Migraine Poetry - Express Yourself and Raise Awareness

Author and Patient Advocate Teri Robert knows the pain migraine sufferers face each day – she’s been experiencing headaches and migraine attacks herself since childhood. Finding writing therapeutic and wanting to further help those in the migraine community, Robert, in conjunction with The HealthCentral Network (www.HealthCentral.com), are hosting the “Putting Our Heads Together” Poetry Contest 2008.

Now in its seventh year, the contest encourages sufferers to find creative ways to express their pain. “Putting Our Heads Together” is free and will be published on HealthCentral’s MyMigraineConnection.com and Roberts’ HelpForHeadaches.com.

Entries will be judged by MAGNUM, the National Migraine Association (www.migraines.org) and will be collected until April 21. Winners will be announced on April 30, in recognition of National Poetry Month. “This contest started in 2001, and the work submitted has been amazing. Writing can be very therapeutic, as can reading what others have written,” said Robert, who currently educates and supports patients as Lead Expert for the MyMigraineConnection.com community. “Migraine disease and headaches can impact our lives more than many people could ever imagine.” “People coping with migraine disease continue to reach out to one another, forming incredibly supportive communities online,” said Chris Schroeder, CEO and President of The HealthCentral Network. “It’s an honor to provide the forum where users can creatively tell their stories and inspire others.”

Migraine disease affects nearly 36 million people in the United States alone, and at least 80% of the world's population will be affected by tension-type headaches at some time in their lives. Headache disorders cause more than 1 percent of all disability and 9 percent of all lost labor in the U.S. every year.

More information and the online entry instructions can be found on MyMigraineConnection at www.healthcentral.com/migraine/poetry-contest.html.

Why not join in the fun and enter? The deadline for entries is Monday, April 21.

Shalom,
Abi

Migraine Treatments: Time to get off our behinds!

Here's a sad fact for you -- There are NO medications available that were developed for Migraine prevention. NONE. Everything we have in our arsenal was developed for other conditions. Then Migraineurs using them for those conditions noticed that they were having fewer Migraines. All the preventive medications we have are what Teri Robert calls "hand-me-down" drugs.

How about another sad fact? Two days ago, the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy posted an alert to their web site asking Migraineurs and other headache disorder patients, their friends, family, coworkers, etc., to email their members of the House about increased NIH funding for Migraine and headache research. The set up they have makes it quick and simple to send that email. It takes less than five minutes. I just emailed Teri, and was shocked by how few people have responded to that alert.

I read several Migraine forums, and am always saddened by the number of people who are desperately searching for effective preventive treatment. Lives are being disrupted and destroyed by this disease.

So, here's my question for those of you who are in that position or care about someone who is -- IF YOU HAVEN'T GONE TO THE AHDA SITE AND SENT THAT EMAIL, WHY NOT?

This is something we can DO that can make things better for us. It only takes a few minutes. You don't have to look up your representative. That's done for us. Even the introduction and closing of the email are done for us. We don't have to leave our homes or even pay for a postage stamp.

Here's my take on this situation. If you don't take a few minutes to go to the AHDA site and email your representative, they you no longer have the right to complain about the lack of available treatments. We can't just sit back and count on other people doing this for us.

It's one email. It's five minutes out of our day. It's time to get off our behinds and DO something!

From a blog entry on MyMigraine Connection:

PLEASE, go to www.AllianceForHeadacheAdvocacy.org NOW. Click the "What YOU Can Do" link in the left column. You will go to our Alert Center. There is a box with our Featured Alert. Simply click the red "Take Action" button in the Featured Alert box. That will take you to a letter that's ready for you to add what you want to say about this issue, fill in your name and address, and have your email sent directly to your Representative. It is urgent that you do this NOW because the House is setting 2009 funding appropriations in just a few days.

Please go to MyMigraineConnection, read that blog entry, and take action!

To read the rest of that blog entry, please click here.

Namaste,
Abi

March Blog Carnival - Maintaining Friendships for Those WIth Migraines and Headaches

Diana Lee at Somebody Heal Me has done us all a great service by establishing a monthly headache and Migraine disease blog carnival. This month, it's being hosted by Teri Robert at MyMigraineConnection.


Generally speaking, a blog carnival is a collection of links to a variety of a blogs on a central topic. The Headache & Migraine Disease Blog Carnival has been created to provide both headache and Migraine disease patients and people who blog about headache disorders with unique opportunities to share ideas on topics of particular interest and importance to us.

Take a look at the March Blog Carnival - Maintaining Friendships for Those With Migraines and Headaches.

Migraine and Stroke -- Video

Migraine and stroke risk, although nothing to sound extreme alarm bells over, is definitely something all Migraineurs should know about. It's in our best interests to talk with our doctors about how we live and what we can do to reduce other risks of stroke.

Looking around today, I came across a blog entry by Teri Robert at MyMigraineConnection that features two YouTube videos. These videos were made by a woman who had a stroke that her doctor attributes to Migraine.

Take a look at this blog entry and the videos in Video from woman who had stroke from Migraine.

Shalom,
Abi

Whining about Migraines -- Here's some honesty!

It can be really hard to know what to say to someone suffering with a Migraine or headache. You want to be kind, sympathetic, helpful. I would imagine that if you're a professional in the field -- educating, supporting, and advocating for Migraineurs -- you have to walk a fine line. You'd want to do all that being kind, sympathetic, but you might not know how to handle (drum roll, please)... the whiners and drama queens! OK. I've said it, the "w" word. Some of us can be whiners. If you frequent message boards, you know the type. About once a week (if you're lucky, it's ONLY once a week), they post virtually the same "vent" they posted the week before. Some of them will even ask for advice. The problem is that they never take anyone's advice, and they never get off their butts and do anything about their situation.

I don't think I've used this word to describe Teri Robert before, but she's brave. Yesterday, she wrote a blog entry entitled "Yes, Migraines and headaches are awful, but don't be a whiner or drama queen!" Damn! I almost spit coffee all over my monitor when I read it. She was more diplomatic about it than I could have been, but that's Teri. If anyone knows what a Migraineur goes faces, she does. If anyone understands the dangers of falling into whining, she does.

What Teri did in her blog that maybe nobody else knows how to do is to explain the difference between "venting" and "whining." She even explains how to vent without whining.

Way to go, Teri, and thanks!

Namaste,
Abi

Wow! A "Top Migraine and Headache Site" Award!

Today, I received an email from Dan Marschinke, the producer of MyMigraineConnection.com. Part of it read:

"I just wanted to congratulate you and let you know that we’ve selected Abi’s Migrainous Wanderings as one of our Top Site Award Recipients! We’re honoring the ten best Migraine and headache blogs and sites on the Web, as picked by our experts."

Especially since I've been watching MyMigraineConnection become better and better, I'm very honored that my blog has received this award. Thank you

Here's the HealthCentral press release, which explains more about these awards:

HealthCentral.com Recognizes Top Migraine Web Sites and Blogs

ARLINGTON, VA- June 27, 2007- The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.HealthCentral.com), a leading online consumer health destination, today announced awards for the top Web sites and blogs dedicated to educating and supporting individuals living with Migraines and fostering the online Migraine community.

HealthCentral.com’s First Annual Top Site Awards recognize the Web’s best sites, from individual blogs to small Web sites, each committed to providing personal, quality information, support and inspiration to Migraineurs, caregivers, and their family and friends. The recipients of the award share HealthCentral.com’s mission in highlighting the patient voice in health information.

“We rely greatly on the advice and personal experiences of friends and family in all facets of life and managing a health condition is no different,” said Chris Schroeder, CEO and President of The HealthCentral Network (THCN). “This year’s Top Sites recognize the importance of sharing and learning from other people who have real life experience dealing with Migraines and join HealthCentral.com in providing trusted, personal information and support to the Migraine community.”

A team of experts from THCN’s Migraine site, MyMigraineConnection.com, chose this year’s top Migraine and Headache sites after reviewing and analyzing the most popular and influential Web sites focused on living with Migraines.

“The face of healthcare is changing. Studies show that patients who are better educated about their conditions and take part in the decision making process are more compliant with their treatment regimens and have better outcomes,” said Teri Robert, founder of Top Award winner HelpforHeadaches.com and Lead Expert Patient on MyMigraineConnection.com. “That's in no small part due to the impact the Internet has made on making information available. Paired with well researched and written content, online communities provide Migraineurs a place to share information, ask questions, and get vital support -- support from people who truly understand their situations. That kind of support can make the difference that keeps us looking for effective treatment rather than giving up and living in pain.”

The 2007 HealthCentral.com Top Migraine and Headache Sites:

The Daily Headache http://www.thedailyheadache.com/
MigraineCast http://www.migrainecast.com/
Abi's Migrainous Wanderings http://abimigraines.blogspot.com/index.html
Migraine Blog http://www.migraineblog.com/
Her Life in a Nutshell http://joannab.wordpress.com/
Help For Headaches & Migraines http://helpforheadaches.com/
Migraine Chick http://migrainechickie.blogspot.com/
Weathering Migraine Storms http://weatheringmigrainestorms.blogspot.com/
A ClusterHead’s Life http://versilleus.blogspot.com/
Somebody Heal Me http://migraineur.blogspot.com/

About the HealthCentral Network

The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.HealthCentral.com) is a new and unique online offering, comprised of more than 30 health and highly specific condition web properties. Each site provides timely, interactive, in-depth, and trusted medical information from organizations including Harvard Health Publications among others, and connections to leading experts and thousands of people who share their related experiences and inspiration.

The HealthCentral Network was acquired in 2005 by Polaris Ventures, Sequoia Capital, The Carlyle Group and Allan & Company, and has built a management team that combines decades of experience in interactive media and medical, science, and news journalism. The company received top recognition from the International Health and Medical Media Awards with a 2006 FREDDIE Award for MyDiabetesCentral.com and the Health Care Standard of Excellence WebAward from the Web Marketing Association.

News, news, and more news from the American Headache Society conference!

Every Migraineur's dear friend Teri Robert at MyMigraineConnection spent last week in Chicago at the 49th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Headache Society. Teri attends this conference every year and always returns home with fodder for many articles in which she shares with us what she learned -- written in a way we can actually understand! To me, her articles are always more valuable than most "news" articles written on Migraine because she goes deeper and into more detail than most people who write on Migraine and Migraine news.

Already, her blog entries from the conference and the first article to come out of the conference proceedings have me waiting with great anticipation for more. Here's some of what she's shared so far:

• Greetings from Chicago - the American Headache Society Conference. This is a fun post where Teri shares a video of her "remote headquarters."
  
  
• Reporting from Chicago - A new Migraine abortive in trials. Merck has released results from their Phase II trials of MK-0974, an investigational oral calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) antagonist. Teri spoke with Dr. Tony Ho, senior director of Clinical Neuroscience for Merck Research Laboratories to give us a great report on what's happening with this new medication. It looks very hopeful, even for Migraineurs with a history of heart or stroke issues!
  
  
• Back from the American Headache Society conference! Ever wonder what some of the "famous" doctors we read about look like? Teri has shared some super photos of a few of them.

When you get a chance, check out Teri's reports. If you haven't already, consider subscribing to the MyMigraineConnection email newsletter. It's a great way to keep up on what's new!

To Teri -- Thank you, as always, for looking out for all of us and sharing so much valuable information. Oh, and a belated happy birthday!

Shalom,
Abi

Leading Migraine Author and Advocate Joins the Team at The HealthCentral Network's MyMigraineConnection.com

ARLINGTON, Va., Feb. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The HealthCentral Network, Inc. today announced that Teri Robert, prominent Migraine patient, author and advocate, will join the MyMigraineConnection.com team as Lead Expert Patient. Robert, who has personally struggled with Migraines, will educate, support, and empower patients through regular articles and blogs on THCN's Migraine site. MyMigraineConnection.com provides targeted clinical information and resources, as well as a community of patients, like Robert, who share the details of living with a disease from a personal perspective.

"Optimal health care can be achieved only when patients are educated about their health, and patients and physicians work together as treatment partners in an atmosphere of mutual respect," said Teri Robert. "MyMigraineConnection.com provides visitors with advice and insight from expert voices and people who have actually dealt with Migraines, so individuals are not only informed, but given the support they need to actively manage and participate in their health -- I'm excited to be an active part of that community."

"The expert voices on our sites are essential because they have first-hand experience and years of commitment to help others manage and take control of their health," said Chris Schroeder, CEO and President of The HealthCentral Network. "Teri Robert's vast experience and dedication to Migraine education and support is an incredible addition to MyMigraineConnection.com."

After a life-long struggle with Migraines, Robert's career as a writer and advocate started at About.com, where she was the Guide to Headaches and Migraines for nearly seven years. During this time she released her first book, "Living Well with Migraine Disease and Headaches." Published in 2005 by Harper Collins, it remains a top selling book in the field. Robert is also a well known patient advocate, and was awarded the National Headache Foundation's Patient Partners Award in 2004 for her "ongoing patient education, support and advocacy." She is the Support Advisor for MAGNUM, the National Migraine Association currently collaborating with THCN on Internet resources for Migraine sufferers, and an active member or advocate for the following organizations: O.U.C.H., the Organization for Understanding Cluster Headaches; The American Heart Association's Go Red for Women initiative; and the American Diabetes Association.

Robert is also dedicated to staying up-to-date on developments in Migraine research. She studies medical journals and books, attends medical conferences on a regular basis, and has earned continuing education hours from the American Headache Society, the Primary Care Network, and the Center for Health Care Education.

About The HealthCentral Network
The HealthCentral Network, Inc. has more than 30 general health and highly specific condition and wellness web properties, each committed to offering a voice in everyday and personal language people can understand and connect with at critical points in their lives. Each site provides timely, interactive, in-depth, and trusted medical information, personalized tools and resources, and connections to vast communities of expertise for people seeking to engage in, manage and improve their health.

The award-winning, multimedia experience combines medically-reviewed articles from doctors and researchers, as well as news, information, video and extensive engagement from people who have great experience and empathy in specific health areas. The Company recently expanded its health and wellness offerings with the acquisition of FoodFit.com, a leading healthy eating and active living Web site, and produces the Medical Breakthroughs television, seen around the country. The HealthCentral Network received top recognition from The International Health and Medical Media Awards with a 2006 FREDDIE Award for MyDiabetesCentral.com and was awarded the Health Care Standard of Excellence WebAward from the Web Marketing Association.

Founded in the late 1990s, The HealthCentral Network, Inc. was acquired in 2005 by a team of blue-chip investors, including Polaris Ventures, Sequoia Capital, The Carlyle Group and Allen & Company. With a management team that combines decades of experience in interactive media and medical, science and news journalism, The HealthCentral Network aims for the highest standards of quality, relevance and community for patients and their caregivers.

SOURCE The HealthCentral Network, Inc.

Looking for Migraine & Headache Writer Teri Robert?

OK, I'm biased. Virtually everything I know about Migraine disease I learned from Teri Robert. Reading her articles taught me that Migraines are a disease; that I have not only the right, but the responsibility to ask my doctors questions AND get some answers, that I do not have to live with nearly daily Migraines. She's the reason I capitalize the word Migraine. So, I'm biased. Teri is my hero. I want to grow up to be Teri Robert. (Well, not literally. She's only a few years older than I am, but you get the point.)

I first discovered Teri's writings and Herculean patient advocacy efforts on About.com. Last weekend, I was dismayed to find her picture gone from her site there and "Apply Now" where her name had been. Whatever About.com did to make her decide to leave or didn't do to entice her to stay, it's their loss. I, for one, won't be returning to their site or their forum since I won't find her there.

Fortunately for all of us, a quick email to Teri revealed that she is well and that after she resigned from About.com, she went to MyMigraineConnection, which is part of the HealthCentral Network. She told me she'll be doing mainly the same things there that she did at About.com -- "writing articles and other content, blogging, and hanging out on the forum." Yesterday, "Teri Robert's Blog" had a new entry - "New Year's Resolutions for Migraine Doctors."

So, if anyone is looking for Teri, now you know where to look! :-)

Shalom,
Abi