Airing Pain 25: A Heads-Up on Migraines

How to manage migraines: patients and experts share their thoughts.

This programme was funded by Pain Concern’s supporters and friends.

Nine out of ten people report a lifetime history of head pain and 2012 has been designated the Global Year Against Headache by the International Association of the Study of Pain. Paul Evans finds out more about migraines from Dr Giles Elrington of the National Migraine Centre in London. We also hear from people who live with chronic migraine about their experiences, what triggers their episodes and the treatments they’ve tried, and Heather Sim tells us the steps to take to get referred to a migraine clinic.

Issues covered in this programme include: Migraines, headache, triggers, patient experiences, fatigue, nausea, neurological conditions, trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias, cluster headaches, neck pain, primary and secondary headache, daily routine, blood sugar, sleep pattern, diary keeping, referral, brain disorder and visual auras.

Contributors:

• Dr Giles Elrington, Medical Director, National Migraine Centre, London
• Heather Sim, Chief Executive of The National Migraine Centre
• Patients including: Keri Bucholz, Emma Williams and Chris Whitehouse.