Awards and things.....

My friend MJ over at Rhymes with Migraine awarded me a Lemonade award! This is for "blogging with the attitude of gratitude".

I love that we have little awards to give to other bloggers!

Since I've been somewhat out of the blogging loop - I also received a Kreative Blogger Award from Megan Oltman at Free My Brain.

I thank you both for the awards.

With the Kreative Blogger Award - we are to list six things that make us happy.

1. My husband and his support

2. My family at My Migraine Connection

3. Doctors that LISTEN!!!!!

4. My furry babies (the 5 cats that rule my house)

5. Triptans! Yes, I know - that's an obvious one, but I know a lot of you who were diagnosed and suffering before they were available. I am happy that we have them and that we will never again be without them!

6. The great group of guys and gals that blog about Migraine disease and getting the truth out there! I love you all!!

Now, I am to give these awards to others in the blogging community:

1. Sue over at Inner Dorothy

2. Nancy Bonk for her great Share Posts

3. Arabella at Migraine Truth

4. Leeloo at Journey of a Migraineur

5. Abi at Abi's Migrainous Wanderings

6. MW over at Sparkling with Crystals

Thank you all!!!!

I've got a contract with HealthCentral!!

Hello my lovely readers! I have had quite an opportunity handed to me (not to say that I have not worked hard for it, I feel I have). The lovely Miss Teri Robert over at My Migraine Connection has been mentoring me now for about a year.

Well my work has paid off! The HealthCentral Network has offered me a contract to become an EXPERT on their migraine site!!

I could not be happier!! I have so enjoyed working with the lovely people over at MMC, and to now be an expert - WOW!!!! This on the heels of just coming back from an absolutely fabulous time in Boston at the American Headache Society 50th Annual Conference.

So I just thought I would share the news with all of you - My title over at My Migraine Connection is now "Community Moderator". I will be helping out Miss Teri and Miss Nancy, who is the Community Manager. So pretty much in the hierarchy - it goes:

Queen - Teri

Princess - Nancy

Princess in training - Me (sounds better then Duchess I think)

Hey I have to find a way to wear a tiara any way I can!!!

Off to Boston in the morning!!!

So Teri and I are off to Boston in the morning for the 50th annual American Headache Society conference. This is Teri's fifth year attending and my first. I am so excited, I cannot wait.

I am just finishing up the packing, the getting myself organized and all that stuff.

We will have a lot to report from Boston, so stay tuned!! I am not sure how much of it I will have time to report on here before I get back, but we will be Share Posting on My Migraine Connection during our trip.



So wish us luck and please check in here and on MMC for updates from the confrence!!!!!

And the winners are....

The winners of the 2008 My Migraine Connection Poetry contest were announced today. The winners were selected by MAGNUM. Please check it out!

Oh and big kudo's to my friend MJ who took third place Congrats MJ! (you can visit her blog at Rhymes with Migraine ) and you can read her poem and the rest of the winners by checking out My Migraine connection at this link right here!

Fighting the good fight.

The road to "recovery" or just I guess a better word would be "managing" migraines can be a very twisty, windy road, with lots of branches and speed bumps in your path.

I started on my journey to gain my life back from my head about 3 years ago now, when my migraines grew out of control. Back then, I didn't even know what a migraine really was, or even thought that I had them.

All I know is that I would be at my office every day with tears streaming down my face, not because I was crying (well, sometimes) but because the pain was so intense and the lights so bright, that my eyes would tear from the pain.

I thought this is something I just have to deal with, it's just a "bad headache". In a way I'm so glad I was wrong. At least now, I don't suffer alone.

I have found through education, which, sorry to say, really didn't start with my first doctor - all they did was throw some Zomig at me and say "try this when you feel your head start to hurt". Yeah, thanks for your time!!!!

Between doctor #1 and doctor #2 - I found the site and the woman that helped me change my life (holding back tears now). My Migraine Connection is the site, and the lovely Miss Teri Robert is the woman. This lead me to Teri's book, Living Well with Migraine Disease and Headaches. I think I read it in like 2 days! I couldn't put it down!!! It was everything I needed to know about migraines that my doctor didn't or wouldn't tell me (yeah, that's part of the title too! LOL)

So between the website, the book, and Teri - I knew that there had to be more out there for me. I saw another doctor and was scripted my first preventive.... Topamax.

Topamax became my life saver....but it didn't last long. I found myself on the MMC forum every day, asking questions, talking with people with migraine and going through the same things I was going through. I kept reading, learning and educating everyone I could on this disease, as fast as I could learn about it!

Now, I am trying to not only be my own advocate, but be one for others. I now host on MMC with Miss Teri who is the end all, be all of migraine knowledge, among other things she is one of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure of speaking with.

So you ask me how I cope with what I know know is a neurological disorder that effects over 36 MILLION Americans?

I learn. I teach. I fight. I educate.

I go to sites everyday to see what's what with the latest on migraine - blogs, MMC, email alerts anytime Migraine is mentioned ANYWHERE on the web!!! Yes, maybe it's become a little obsessive, but this is not like any other disease, at least not that I know of.

There are hundreds of different preventive medications currently being used for migraine treatment....it can take a very long time for a migraineur to find the one - the one that works. I try as hard as I can to be my own advocate. I learn about this disease, sometimes to the point where I know more then the doctors treating me (and that's when they get fired!).

I am out there, fighting not only for myself, but for all of us migraineurs - fighting to get us more funding, by sending out emails and posting about the AHDA. I'm leaving the flyer's in my office, giving them to friends, family, my doctor, pretty much anyone who will take one and give me two seconds to explain how important this really is.

This is how I cope. I cope by fighting the good fight. I cope by knowing, we can and we will make a difference.

We are one voice united, and if we all fight together, together will succeed.

Support for Migraineurs!!!

Since becoming a host on My Migraine Connection, I've become very involved in wanting to do SOMETHING, ANYTHING, to raise awareness and support for migraine sufferers. I don't care if it's handing out flyer's on the roadside, e-mails, what have you....I just know that I have to do it. Not only for myself, but for the family I've meet on the forum.

I admire Teri Robert so much for what she does every day for all of us. If I can do half of what she does, I would be happy.

Here are some statistics as to what lights my fire....aside from being the obvious sufferer.

*According to a study published in the April 1999 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, migraine costs American employers $13 billion per year due to missed work and reduced productivity.

*It is estimated that 157 million workdays are lost annually because of the pain and associated symptoms of migraine. (Source: National Headache Foundation)

*Most children who get migraines, have at least one close family member who suffers from migraines too. If a child has one parent who suffers from migraines, they have a 50% chance of getting them too, if both are sufferers, this rises to 75%.

*Migraine alone is the 12th most disabling disorder in the US.

With facts like that, we need more research! We need better treatment!

Now is the time to act!

Please visit Alliance for Headache Advocacy and sign up for emails. The site was put together by my friend, the lovely Miss Teri Robert , along with one of the top headache specialists, Dr. William B. Young, of the Jefferson Headache Center.

Also, see that little badge over there to your right? You'll find that on the Alliance for Headache Advocacy page too, I encourage you to click on it, it's your friend! Donate! Donations are as little as $10.00 and are tax deductible. The American Headache Society will even send you a nice letter thanking you for your donation! Please! Donate now and donate often! We are not even to the half way point to where we need to be.....$10, it's not a lot - you can do it!

Thank you all so much! Thank you for reading! Thank you for your support.