BackgroundIf you've been on social media recently, you may have seen the rise of green light therapy for pain relief. While it may seem new in the migraine world, the effects of green light therapy are well-documented. According to Dr. Bing Liao, a neurologist at Houston Methodist Hospital, green light can change the level of serotonin and alter the endogenous opioid system, a pain-relieving system, throughout the central and peripheral nervous system, gastrointestinal tract, and immune syste...| Chronic Migraine Ellie
It's been a while since I've written a blog here. In the past year, I wrote a thesis that got high honors, graduated college, moved to a new city and started a full-time job, all while navigating my life with migraine disease. I've joined Migraine.com as a writer and Lyfebulb as a patient ambassador. This past week, I co-hosted #MigraineChat with Beth Morton (My Counterfactual Brain) and talked about migraine advocacy. Since Headache on the Hill (HOH) is next week, I wanted to take some time...| Chronic Migraine Ellie
In June of 2018, I took my first dose of Aimovig, one of the new CGRP medications. I livestreamed on facebook about taking my first dose, posted about how excited I was to try it and then haven't talked about it since. I've always been one of those unlucky people with medications where it either has terrible side effects or it works for a bit and then isn't effective anymore. I was excited to try Aimovig, but also completely terrified. What would happen if it didn't work? Even more terrifyin...| Chronic Migraine Ellie
There's a state that migraineurs know that's an in-between of being functional and non-functional, where you're alive, but not completely there. You're able to complete small tasks and make small talk, but still are forgetful and can't fully focus. It's almost like there's a haze of brain fog surrounding you and no matter how much you rest and sleep and do everything that you're supposed to do, you don't get better.| Chronic Migraine Ellie
Hello everyone! I will not be posting this week, but I am going to be doing a Facebook Live with Migraine Support this Sunday, at 12 pm EST! Go to their page to watch and you can rewatch it later on their page!| Chronic Migraine Ellie
Coming back from Headache on the Hill, my sleep schedule was completely out of wack. Between my crazy travel day on Sunday, my early morning and late flight on Tuesday, I was exhausted. It wasn't surprising that after all of the activity, I crashed and had a migraine last Wednesday. I was exhausted for the rest of the weekend, but overall I dealt with it.| Chronic Migraine Ellie
In the past couple weeks, I've done a lot of reflecting. I've been thinking about healthcare in America, and how legislators have been approaching healthcare. When many legislators think about healthcare, it falls into partisan territory. The Republicans did x. The Democrats did y. Each party feels the need to rescind and de-legitimize what the previous party did. Currently, this is playing out in the repeal of the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare).| Chronic Migraine Ellie