| Next month I will be hosting an exciting introductory webinar which will show you how you can use positive psychology to improve your quality of life as a migraineur. This post contains a very brief survey to get your input on the best timing for the webinar and the seminar series which will follow it. There's also a bonus for completing the survey. Positive psychology has proved effective in the treatment of multiple sclerosis, depression and stress. It also helps people by building their ability to bounce back from setbacks. The link to the survey is http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/D5NQGLV I look forward to your response! | 
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Today I want to share with you some relevant practical research about using positive psychology for people who have chronic illness - in this case multiple sclerosis.
Here is your link: http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/08/20/using-positive-psychology-to-cope-with-chronic-illness/ Key points in Dr. Manny's interview include:
The second video is a one-on-one with Elizabeth, an MS patient. See the link below: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/everyday-matters/index.aspx The highlights of this one for me were:
Positive psychology is an important new tool which can help episodic and chronic migraine sufferers cope better with the impact of their illness... You can look forward to a better quality of life! Coming soon: How YOU can learn how to apply Positivity in your own life. Be well, Gerry Fryer, MA, ACC [email protected] http://migraineindependence.weebly.com/  Did you know that 92% of chronic pain sufferers say "It's important to keep fighting this pain."? That is our natural response to pain. We struggle against it and grasp for solutions far too long. This post will introduce you to a proven method of dealing with the suffering and stresses caused by episodic or chronic pain which has shown positive results. This information is based on research carried out by Kevin Vowles, Ph.D., at the Association for Contextual Research in Bath, England, which is quoted widely in other publications. Do you fight your pain? Dr. Vowles notes that struggling with pain is the single best predictor of more pain in the future, along with further struggles, a sense of failure, and lost freedom and opportunity. There is a definite cycle here, a downward spiral that you yourself may have encountered from time to time. He advocates deliberately getting off this treadmill, likely with some professional assistance, and setting off in a new direction which involves
Let's examine each one of these components. Acceptance is the opposite of struggle. It means that you come to understand that the emotions that come with your migraine pain are transitory, and that you just notice them as if you were a third party. In a similar way, the thoughts that come up during an attack are merely thoughts and they will subside; they are not your direct experience of the pain. Accepting your pain also means abandoning heroic measures to control it. Mindfulness is a way of thinking which concentrates on the here and now, not the past and future. The final element, Values-based Action, asks you to re-direct your focus. Rather than trying to eliminate unwanted experiences as before, you ask yourself what really matters in the main areas of your life. Your future will consist of actions which contribute to priorities which are grounded in these values.  Does Dr. Vowles' process, also known as Acceptance and Commitment (ACT) therapy, work? 3 years after his study group began ACT, here are the outcomes
The evidence is clear. As a long term migraine sufferer, you can benefit greatly by 'giving up your struggle' and embracing the idea of accepting of your pain. Many barriers will come down for you as a result. Let me coach you through this process and guide you towards a rich, rewarding life based on what you really want. We all know that the main attribute of a migraine is pain. A close second to that is stress - stress caused by that attack and stress caused by being a migraine sufferer in general. Do you suffer from migraine-related stress? Now there is promise to relieve migraine stress through the science of Positive Psychology. Read to the end of this message for a great offer to introduce you to positive psychology in the coming months!  The distress caused by a migraine attack can be summed up in a few short phrases:
If you are an episodic or chronic migraineur, you're familiar with the inward stress of not living up to your own standards because of your illness. You're very aware of the impact on others - you don't want to let them down, but you feel that you do. And your mind may be going into overdrive as you worry about the impact on your future if you can't resolve the migraine question. There is an important distinction here. None of this is the migraine pain itself; it is the way you (and your brain in particular) are responding to the pain. Now...you can start to climb towards the light. Positive psychology research has produced a number of exciting discoveries, such as
I am excited to tell you about a a series of teleseminars called Positive Psychology for Migraine Sufferers which will begin in October. If you contact me now and sign up before the end of August, you can attend these sessions for 50% off the regular price! Climb those stairs with me... There are two distinct migraine questions:
Only pain reduction can alter your answer to the first question. Have pain reduction alternatives worked permanently for you, or not? What about life's possibilities in your world, a world which is constantly interrupted by the onset of migraine symptoms? Starting now, the possibilities and options that you have can start to grow.  In the last two decades, a major new field called Positive Psychology has emerged. Practitioners work with people like you to highlight and further build three crucial areas:
My coaching practice is oriented around the principles of positive psychology.
I'm excited to tell you that, starting this fall, I will offering economical, interactive group seminars that will help you utilize positive psychology to expand both who you can be and what you can do. Be well, Gerry Fryer, MA, ACC [email protected] http://migraineindependence.weebly.com/ 
I started this blog, and the Migraine Independence idea before it, because I wanted to show others that there was life after long term migraine. Based on my own experience and that of thousands of others, you don't have to retreat from the world if you continue to have episodic, or chronic migraine.
Yesterday I came across a post from someone who went through the same arduous journey as me and ended up in the same positive place. It's called "What Do You Choose". The author describes being hit with rheumatoid arthritis, which has a not dissimilar pattern of periodic flare-ups as migraine. His initial despair is followed by a gradual dawning of the idea that he would not let the disease consume his whole life, and that he could construct happiness in new ways. I urge you to read Rheumatoid Arthritis Guy's post, which is written with much eloquence and grit, along with the comments. There is much to learn there. http://www.rheumatoidarthritisguy.com/2012/07/what-do-you-choose/#comments Be well, Gerry [email protected] http://migraineindependence.weebly.com/ You are invited to subscribe to the Migraine Independence website, find out about the parallels with RA Guy's philosophy, and get a Special Report -- see the right hand side of this page! A Comeback Kid is someone who repeatedly shows the ability to overcome downturns in their life. You’re a Comeback Kid -- because you have come through many migraine attacks and you have decided to read this post! Resilience is your ability to bounce back from setbacks…to learn from failure…to be motivated by challenges…and to believe in your own abilities to deal with the stress and difficulties in life. -- "The Resilience Factor”, K. Reivich & A. Shatte  Rather than being genetic or a personal trait, being resilient is a set of skills that anyone can learn. You can acquire a group of coping strategies which will help you life your life, despite your migraine pain. Once you have learned to bounce back better than you are doing now, more possibilities will open up for you. Here are three of the most important resilience strategies: 1. Developing a greater sense of control
The nature of migraine is that it strikes at unpredictable times and almost every episode has a different pattern. Migraines are one part of your life which are largely out of your hands. They can crowd out your perception of everything else you are and do, but only if you allow them to do so. When you begin to emphasise the areas of your life where you do exercise control – and there are many techniques to help you do that – this strategy will start to take root. 2. Practice controlling your negative emotions Negative emotions compound the challenges that migraine sufferers face. There are ways to manage them and eventually reduce them – for example, learning relaxation techniques can limit their effect before they contribute to the next headache. Negative emotions originate with negative thoughts, and so it is possible to challenge what is behind those thoughts in order to rein in the emotions they create. 3. Increasing positive emotions When you don’t have pain or other migraine symptoms, you see the world through a wholly different lens. (Even when you are in the throes of an attack, I submit that you can find small compensations within your suffering.) Being aware of and attuned to the sources of joy in your life, no matter how small they seem to be at first, is a major resource in migraine management. Understanding what gives you real satisfaction and what gives your life its meaning will help you ride out the bad times. No one’s life goes smoothly. Resilience is a learned skill. Is it time for you to take your resilience to a higher level and open up a bigger world for yourself? ` Be well, Gerry [email protected] http://migraineindependence.weebly.com/ You are invited to subscribe to this website, find out more about Resilience, and get a Special Report -- see the right hand side of this page! There are layers of your personality that migraine can never change.
Our condition, our affliction - migraine - overwhelms us at times. Other people suffer from diseases which are similar, in that
I recently discovered an article by a young woman named Karin who has had lupus since she was 23: http://blogs.webmd.com/chronic-conditions/2012/05/10-things-lupus-will-never-take-from-me-part-i.html Karin reminds us that lupus - or migraine - is an unwelcome johnny-come-lately in each of our worlds. We can take a stand by remembering who we really are:
What's your personal list of "migraine untouchables"? Be well, Gerry [email protected] http://migraineindependence.weebly.com/ You are invited to subscribe to this website and get a Special Report on the right side of this page! Today's challenge is to choose a movie monster that reminds you of your migraines and to explain why. (The folks who drew up this challenge were quite creative.)
Do you have a migraine movie monster? My own creature is the giant squid, the sea-monster with eight arms, two tentacles and three hearts. I first became acquainted with him (her?), at an impressionable age, in the great film of the Jules Verne novel "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". Here is a short clip: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xfpqpt_20-000-leagues-under-the-sea-clip-giant-squid_shortfilms Now why are my migraines like a giant squid? Because just when I think I have them figured out, they turn up in another form, like another tentacle. If they always start out behind my left eye and can be aborted if caught early enough, one day the pain will begin instead at the top of the skull and I'm helpless. If sudden weather changes always bring on a migraine, one day the migraine squid will trick me and leave me alone. If you're happy and you know it...watch out for that eighth arm that's just out out of sight! Be well anyway, Gerry [email protected] National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by the National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com.  This month is National Migraine Awareness Month in the United States, as initiated by the National Headache Foundation. There is a "Daily Headache Blogging Challenge" for the month. Today's challenge is to create a theme song for your personal headache disorder! I'm taking up this gauntlet for my episodic migraines in this post. I'd love to hear what your headache or migraine theme song might be. I have been averaging about 10 migraine days a month recently. The sympathetic non-migraineur will ask; "How can you stand it?", while those of you who are chronic sufferers might respond with: "You're quite fortunate." As a subscriber to chronic migraine chat rooms, I realize how lucky I am to have 20 pain-free days out of 30. Regardless, those migraine days are very difficult. My preventative regime and then the abortive drugs cannot stop the pain that gathers over the day, the growing woolly-headedness, and whatever other bodily symptoms the monster seeks to administer in this attack. The only recourse are ice-packs and withdrawal from the scene. And yet, as an episodic migraineur, I can now genuinely say this to my loved ones: "Tomorrow is another day!" I can assure you that this degree of conviction did not come all at once. Over time, I learned to focus on the good days to come, rather than what I had just been through. As I learned from little orphan Annie: | AuthorGerry Fryer, MA, ACC, is the Migraine Independence Coach. ArchivesFebruary 2013 CategoriesAll |
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