// Day 7 - Sensationalize!//
Share a ludicrous headline or cure. Do a news search and choose a ridiculous headline or proposed cure about your condition and write what you think about it.
The top two for me are going to be these articles that I’ve written about in the past (or at least some incarnation of them):
1) Migraine Triggers May Not Be As Strong As You Think (the earlier post I wrote in reaction to this study can be found here)
2) Touting of sex as a “cure” to migraines that can be found here, here, or under the headline “BREAKING NEWS: Sex Cures Migraines!”
First of all, I have a fundamental issue with anything being called a “cure” when it comes to migraines. There is no curefor migraines. And claiming that you’ve found a cure is just despicable unless you have plenty of research and science to back it up.
A great reaction to the second can be found here, and addresses the idea that the idea of sex as a “cure” to migraines simply “perpetuates stereotypes” and points out that most of this kind of information is actually just “nothing more then [sic] ways for sufferers to cope”. I couldn’t agree with her more.
I mean, I can’t say anything when it comes to how sex impacts a migraine (I will totally fess to being a virgin. Ain’t nothing wrong with that. [Nor is there anything wrong with not being one. To each their own.]) but the idea that someone would make such a sweeping statement as to call it a cure is absolutely insane to me.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Migraines do NOT have a cure. There are only coping mechanisms. And even then, it differs from person to person. Although my mom and I both get relief from an ice pack, lots of water, and some caffeine, we’re both affected differently by chocolate - among other things.
There is no “one size fits all” treatment for migraines. The media needs to realize that and stop leading people to believe that there is a magic cure that can be pulled out of a hat and applied to every person who has chronic migraine.
I personally feel like anyone who comes out and makes a claim that they have a cure to migraines should be put through stringent testing. As far as I know (and hey, if I’m wrong, someone please correct me. I will not be offended) no one was like, “Hey, you know Autism? I know that we can’t figure out the base cause exactly, so treatment is hard, but I’m pretty sure that we should just give a bunch of Autistic kids a puppy and see if they improve. If 3/30 improve, then it can definitely be put down as a cure.”
(Okay, I realize that this is a totally outlandish comparison, but that’s how I feel when I hear someone say that the cure to a migraine is to use Head On.)
(I could also go on a rant about those people who said that they weren’t going to have their children vaccinated because their child might get Autism because of additives in the vaccines, but that’s a whole different rant that you probably don’t want me to get into. Some people drive me CRAZY.)
Anyway, basically anything that says that it can cure migraines makes me instantly suspicious and I automatically consider it sensationalized.
What kinds of migraine “cures” have you heard about?
