Katy Munro - Managing Your Migraine

Dr Katy Munro worked as a GP in the NHS for over 30 years. During this time, she became a person with migraine, which made her passionate about helping others with this condition. She became a headache specialist GP at the National Migraine Centre, a charity providing people with migraine access to high-quality care. She is also a member of the Council of the British Association for the Study of Headaches.

Dr Munro was instrumental in starting the Heads Up podcast which she co-hosts to educate and give advice to anyone with, or caring for, a person with migraine. She is also a spokesperson on migraine, having been interviewed on the BBC, ITV and by numerous journalists. She has been a guest on podcasts including the Liz Earle Wellbeing Show and The Doctors Kitchen podcast.

The Penguin Life Experts series equips readers with simple but vital information on common health issues and empowers readers to get to know their own bodies to better improve their health. Books in the series include:

Managing Your Migraine
by Dr Katy Munro

* * * * *

Preparing for the Perimenopause and Menopause
by Dr Louise Newson

* * * * *

Keeping Your Heart Healthy
by Dr Boon Lim

* * * * *

Understanding Allergy
by Dr Sophie Farooque

* * * * *

Managing IBS
by Dr Lisa Das

* * * * *

Next in the series, publishing in 2022:

Living with Chronic Fatigue
by Dr Gerald Coakley and Beverly Knops

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First published by Penguin Life in 2021

Copyright Dr Katy Munro, 2021

The moral right of the author has been asserted

ISBN: 978-0-241-51429-0

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

To migraine warriors
and their support teams everywhere

Migraine is one of the most common, most prevalent and most debilitating conditions in the world, yet it is widely misunderstood, stigmatized and far too often dismissed as just a headache. Migraine is much more than a headache. It is a genetic, neurological brain disorder affecting people in a variety of ways.

One in seven people suffers from migraine. Three times as many women have migraine attacks as men, and 8 per cent of children have them too. Migraine accounts for 89 per cent of headaches experienced worldwide. Unfortunately, however, many adults and children never receive a formal diagnosis and, without this, miss out on treatment options for managing their symptoms. Many lose days every year, or every month, to this condition.

The World Health Organizations Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries and Risk Factors (GBD) study measures disease impact and helps governments and organizations identify and plan health-service priorities. The GBD ranks migraine as the second-highest cause of disability in the world, right after lower back pain. As recently as 2016, GBD researchers said that effective strategies to modify the course of headaches and alleviate pain exist, but many people affected by headache are not benefiting from this knowledge.

And migraine attacks do not just affect the individual. Their impact spreads out in ripples to family, friends and colleagues and has a huge economic impact on our society. A 2018 report by the Work Foundation revealed that 86 million workdays are lost every year in the UK due to migraine-related absenteeism (sick leave) and presenteeism (reduced effectiveness at work). Migraine costs the UK economy up to 9.7 billion a year.

Many doctors lack training in migraine diagnosis and treatment. Theres also a lack of research funding. To help people with migraine live their lives more fully it is crucial to improve the understanding of migraine and the strategies available to manage it.

With one in seven people suffering from migraine attacks, its likely that youre either a person with migraine or know one. You may have come to this book hoping to find explanations, solutions, maybe even a cure. Because migraine is a genetic, neurological brain disorder, a cure is not a realistic goal. But with the right information and support, the impact of migraine can be greatly relieved.

I first became passionate about spreading good-quality information about migraine and better ways to manage attacks about twenty years ago. I was working as a GP in a busy practice in London when I realized the headaches I was having every week were in fact migraine. I was in my early forties and had not previously had troublesome headaches. Having missed lunch after a packed morning surgery had spilled over into the afternoon, my head seemed to pound and throb as I walked slowly downstairs. I remember standing there, gazing at piles of letters to read, prescriptions to sign and home-visit lists to review and wondering how Id ever manage the rest of the day. The pain was blinding; it was hard work to think. Once I recognized that my diagnosis was migraine, I was able to take the first steps to finding an effective treatment plan.

As part of my search, I visited the National Migraine Centre, a charity offering appointments with headache-specialist doctors. Inspired by my experience of coming to understand and manage my own migraine, I later joined the team of doctors working at the centre. In addition to seeing patients, I also helped create and present our Heads Up podcast, with the goal of getting clear information to more people with migraine.

In this book Ill share the explanations, solutions and treatments we currently have for migraine. Ill explain what migraine is, what can trigger an attack and what can be done to help treat or prevent it. Ill look at some of the newer, safer and better-tolerated treatments that are now becoming available too. Some patients receiving these exciting new treatments describe them as life-changing.

First, lets understand some common terms.

Doctors classify headache conditions under two main headings: primary headaches and secondary headaches. Primary headaches are those that are a disorder in themselves. They are not caused by something else. Secondary headaches are those with an underlying cause: for example, an infection like meningitis, a tumour or bleeding in the brain. Migraine is classified as a primary headache disorder, even if you dont experience it as head pain.