A Migraine Is Not Just a Bad Headache

When I say I have a migraine, people say: oh, I get bad headaches too.

And I understand why they say that.

But I want to explain what a migraine actually is.

It is not just pain in my head.

It is light that feels like a knife.

It is sound that feels like a physical blow.

It is nausea that does not stop.

It is my vision going strange at the edges.

It is my body becoming completely non-functional.

It is lying in a dark room with a pillow over my face, unable to speak, unable to move, waiting for it to pass.

And then when it passes, there is the postdrome.

The hangover that nobody talks about.

The day or two afterward where I feel hollowed out.

Where my brain is slow and my body is weak and I am just trying to recover from what happened.

A migraine is not a bad headache.

It is a neurological event.

It is my nervous system in full crisis.

And it can happen again tomorrow.

Migraines are deeply connected to nervous system dysregulation. When the nervous system is chronically overactivated — by stress, pain, or trauma — the threshold for a migraine event drops significantly.

BioBreathing was created to help the nervous system find a lower baseline of activation, which for many people reduces both the frequency and severity of migraines over time.

Begin your free 5-minute reset →

Related: How Breathing Can Help Interrupt a Migraine · 20 Things That Actually Reduce Migraine Frequency · Why Chronic Pain Keeps the Body on High Alert