follows; and you can almost always find shelter from the storm. Some enemies may seem all-powerful for a time, but we know that human beings survived larger beasts and came to dominate the planet.

Mindfulness Meditation:
This is a learned technique based on Buddhism and the recent work of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn. It involves focusing on the sensations of pain in your body in a curious non-judgmental way, being aware of but not attaching meaning to the pain.

Positive Self-Feedback:
Migraine attacks end, and you get through them. If you acknowledge yourself for what you did to self-manage through the pain, you are creating new pathways in your brain that will help you in future attacks.

These strategies and others will further de-link migraine pain and suffering. Soon you will discover new opportunities to act which will improve your life at work, at home, and with others.

You can address migraine suffering separately from migraine pain. Fighting pain leads to unnecessary suffering; a shift in your mindset in the direction of peace and acceptance is far more constructive. As described above, there are many positive strategies that can limit suffering and lead you to greater success in life.