Chronic migraine can negatively impact your overall well-being, including cognitive and emotional health, work-life balance, and social life. The stigma around an unseen condition can make feeling understood difficult, especially when those around you aren't experiencing a chronic neurological disease.
According to research, people with migraine worry about their relationships when they’re forced to cancel plans or can’t make it to their children’s events because of their migraine. Migraine guilt occurs when people with migraine feel they are burdening their friends or family with their illness.
Grace and Forgiveness
Grace and forgiveness are very important components of managing migraine guilt. Your brain craves consistency, but you might not be getting consistent sleep, diet, or movement with migraine. This can lead to a mindset of failure or feeling defeated when you're not getting all that you want to get done.
Forgiving yourself for not getting everything you think you need to do and being gentle with yourself for things out of your control is essential for your mental health and overall stress management. Don't be too hard on yourself.
If you're a mother, mom guilt and migraine guilt can compound and cause even more stress. It's essential to see the reality of your situation. No mom is perfect, no person is perfect, and you are doing your best. It's important to remind yourself of this fact when you feel guilty.
Know Your Migraine
Another step to managing migraine guilt is understanding your migraine triggers. If you know what foods or situations trigger a migraine attack, you can try to avoid them. Try building a schedule for you and your children. This routine can help you identify triggers and avoid migraine attacks. When you get a chance, write down or use an app to log migraine triggers, symptoms, and how effective medications or alternative treatments are.
Reduce Stress
Reducing stress is one of the number one steps to managing your migraine. Certain stressors can cause migraine attacks, so working on your stress reduction and anxiety can help your overall well-being. Meditation, yoga, and other self-care routines are helpful ways to reduce stress at home when you have a moment to yourself.
Another method to reduce stress is emotional processing. It would be best if you did this under a therapist's supervision. Emotional processing exposes you to triggers to help overcome anxiety disorders like PTSD and other conditions.
