While living with frequent migraine attacks in my early 20’s, the way people spoke about migraine repeatedly made me feel like my experience was being minimized, doubted, or dismissed.

It took years of pain, disability, and self-advocacy for me to learn how simple shifts in the vocabulary around migraine could be a powerful tool to change others’ perception of my journey.

More specific migraine language can help correct the misunderstanding that “migraines are just a bad headache” and instead recognize migraine as the complex, highly prevalent, and nuanced disease it is.

It is important and empowering to speak about migraine in a way that helps bring this condition out from the darkness of misunderstanding and into the light of acceptance.

Language Shapes Perception

When someone suffers from migraine attacks, the words we usually use to describe what they’re going through are: “I/they get migraines.” In reality, a person who has migraine attacks lives with migraine disease–a neurological condition encompassing a wide spectrum of experiences–every single day. Read more at Healthgrades.com…

Natalie Sayre