Migraine is difficult enough at the best of times. When you are also managing school runs, work, meals, appointments and children who still need you even when you feel unwell, an attack can bring the whole day to a halt.
For mums who experience migraine, having a plan in place before symptoms begin can make attacks easier to manage.
Ana Carolina Goncalves, Superintendent Pharmacist at Pharmica online pharmacy, explains: “Migraine can be particularly disruptive for parents because it is not always possible to simply stop everything when an attack begins. Understanding your usual symptoms, recognising potential triggers and knowing which treatment you have been advised to use can make it easier to respond early rather than trying to make decisions once you are already feeling unwell.”
Here is a pharmacist-led guide to some of the practical steps worth considering.
Start by understanding your migraine pattern
Migraine is more than an ordinary headache.
An attack can involve moderate to severe throbbing pain, nausea and increased sensitivity to light or sound. Some people also experience migraine with aura, which can cause temporary visual disturbances, numbness or difficulties with speech.
Migraine also varies considerably from one person to another.
Some people notice warning symptoms such as tiredness, difficulty concentrating, neck stiffness or changes in mood before the headache begins. Others experience very little warning.
Learning what a typical attack looks like for you can make it easier to act when those early symptoms appear.
For a busy mum, that might mean rearranging something non-essential, asking somebody else to handle the school run or taking an opportunity to rest before symptoms become more severe.
Keep a simple migraine diary
If migraines keep appearing without an obvious explanation, a migraine diary can help identify patterns.
You do not need to document every detail of your day. Recording a few key points can be enough:
- when the migraine started
- how long it lasted
- symptoms you experienced
- what you had eaten and drunk
- how well you slept
- stress levels
- your menstrual cycle
- any medicines taken
Possible migraine triggers can include stress, tiredness, dehydration, missed meals, changes in caffeine intake and hormonal changes.
For parents, several of these factors can easily occur at the same time. A poor night’s sleep may be followed by extra coffee, a rushed breakfast and a stressful morning, making it difficult to identify one single trigger.
The purpose of a diary is therefore not necessarily to find one thing to eliminate. It is to understand the circumstances in which your own migraines are more likely to occur.
Keep the basics as consistent as family life allows
Migraine management does not require a perfect lifestyle.
For most mums, that would not be realistic anyway.
Instead, focus on the basic habits you can reasonably keep consistent.
Try not to skip meals regularly, particularly if this appears to trigger headaches. Keep water somewhere visible on busy days so drinking does not become an afterthought.
Sleep can be more difficult, especially with babies or young children, but consistency can still be helpful where circumstances allow.
Caffeine is another area worth watching. Large changes in caffeine intake can be problematic for some people, so moving between several coffees on one day and none the next may be less helpful than keeping intake reasonably consistent.
These habits will not prevent every migraine, but they can reduce some avoidable triggers.
Have an attack plan ready
Trying to decide what to do once a migraine is already severe is rarely ideal.
Think in advance about what usually helps.
That could include having medication readily available, keeping water nearby and knowing whether resting in a dark, quiet room normally helps your symptoms.
It is also worth having a practical family plan.
If you live with a partner, explain what you typically need during an attack before the next one happens. If a relative or trusted friend can occasionally help with school pick-up, it can be useful to know that option exists.
Even small preparations can remove some of the pressure.
The objective is not to build your whole family routine around migraine. It is simply to have a plan B available when an attack arrives at an inconvenient moment.
Understand your treatment options
Migraine treatment varies depending on the individual and the severity of their attacks.
Some people may use suitable over-the-counter pain relief such as paracetamol or an anti-inflammatory medicine. Where standard painkillers do not provide adequate relief, a healthcare professional may recommend a migraine-specific treatment called a triptan.
One commonly used option is sumatriptan, which is used to treat an acute migraine attack rather than prevent migraines from occurring.
It is not suitable for everyone.
Certain cardiovascular conditions, uncontrolled high blood pressure and some medicines can affect whether sumatriptan is appropriate. This is why treatment suitability needs to be considered individually rather than assuming that a medicine that works for somebody else will automatically be appropriate for you.
If you have been prescribed or advised to use a particular migraine treatment, make sure you understand when and how you have been told to take it.
If your existing treatment is no longer controlling your attacks effectively, speak to a pharmacist, GP or another appropriate healthcare professional rather than repeatedly increasing or changing medication yourself.
Be particularly careful during pregnancy and breastfeeding
Migraine treatment may need additional consideration during pregnancy or while breastfeeding.
If you are pregnant, planning a pregnancy, breastfeeding or have recently had a baby, speak to a healthcare professional before starting a new migraine medicine or changing how you use an existing treatment.
A severe headache during pregnancy should also not automatically be assumed to be migraine.
Seek prompt medical advice if a headache is accompanied by symptoms such as visual disturbances, vomiting, pain below the ribs or sudden swelling, as these can be warning signs of pre-eclampsia.
Try not to “push through” every attack
One of the most difficult things for parents can be accepting that occasionally the day’s plans need to change.
Migraine symptoms such as nausea and sensitivity to light and noise can make ordinary tasks much harder.
If lying down in a darkened room normally helps, taking that opportunity may be more sensible than forcing yourself through another several hours of activity.
That might mean ordering an easy dinner, postponing an errand or allowing the children some additional screen time while you rest.
A temporary change of plan does not mean you are letting anybody down.
Sometimes managing migraine effectively means reducing demands for a few hours so that you can recover.
Avoid overusing headache medication
If migraines or headaches are occurring frequently, it can be tempting to rely increasingly on pain relief.
However, taking acute headache medicines too frequently can itself contribute to medication-overuse headache.
If you are repeatedly needing treatment or finding that the number of headache days is increasing, speak to a healthcare professional.
The solution may involve reviewing the diagnosis, how current medication is being used or whether preventive treatment should be considered.
This is another reason why keeping a migraine diary can be useful: it gives both you and your healthcare professional a clearer picture of how frequently attacks and medication use are occurring.
Know when to seek further medical advice
Recurring migraine is common, but changes in your usual pattern deserve attention.
Speak to a healthcare professional if your migraines are becoming more frequent, increasingly severe, difficult to manage or noticeably different from your normal attacks.
Urgent medical advice is also appropriate if a migraine lasts longer than 72 hours or aura symptoms persist for more than an hour.
A sudden, extremely severe headache requires more urgent assessment, particularly if it occurs alongside symptoms such as weakness on one side of the body, difficulty speaking, confusion, seizures or loss of vision.
The fact that you normally experience migraine should never stop you seeking medical attention for a headache that feels significantly different from what is normal for you.
Make migraine management part of looking after yourself
Mums can become exceptionally good at spotting when somebody else in the family needs food, rest, medicine or a quieter day.
It is worth applying the same logic to your own health.
You may not be able to remove every migraine trigger or guarantee that an attack will arrive at a convenient moment. What you can do is learn your pattern, prepare for attacks, understand your treatment and ask for help when symptoms are becoming harder to control.
A little preparation will not make family life stop when a migraine arrives.
But it can make the disruption considerably easier to manage.
Monica Costa founded London Mums in September 2006 after her son Diego’s birth together with a group of mothers who felt the need of meeting up regularly to share the challenges and joys of motherhood in metropolitan and multicultural London. London Mums is the FREE and independent peer support group for mums and mumpreneurs based in London https://www.londonmumsmagazine.com and you can connect on Twitter @londonmums
