How to Deal with Your Kids When You're Also Dealing with Chronic Migraine

glamour.com:

is a 24-hour job that leaves little room for chronic migraine. The debilitating disease—characterized by 15 or more headache days per month—can cause pain that prevents you from parenting, striking (beyond the frequent headaches) that don’t stop simply because you’re feeding your newborn baby or watching your teenager’s first-ever ballet solo. “Parents struggling with migraine can find themselves caring for children while managing this intense neurologic disease that is often painful, messes with your sensory systems, and can make it difficult to think straight,” said Elizabeth Seng, M.D., an associate professor of psychology at Yeshiva University and research associate professor of neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.People with migraine disease can experience , but also nausea, vomiting, dizziness, light sensitivity, impaired vision, or speech disturbances, said Mia Tova Minen, M.D., chief of headache research at New York University’s Langone Health.

What’s worse, migraine attacks can be both disabling and unpredictable, which can impact parenting even when you’re not experiencing pain. “The unpredictability of migraine makes it difficult to promise your child you can be present at important events,” says Seng, who adds some patients “describe intense guilt for not being as present in their children’s lives as they wish they could.”But there are ways to deal with your kids when you’re also dealing with chronic migraine.

Here, healthcare experts help you craft a plan to manage your migraine symptoms and parent during attacks, while teaching your kids about chronic migraine.