The Woman's Guide to Managing Migraine

Book excerpt: Headache in women is truly a major health issue. Every year, over 22 million women in the United States suffer from migraine headache, often debilitating attacks that can leave the sufferer bedridden and that, in many cases, can undermine both one's career and even one's marriage. The Woman's Guide to Managing Migraine is a concise and practical handbook that gives female headache sufferers all the tools they need to work with their healthcare providers to properly diagnose types of headache and develop the best possible treatment plans. A headache specialist, family practice physician, and fellow migraine sufferer, Dr. Susan Hutchinson introduces the reader to seven women with different lives--ranging from a nineteen-year-old college student, to a twenty-nine-year-old attorney, to a fifty-five-year-old mother of three grown children--different women with the common thread of suffering from disabling monthly migraines. As these women's lives unfold throughout the book, the reader gains insight into their own headache experience. Readers will learn about hormonal therapy, preventive strategies, and treatment options, ranging from the most promising new drugs to the most effective complementary and alternative therapies. Dr. Hutchinson answers common questions, such as how to plan for pregnancy and how to manage family and work life while coping with ongoing migraine attacks. She shows you how to carefully maintain your body and brain to minimize disruptions that can trigger a migraine, how to keep a migraine diary, how to find a headache-focused provider in your area, and how to make the most out of a visit to your doctor. The book includes a "headache quiz" that will determine if you are having true migraines. The time in a woman's life when migraine is most common--her twenties through her early fifties--represents her peak earning-power and child-raising years. The Woman's Guide to Managing Migraine will empower women to take charge of their treatment and find the path to living well.