Tips for parents with chronic migraine

Migraines affect approximately 3% to 5% of the U.S. population, and managing symptoms can be even more difficult when people with migraines additionally need to take care of their children.

The University of Cincinnati's Reena Shah, MD, spoke with Healthline on tips for parents to better manage migraines. 

“Chronic migraine can affect your ability to care for your family,” said Shah, a headache specialist at the UC Gardner Neuroscience Institute and associate professor in the Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine at UC's College of Medicine. “It can be hard to perform daily activities. Just getting out of bed in the morning to help your kids get ready for school is difficult.”

Shah recommended parents with migraines should have an honest but reassuring talk with their children on a non-migraine day to explain why sometimes they need to sit out an activity.

“This helps your child understand why you aren’t always able to do certain things with them,” she said.

Getting enough consistent sleep and staying in routine are also important factors to migraine management, Shah said, and patients can talk with their doctors about potential new medications.

“Many new medications for migraine have come out in the last 10 years that are truly life changing for many people,” Shah said. “There are also injections given once a month or every 3 months that can help.”

Read the Healthline story.

Featured photo at top of woman with a migraine. Photo/Yuri A/Shutterstock.