Speaker 1: Welcome back to season three of The head Start Embracing
Speaker 1: the Journey. I'm Norah McNerney. We're here to highlight the
Speaker 1: real stories of people living with chronic migraine, getting a
Speaker 1: glimpse into their day to day life, navigating not just
Speaker 1: the physical symptoms, but also the stigmas they face and
Speaker 1: the treatment journey thereon. This show is brought to you
Speaker 1: in partnership with ABV. If you're new to the show,
Speaker 1: there are fourteen episodes already out and worth a listen,
Speaker 1: each one looking at chronic migraine through a different lens,
Speaker 1: but sharing a common theme, a theme of resilience. I
Speaker 1: was grateful to talk to Jamie, whose father's medical background
Speaker 1: and access to proper healthcare gave her a unique advantage
Speaker 1: in getting an appropriate diagnosis.
Speaker 2: My father really being a strong advocate for people having
Speaker 2: a voice and people having equitable care. That really trickled
Speaker 2: down to me and my sisters.
Speaker 1: And Marina, who is trying to figure out what was
Speaker 1: happening with her almost daily micro attacks while juggling the
Speaker 1: responsibilities of raising two young children.
Speaker 3: My daughter she would be crying, my son he would
Speaker 3: be running around without pants. And I would sometimes sit
Speaker 3: on the floor and just cry. You know, my husband
Speaker 3: would come home. The babies are crying, the wife is crying.
Speaker 3: It was hard. It was so hard. I couldn't lay
Speaker 3: down in the quiet dark room because I had to
Speaker 3: take care of the kids.
Speaker 1: I think we're all making up this parenting thing as
Speaker 1: we go. No one really has all the answers, which
Speaker 1: is why I was blown away hearing how Angel was
Speaker 1: walking her adult sons through their own diagnoses after living
Speaker 1: with chronic migraine herself.
Speaker 4: What I also hope is that Exavier and Zion both
Speaker 4: see that living with migraine doesn't make them broken or inferior,
Speaker 4: and in some ways it gives them an insight and
Speaker 4: a life level of compassion for others that I truly
Speaker 4: always see.
Speaker 1: Throughout these real and intimate conversations, we will be joined
Speaker 1: yet again by my friend, doctor Christopher Ryan, who will
Speaker 1: provide us with his unique perspective, having treated people living
Speaker 1: with migraine for over fifteen years.
Speaker 5: When you treat chronic migraine patients frequently and for as
Speaker 5: long as I have, you see how isolated and dismissed
Speaker 5: they can feel. And this is regardless of race, gender,
Speaker 5: anything else. And so It's important to make sure that
Speaker 5: a person sitting across from you feel seen. You ask
Speaker 5: about them. You want to hear their story. You want
Speaker 5: to know who they are, what makes them tick, what
Speaker 5: makes them happy, and how you can participate in their
Speaker 5: health goals in their story.
Speaker 1: So we're back for season three, working to reshape the
Speaker 1: conversation around chronic migraine to be one that is more
Speaker 1: empathetic and more understanding. There shouldn't be as much stigma
Speaker 1: or hesitation when asking for help. Come join us and
Speaker 1: listen to the head Start Embracing the Journey on the
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.