It feels like only yesterday I learnt the term "quiet quitting", which refers to employees all but giving up on their job. They turn up to the office each day, but they put in the bare minimum of effort, without enthusiasm, and without anything close to an "above and beyond" attitude. The reasons for quiet quitting can include: disengagement (when people don't feel recognized for their efforts they lose their sense of commitment); …

I've been experimenting with ways to help people understand what it's like to live with chronic migraine. This blog is part of my endeavors, as are the short stories I write under the genre-name I refer to as "Migraine Gothic". After I'd written a few posts (here), I put several of them into a free e-book (over here…

A short time ago I reviewed a piece of writing about migraines, plants and pain, written by Tan Tuck Ming. There was a phrase that he used that stood out to me at the time of reading, and has stayed with me since - he mentioned his pursuit of a "frictionless life". I totally get it - especially when you're not feeling well, you just want life to be as simple as possible, you want everything to run smoothly, with no snags, no glitches, no trips or traps...

In 2018, there was a massive uproar in the Australian news about an image that was placed on the hoarding of a construction site, on the campus of Adelaid University. Can you see why? I'll let the newspaper author explain it: "The ad on hoardings [...] features an image of five young women surrounding a young man who, with arms raised, is apparently in the act of uttering an idea of great importance."

Some time ago, I wrote a post titled "The narrow road of healing" which referenced the seventeenth century writer Matsuo Basho (1644-94) and his book of poems written on pilgrimage. The collection of poems included one that is considered 'the most famous' haiku ever written - "The Old Pond": An old pond; A frog leaps in – The sound of water.

I am not fit. I don't like exercise. I tell myself it's because I don't have enough energy to exercise. Or time. Or that I'm worried the bouncing around will make my head pain worse. And besides, I already do mindful movement in the form of Tai Chi. Oh! And I walk the dogs most mornings. Surely that's enough? It's not.

Today's post outlines what the 4 phases of a migraine are, including the fourth stage - 'postdrome' - and it explains why chronic migraine can feel like you're permanently stuck in a state of postdrome. But it's not all bad news; it also provides some ideas about how to change your predicament. According to Migraine.com, there are 4 phases to a migraine:

A little while ago, one of my blogging friends, Silver Apple Queen, left a comment on my post "Our Woven Selves" to say that when she thought about migraine metaphors, she imagined her migraines as Pablo Picasso paintings. And if you know anything about his abstract art, it's not hard to see why. "The Weeping Woman" (1937) is an iconic image that jumped into my mind, with its abstract features and pointy, paper-plane shaped tissue (or newspaper with bad news) folded before her face.

I recently watched the fictional murder mystery "The Residence" which is set in the White House during a visit from the Australian prime minister (played by Julian McMahon (whose father was the actual Prime Minister of Australia in the year I was born, oh, and he was once married to Danni Minogue for a little extra meta-narrative given Kylie Minogue also makes an appearance!))

Many, many months ago I wrote about how living with chronic migraine was akin to a horror story filled with darkness and jump scares (here). Elsewhere, I suggested that one way to reduce your suffering was to imagine your migraine-mess as part of a silly sitcom rather than a horrible horror story, so that your flailing and stumbling was comic rather than tragic (

Recently, I have been practicing a breathing exercise that I invented (or if not that - because it's rare to truly invent anything these days - then, I can promise I genuinely have never heard anyone else talk of it). When I'm lying in bed and trying to calm myself down, completely, utterly, so that my mind and body are both blissfully still, I breathe my way through the alphabet.

When you have chronic migraine, your brain doesn't always brain the way it's supposed to. Brain-fog is real. For me there are some days I feel as if I have lost several IQ points. Other days, the effect of migraine-overwhelm is more subtle... I don't have complete confusion, I just... lose words. I might be in a conversation with a friend and say, "I like your...

On this blog, I tend to write the way I think. Sometimes straightforward, sometimes in a slightly jumbled way that zigzags cross-country as it were, traipsing into the occasional dead-end or cul-de-sac... ending abruptly or circling back on myself. I try to tidy it up as best I can before I hit "publish", but I don't overwork it too much. I kind of like that it sounds as if we were chatting...

Funny story. My teenage daughter decided to make a cake-in-a-mug. We don't own the ready-to-go mixes, she just decided that she would start from scratch, presumably with a recipe she found online. The first I knew of her culinary adventures was when she stuck her head around the corner of my office door and said, "ummmmm." As a parent, you probably know that when your children say "um" it can go any number of ways: …

When discussing your migraines with the doctor, it is fairly standard to refer to your triggers at some point in the consultation. "Flashing lights definitely cause migraines," you might say, and "I'm pretty certain fatigue, stress and dehydration are not good for me either". And as you think back over the last few migraine attacks (or check your Trigger Tracker…

What a cliche! And yet... where there's smoke there's fire... or is there? Today's post is a little bit long (it went places I wasn't expecting) and it is also potentially a little bit tricky as it initially treads into an area many people might consider taboo for public conversation. When I was growing up the list of no-no subjects included sex, money, politics and religion...

I'm feeling a little grumpy today. The story starts with me going onto the computer to look at flowers. It's springtime here in Australia, and in preparation, I recently planted a gazillion seeds only for the vast majority of them to wash away and drown after we received a months' worth of rain in three days - and - since I refuse to be defeated, I went online to consider what other flowers I might try for round two.

There's a phrase in Australia (and presumably everywhere that English is spoken) which is a play on words; hungry + angry = hangry. It defines the feeling of being grumpy and irritable because it has been a long time since you've eaten. I for one, am guilty of experiencing mood swings when my blood-sugar drops (although I generally tend towards being sad and lethargic more often than sparky).

As someone who has had a lot of migraines, I can tell you that there is a sliding scale of functionality that is attached to a life lived with pain. On some days, the pain is manageable or nearly missing, so you can do most things, even perform something as risky as driving a car... just not too far, or too fast.

The other day I watched the movie "Three Thousand Years of Longing" (2022) because the title caught my attention. Without giving too much away, it spins around the ancient story of a djinn (or genie) who offers up three wishes. Visually impressive, filled with wonder and weirdness, there was something deeply gratifying about the premise that the lady who releases the magic (a character named Alithea (which means 'truth')) is an introvert researcher, someone who writes about writing, a self-proclaimed "narratologist".