Self Help

There is no specific migraine personality. However, the majority of migraine sufferers tend to be perfectionists while setting very high goals for themselves. Along with perfectionism comes the fear of making mistakes. They often take care of others to the extent of self-sacrifice, in which they become both physically and emotionally depleted.

These people have a difficult time saying no to requests for their services from others, tend to take on a great deal of responsibility, and find it difficult to delegate to others. Often they keep long lists of tasks they need to accomplish each day and feel guilty if they don’t accomplish them all. They seem to have a lack of joy in their lives.

Migraine sufferers are not the prototypical “type A” personalities since they are not competitive with others, but they often tend to push themselves beyond their healthy limits. They tend to chronically overdo, worry about the lists that are piling up and not getting done, and go into deep feelings of being overwhelmed.

This pattern creates a vicious cycle of physical and emotional stress and fatigue, which will often trigger a disabling headache. It’s almost as if the headache serves the purpose of forcing the migraineur to slow down and temporarily pull away from the pressures and responsibilities of everyday life. The symptoms of sensitivity to light, sound, smell, and movement forces the migraineur to pull back into a state of isolation. In fact, the severity of symptoms forces the sufferer to take time off and just be still.

When one is in excessive doing mode the sympathetic nervous system, or doing branch of the nervous system, is cranking at a high rate. The migraine can come on when there is an abrupt shift from sympathetic nervous system dominance to parasympathetic dominance; parasympathetic is the relaxation branch of the nervous system. It’s like cruising at high speed and then abruptly hitting the breaks with both feet.

This is the critical time when blood vessels violently dilate. In the attempt to balance from doing to relaxation mode, the nervous system overcompensates. This is why most migraines start in the early-morning hours of sleep. Most sufferers wake up, or are awakened by, a migraine.

Sleep and rest is vital to recovery once you are able to sleep. Schedule some time to be still before you are forced to do so! Regular periods of meditation and complete physical stillness on a daily basis can train your nervous system to smoothly transition from sympathetic to parasympathetic mode, the result being a better pacing of nervous energy.

While the symptom of headache is being suppressed with medication, it can provide you the opportunity to heighten your awareness of the possible emotional factors that triggered it, and to help you to see where your life is imbalanced.

Many migraineurs have come to the realization that they are lacking in self-nurturing. One helpful technique for strengthening this aspect of your life is to make a list of ten things that you enjoy doing. These should be simple activities, such as watching television or reading a book. Then do one of these things each day.