My goal is for the purple ribbon to be instantly recognized as the one for Migraine and Headache Awareness. To that end, I have a purple ribbon magnet on my car and plan to get a lapel button as soon as I can. I'd love to see a small poster with the ribbon and relevant information made that could be framed and put in doctor's offices. I'd also like to see patient brochures on migraines in doctor's offices with the purple ribbon on the cover. (Wouldn't it be great if each migraineur would send brochures to just five doctors in their home city?) T-shirts, key chains, notepads and the like could all be great means of displaying our purple ribbon. This will obviously take a while, but for now, it is relatively simple for Migraineurs to buy simple purple ribbon and make a few ribbons with safety pins and distribute them to their doctor's office and friends. Let's make purple not only official but also visible!!
Everyone wears the yellow or pink wrist bands for cancer, why isn't there a purple one out there to help suppoert our cause. I would also like to see purple ribbon stickers or magnets to put on our cars, maybe t-shirts; so we could be walking billboards. Also what about migraine rallies in major cities, to get our words and stories out there. For others to know, it isn't just in our head. I am in Atlanta, hit me up if you need support here.
migrainemom4ever,
Yes, I'd like to see those things too. We've only had our color for a few month, and I'm sure they'll come.
BUT, what' I'm asking is what can ONE INDIVIDUAL, spending little or no money, who may have debilitating Migraines, do to help raise awareness. There are things, trust me. I just want people to think creatively, and offer suggestions.
I think the key to Migraine awareness is education. Possibly in the way of TV ads and even Billboards. I find that there are alot of people that think they have Migraines just because they have one "really bad headache". This frustrates me as I am sure it does other Migraine sufferers. We often get "advice" such as 'try taking a nap', take an aspirin, have you eaten?, maybe have some Gaterade, and my favorite-"it's just a headache" because friends and family just don't understand. This is a Neurological Disease. We take medication to prevent and abort this and hope we don't end up in the Emergency Department!
Please help educate.
Maybe we could try to organize local support groups for fellow sufferers, and family/friends. We can help each support other and come up with ideas to do locally. Possible ideas could include making "awareness" T-shirts and yard signs, educating family and friends, helping drive each other to appointments, etc when we are sick or having an attack, maybe even having awareness events locally with information for the public?
I never imagined as a sufferer of migraine, interstitial cystitis and fibromyalgia that I would find a way to connect with other people because of them. People are walking through this life with either what I have or with another chronic illness. I raise awareness by looking for openings to share my story with others. While I just started blogging, I've already found myself talking about it while chatting with a stranger (church, the pharmacy, doctor's office waiting room) or on social network sites. For instance, I've talked about migraine/fibro on Sorority Life's white board and that comment box above my avatar's head because it was such a lousy day and met others who shared similar stories. I recently had an attack while at the vet with my dog, and I opened up about taking my triptan while there to the staff because I needed water and used the vet's sink! Desperate times. The ladies laughed at how freaked I was after the fact, and I ended up learning both had migraine. One shared that her photo sensitivities are why the skylight above their desk is darkened. My life's story then interweaves with this sisterhood and brotherhood created out of this solidarity in numbers.
How about changing our phone answering messages to include something brief and upbeat about June being Migraine Awareness Month? Something like,
"Hi, this is MJ, I'm out spreading the news that June is Migraine Awareness Month, but I'll get back to you soon, so leave me a message!"
Or, "Hi, this is MJ. It's June 14 and I'm inviting you to wear a purple ribbon along with me in support Migraine Awareness Month. Leave me a message!"
Talk about your Migraines, but don't use them as an excuse or a crutch. In all my years of dealing with them, I have never pretended to have one. But I find that telling non migraine people your story they sometimes have a story of there own. Or maybe they have Migraine. My friend told me he has hunger headaches. I said what's that ?If I don't eat I get swirls in my vision and then I get a headache he replied. I said you might have migraines. Now when I tell him I am feeling like one is coming on he understands. He was the one who told me I should use fish oil .Since I use fish oil my pain is a lot less. When I told a mom of one of my drum students, I play and teach drums for a living, that I had Migraines, She said so does My daughter.I was able to tell her what I do. About 15 of my 40 students have Migraine. So they understand me. My eye doctor gets them so he sometimes has to shut down his office. So when I tell people I have a Migraine and I tell that story, they start to take me seriously. Sometimes they sugest things.And I must say that I know more about Migraines than most doctors I know, But I don't know everything.So talk to people about your Migraines, maybe we can all learn a little something.
"Dress Down Days for Charity" program that enables eligible employees to make a charitable donation for the privilege of wearing jeans and an appropriate shirt every Friday for a year, then donate the money to migraine research. This would spread awareness, pay for research, and employees would love the incentive!
Wow. If one has a migraine, sometimes lifting their head is almost unbearable. I think a purple ribbon with MIGRAINE on their door or a migraine mylar balloon on thier mailbox during the month of June. This will show how many people in a community are personally impacted by migraines (whether the individual or family member). A ribbon or Mylar balloon can be bought ahead of time or even June 1 and if you have a migraine, who cars if it goes up June 2 or 3?
People can wear the migraine ribbons (purple for migraines/headaches or purple-with-red-stripe for chronic migraines) in various places. All that is needed is a reel or two of ribbon (for chronic migraines, buy a thicker purple ribbon and a thinner red ribbon). You can apply the ribbon anywhere you wish, not just by wearing a criss-crossed awareness ribbon on your shirt. You can get as elegant or as cheesey as you want, from lines of rhinestones (extra supplies purchase required) on a band as a ring to a ribbon for your car to lining your glasses arms/frames with the ribbons. I have one of those magnetic glasses holders you use on a shirt/jacket (the ones seen on the show "Shark Tank") and am going to put purple and red ribbons on it (across the metal, not an awareness ribbon shape hanging off of it) for my chronic migraine. If you have a dog or cat, you could sew/glue ribbon onto a collar so your dog/cat's collar is also the supportive colors. Kids with braces could get their rubber bands in the color(s). Anyone can make the background of their computers/cell phones the color(s) or an image of the ribbon(s). If someone is shopping for a new cell phone case, they can get a purple one - or if they are shopping for a skin for their phone/laptop, they can do the color(s) or ribbon(s). You could get or decorate a watch band in the color(s) or with tiny ribbons around it. You could put a ribbon on your mailbox and/or front door. Things like that.
I had my neuro appt last week, so I printed up flyers that I made with facts, statistics, links to helpful websites, the June is Migraine Awareness Graphic, a pic of the Chronic Migraine Awareness Ribbon and on the flip side I printed Cat's recent blog post "Migraine Time" (with her permission). They let me hang one on the glass at the front desk and I left some on the table in the lobby for other's to pick up and read and hopefully share. I also wore my ribbon, and got asked by a lot of people that day what it stood for. My Dr. was very interested in the awareness stuff we have all been doing. I had paper and ink, which I know I have to pay for, but not much, and hopefully I was able to inform people that see my Dr.
How about writing a short article or letter to the editor for your local newspaper about Migraine Awareness Month? This could reach a relatively large audience with minimal effort and no cost - and the possibity of it leading to more awareness activities in your community.
Add in your own story to give it a personal connection. Also mention the activities being held during the month (with a URL for reference) and perhaps even some simple ideas that other migraineurs in the community can do on their own to spread awareness. I love Teri's pennies in a jar analogy!
I've had to deal with Migraine since I was 6 years old.
All of my headaches are weather related, they don't come from anything I've
eaten or drunk~ their trigger are pressure drops before thundar storms.
I've gone thru everything on the market for headaches.
I've taken over the counter & behind the counter medications.
Some have worked some haven't.
My headaches laughed at things like Bufferin,Anacin,Bayer asprin.
And Excedrine when it first came out.
I've been on Darvon,Darvocet,Percodan,Phenobarbital.
None of them took the pain away for the amount of time I needed it to.
The only thing that worked was Extra Strength Tylenol.
But even that began to lose it's potency.
I'm now on Hydrocodine or Treximet.
The best over the counter drug is Execdrine Migraine,but that's off of the
market for the time being. They said it would come back in mid-May????
Meanwhile, I'm living on Advil Migraine. It's working and I like that.
I can't really work,because I never know how my headaches will be..
Have you tried Migranol? It is inhaled. It is the only thing that helps my daughter, other than chiropractic treatments. Surprisingly, her chiropractor made such a difference that she hardly ever gets head migraines any more. We were dubious at first, but we had no other options left. It is really worth a try. Find someone who has experience treating migraines. Good luck. I feel for you.
First, I would like to see much more awareness of ABDOMINAL MIGRAINES. Both of my daughters suffered from them, but hardly anyone, including doctors, has heard of them.
Second, we could promote awareness of both abdominal migraines and head migraines by having a short explanation of both (with medical and scientific studies cited) available to e-mail to schools, employers, etc. - people who need to understand the disease and why sufferers cannot just simply come in to work or school while suffering from an episode.
I think one way we can raise awareness is by sharing poetry, art, song, picture, photos, whatever we can do creatively that reflects our life with migraine and make the effort to get one person interested in it and talking about it. Then asking them to pass along the "art" and continue the discussion with another person, we could make a difference in how most people see migraine.
Honestly, I think it is the simple things that make a difference. I dyed my bangs purple & just about everything I own is purple... Cell phone case, travel mug, purses, wallets, flip flops, tee shirts, nail polish, plus I have a purple bracelet with "HOPE" written on it, that I wear every day. I'm sure there's much more too!! Random strangers ask me, " What's up with the purple?" My response is "I'm celebrating Migraine Awareness Month. Plus I'm also a sufferer." or "Purple is the ribbon color for "Migraine & Headache disorders & I'm one of them!"
To me, just having all my family know & participate because it means so much to me, is worth it. Every little bit counts... Plus having strangers ask me, makes the awareness known. Maybe it'll spread the word around, even if to only a couple of people. My goal is to hopefully inspire others to whom have no knowledge of Migraine & Headaches. And maybe let another sufferer they're not alone!!!! <3
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Teri,
What I would like is a downloadable tri-fold pamphlet to print and leave in clinics and doctors' offices waiting rooms (with permission). It could possibly be entitled "Migraine -- A Widely Misunderstood Disease", which would include facts about migraine which you have given in your share post entitled "Interesting Migraine Facts and States to Build Awareness" and the series entitled "Presenting Facts to Make Migraines Visible and Raise Awareness."
I've noticed that in one clinic I go to that there are pamphlets, but none about migraine. Many people like to read to pass the time while waiting, and a brief but fact-filled pamphlet would be a way to raise awareness about migraine and could refer readers to web sites, such as Health Central or Facebook migraine pages.
Thanks for all the information you provide!
patsy