Notes from the Migraine World Summit 2022 - Andrea Hunter

Notes from the Migraine World Summit. A top down view of the notebook on a wooden surface surrounded by a houseplant, a clear pen, a white mug of tea on a white macramé coaster, and a green and white spotted pencil case with a tassel zipper pull.

I took a lot of notes from the Migraine World Summit this past week. It’s an online conference that I’ve “attended” for several years and it’s always highly educational, motivating, and helpful.

Here are some of the highlights for me from this year’s event:

key takeaways

I sensed a shift towards focussing on the positive as well as analyzing the negative. For example,

counting the number of “clear” days in a month as well as headache days
working hard to improve sleep and diet
being deliberate about improving the health of our brain (see link to the Virtual Brain Health Center below)
enriching our days with manageable and meaningful goals and activities

favourite comments

(I’ve paraphrased these from conversations between the interviewers and guest speakers.)

I’ve developed many more healthy habits because of migraine. I think there are some really positive qualities about resilience, about empathy, that come out of (battling migraine).

Ironically, attempts to hide migraine symptoms and attacks add to stigma and misunderstanding. And when each individual feels more empowered in their disease, society is helped.

Migraine treatment is an art as well as a science.

For follow-up and further study

I’ve bookmarked the Virtual Brain Health Center‘s website. They have events scheduled and resources listed that are worth knowing about.
There is a “10 Steps to Migraine Management” infographic in this paper. It can be printed out and is meant to be shared with your health care provider to help in creating a treatment plan.

I keep all of these notes, names and references in my Migraine notebook. Since migraine is such a complex disease, and the science is quickly evolving, it helps me to keep track of what’s going on. Both with things related to migraine in general, and with my own personal experience.

stationery in the photo

P.S. After last year’s conference I read A Brain Wider Than the Sky by Andrew Levy. It gives a very personal and artistic account of his migraine journey … different than the typical medical approach … which I appreciated.