Living with migraines: two women on lifestyle changes that helped them, and other coping mechanisms
- Jo Beckwith and Rachelle Cheng both started having migraine attacks in their teens which carried on into adulthood, severely disrupting their work
- Global awareness campaign Shades for Migraine invites people to post photos of themselves wearing sunglasses on social media on June 21 in support of sufferers
YouTuber Jo Beckwith is having a good day, one that hasn’t been ruined by a migraine attack. That wasn’t the case earlier in the week when she was bedridden at her home in the US state of Colorado after travelling to Las Vegas and New York.
“There’s so much stimulation when I’m on the road, and that can trigger a migraine,” says 30-year-old Beckwith via Zoom, adding hers started in her teens – “around the time I started dating” – intensifying when she entered her early 20s. “I was nauseous, dizzy – just really out of it. And I struggled to form sentences. I always felt I kind of looked drunk.”
After visits to general practitioners, neurologists and specialists at the Mayo Clinic – a US academic medical centre focused on integrated health care – Beckwith was diagnosed with chronic migraine disease.
“My vestibular system gets really affected,” she says, referring to the sensory system that controls balance and spatial orientation. “Luckily, I’ve had the support of Brian my husband, who has been with me through this whole process of trying to get diagnosed.”
According to the Migraine Research Foundation, 1 billion people worldwide suffer from the neurological disease that typically reveals itself with a severe throbbing recurring pain, usually on one side of the head.
The foundation says attacks are often accompanied by visual disturbances, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sensitivity to sound and light – and at times touch and smell – and tingling or numbness in the extremities or face.