An estimated 4.9 million Australians battle through the debilitating pain of migraines. But despite estimates the condition costs the national economy billions each year, a leading researcher says there's far from enough funding or support.
But despite estimates the condition costs the national economy billions each year, a leading researcher says there's far from enough funding or support.
I'm one of the 4.9 million Australians with migraine — a severe and disabling neurological disorder that prevents you from going about your life. "But it's a complicated neurological disorder that has its own biology underpinning it … it's different to just having a headache."If a thumping head has limited your activities for a day or more in the past month and you've felt nauseated or bothered by light during the episode, there's a good chance you're part of those statistics.
She was 24 and out on a lunchbreak when "a god-awful murderous pounding" in her head stopped her in her tracks."It was like someone was squeezing my head … and smashing it with a hammer, but also like I was being repeatedly stabbed with a knife at the same time.Since that first acute attack, Ms Underwood's life has been dominated by migraine and the unending juggle to try to manage it."You can't have the lights too bright.
Rebecca Underwood was told by doctors in the aftermath of her first episode that she'd probably had a brain bleed. She hadn't."A lot of people will be seeing chiropractors, seeing physiotherapists, getting scans of their neck."I can think of a few patients who've gone through that 15 to 20-year journey of recurrent pain, plus or minus a couple of unnecessary sinus procedures … but their migraine has gone through that whole story and never been picked up.
Dr Hutton says that figure is overblown and no migraine-related grants have been awarded by the council since 2019. "We spend a lot of time writing and re-writing letters trying to help patients get support from the system and not being able to get there because it's not recognised," she says.
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