Further to the BRIT insult post

They have apologised.

http://www.migrainetrust.org/C2B/document_tree/ViewADocument.asp?ID=259&CatID=93

Possibly done us a favour. This could raise more awareness than if they had never issued the original.
It's an ill wind....

P

Well Good... The jerks... They should have researched properly in the first place!

'Minor ailment' might have an historic meaning and be shorthand in the British medical community. But to the general public, the term is taken at is face value and is terribly insulting in this case. I think that any time a term is used in a way other than what meaning is generally understood, then the writer should define the term.

Chris

You are so right Chris. Totally minimising and belittling.
Just hope if the apology gets posted enough we make an example of their crassness.
And they have acknowledge our plight..................................

Get over it. Minor implicitly means "in the usual case", except to people trying to apply autistic-grade logic to the English language. And most cases of migraine are minor. Just like most cases of acne are minor. There are people who can never have children again because of acne treatments, or even die, but it is still a minor disorder.

So just stop it. These reactionary pressure group tactics make migraineurs look bad, like how those PETA retards make animal compassion look bad by trying to rename fish "kittens of the sea" and expecting to be taken seriously.

Sorry, but here in England where this report came from, it has caused a lot of trouble.
No one is just going to "get over it". I guess you don't live here....
This has been in all our newspapers and GPs are being advised to get people to treat themselves so as not to waste their time.

I dont fully follow your post, probably because of some of the examples you give, but no one is going to get over it in the UK, I can assure you.

I have to say I agree with Pen.

Cheers Lizzie, having a 3 day migraine and this report has made me so angry, but also isn't it just so indicative of why we struggle so much....No one takes us seriously. Apology fine, but their opinion hasnt changed and probably their brief.

Get over it? GET OVER IT?

Con Edison YOU have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about. You sound just like some of my idiot relatives. To compare real migraines to acne is absurd! Migraines and chronic daily headaches are a major problem. Here, this might enlighten you…

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/chronic-daily-headaches/DS00646

Your attempt to dismiss migraines as a minor aliment is ludicrous! I just lost my 3rd good paying job because of this “minor disorder”. I’ve never heard of anyone loosing a job because of a zit.

The reaction from pressure groups (as you put it) in this case is with good cause. The report being written about was full of factual errors and just plain wrong. What makes migrainers look bad is when ridiculous reports and comments are made that conclude migraines are no worse than a minor ache or pain.

Or zits!

The "Pressure Groups" in this case, in this country are two huge Migraine support charities, and a very lauded London Clinic.
Without them am not sure would still be here, they have been so supportive.
Thank God for the pressure groups.

I too had to stop work. I haven't been able to work since 1990, due to my minor disorder.
Thank goodness these groups offer support and most of it free.

P'

Get over it??? I've heard that so many times during a 35 year battle with these things. It's insulting, beyond insulting. I've watched my daughter suffer through her entire childhood, starting at 8, and loose out on her whole high school experience because of these attacks.

I've been told I bring them on myself to avoid life, that I'm just looking for attention, just take a freakin aspirin and quite bitching.

I had dreams of being a geo-physicist which fell by the wayside as I had to quite college for the fourth time because I couldn't keep up due to continuous migraine attacks.

To compare a neurological disease that MUST be properly treated and awareness brought up to the correct medical standard to a PETA protest is so beyond words. I really hope that you are one of the very few people who get only the occasional and mild migraine so that you have the excuse of just not knowing what you are talking about.

I'm using this comment as an example of hundreds like it that I have seen on migraine forums. I am not picking on any particular commenter here.

02R96 wrote:Con Edison YOU have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.

Look, let's review the medical definition of a migraine:

• Not caused by an identifiable disease.
  
• At least one moderate (or worse) headache of this type in the person's entire life.
  
• Aura or head pain, accompanied by a few of the following:
  
• One-sided.
  
• Throbbing.
  
• Sensation of pressure, or bending over causes pressure.
  
• Worsened by exercise.
  
• Sensitive to light, sound, or odor.
  

You'll note that severity is only considered once in the person's lifetime. Basically, if you have one strong headache in your entire life that is a migraine, then all your throbby headaches are migraines.

You sound just like some of my idiot relatives.

You mean the ones who inherited many of the same genes as you? The genes that biologically cause them to experience the same symptoms as you? Only they won the genetic lottery and missed out on the genes that give severe and frequent symptoms?

Well, that's a shocker.

The simple fact is that a person with severe migraine will usually have many relatives who get mild or infrequent symptoms. (Congrats to them!) It's basic genetics. So the person with severe migraines will have a sister (or brother, or cousin, etc.) who says "Oh, I get a bit of a migraine if I skip lunch, but some Tylenol sets me right. Have you tried Tylenol?"

This relative is being empathetic and genuinely trying to help, based on their personal experiences. Their diagnosis of migraine is most likely accurate. The decent response is to educate them on why your special circumstances make you different. Biting their head off because their pain is not "real" is just plain rude. And as we see so often on migraine forums, it is counterproductive.

Of course, many relatives are idiots. ;-) Adjust advice according to relatives.

To compare real migraines to acne is absurd!

Look, every disease comes on a spectrum. Some people get it a little, some people are destroyed by the symptoms.

Take pancreatic cancer. People recover from it all the time. Some even recover with a trivial surgery and are back at work later that week. But it's a severe disease because it kills most people who get it.

What about migraine? A minor disease. Why? Most people with it get the occasional annoying headache, and medicine from the corner store makes it go away.

But you get severe migraines? The disease category itself is still mild. The fact that one victim in a thousand has major trouble does not make the disease category severe.

I’ve never heard of anyone loosing a job because of a zit.

"A zit". Which is apparently nothing compared to "real migraines".

This is the lack of empathy I'm talking about.

What about the proverbial pepperoni pizza acne? The acne that turns the victim into a walking freakshow who has to stay away from other people to avoid dripping pus on them? The acne that needs surgery to remove the rotting flesh inside the victim's face? The women whose babies had horrific birth defects because they took the acne drug etretinate years before? The acne that starts and infection that progresses to the brain and kills the victim?

Oh, no, that just a zit, nothing compared to a "real migraine".

alli wrote:Get over it??? I've heard that so many times during a 35 year battle with these things.

My comments was not "get over your migraines which must be mild", it was "get over the fact that most people only get mild migraines and are best served by simple and cautious treatment."

To compare a neurological disease that MUST be properly treated ...

No, most migraine attacks are either ignored or treated with simple measures.

I really hope that you are one of the very few people who get only the occasional and mild migraine so that you have the excuse of just not knowing what you are talking about.

I have constant refractory chronic migraine. I also know that this makes me an rare aberration, probably due to personal genetic flaws, and I let the 98% of people with mild symptoms get on with appropriate treatment. I do not hijack their treatment to draw attention to myself.

In any event, this was treatment advice from the British NHS, who writes advice to look good in opinion polls, so that Parliament can give money to something that polls well. I'm surprised they didn't list what color of lipstick goes best with migraine.

Con Edison, after reading you last post (which reminded me of Magellan trying to circumnavigate the globe), I don't even know where to begin...

You win.

Look, let's review the medical definition of a migraine:

* Not caused by an identifiable disease.

And just this beginning shows what clueless idiot you are.

Migraine is by and of itself PRIMARY neurological disease with the rare exceptions when it is secondary
caused by other conditions such a brain tumor for example.

Of course it is not caused by an "identifiable disease", just as about any other disease is not caused by any other "identifiable disease".

The rest of your scribbling is so pathetic - "most of migraines = take a Tylenol and you'll going to be fine" - rotflmao - I am not even going to waste my time on you.

Risa

Con, I have to say I see where you are coming from (maybe I wouldn't have used the words "get over it" though )

To save me repeating my view on it all I'll just cut and paste my post from the original thread

moominamy wrote:I'm not just annoyed as a migraine sufferer. Look at all the 'minor illnesses' they list. Constipation, yes, could just be minor, could be a serious tumour. Acne, could just be a few barely noticeable spots, could be major scarring etc and leave someone feeling suicidal. Same with dermatitis.

What the authors have failed to notice is that all of their 'minor illnesses' have a range of impacts and severities. We've all met migraineurs that "just have an aspirin and it goes away". For them self help and OTC meds are a great option and I agree that it will help the NHS if people with that type of symptom do that. But I would class their problem as a MINOR SEVERITY or MINOR IMPACT one, not a minor ILLNESS that negates all the suffering of those with that illness who have severe suffering. It's incredibly short sighted of the authors not to recognise this and does those who suffer greatly a great disservice.

I do agree with the principle of getting those with minor severity of symptoms to self care and see a pharmacist rather than a GP, but this is a ridiculous document. It also doesn't seem to acknowledge the main reason many people see their GP rather than a pharmacist, which is financial - if someone gets free prescriptions what is the incentive to go to a pharmacy and pay for your meds? Little will change without a change in prescriptions charges and how OTC meds are financed.

What a missed opportunity by the authors to actually put forward a meaningful point.

Amy

Whilst the 'accepted medical usage' of the term minor may imply "in most cases" I don't think this is perceived as the case for all those in the medical world and so it would have made all the difference if the authors had acknowledged this. Because as you rightly point out Con, most people with migraine disease have relatively simple/mild cases. We are the exceptions.

Amy

Con Edison, your reply is a bit naive. I don't feel like going point by point down a list with you, but would like to point out that just because migraine is "not caused by an identifiable disease" does not mean that it isn't caused by a disease. Science just hasn't identified it yet. So making such a statement is kind of pointless.

By virtue of the fact that migraine disease is responsible for literally billions of dollars in lost productivity each year makes it hard to classify it as a "minor" ailment, even though it is not directly life-threatening. Furthermore, though in most cases it isn't directly life-threatening, there are plenty of cases of people dying from migrainous stroke each year. Not to mention that having migraine disease statistically increases one's chances of having a heart attack or stroke in their lifetime.

Comparing a migraine awareness group's web-published response to the NHS self-care document to a group of PETA protestors is ludicrous. Regardless of where your feelings lay on the spectrum of awareness, it is simply a fact that for many years this has remained a poorly understood disease and because of this both the public and very often the medical community have drawn false conclusions. Until a mechanism of action is finally clarified it will remain that way. Suggesting that people campaigning for awareness that we need to increase resources to discover this mechanism of action is somehow like PETA's defense of marine creatures is convoluted to the point of being amusing.

Finally, it's odd and confusing to me that you'd even waste your time by making a post such as you did to a community like this one. You imply in your responses that people should just "get over it" and also that you deal with your own situation without drawing attention to yourself, yet that is precisely what you are doing here, in a community designed for support. I'm sorry, but you sound pretty damn bitter to me. Maybe you should get over it.

jwar wrote:
By virtue of the fact that migraine disease is responsible for literally billions of dollars in lost productivity each year makes it hard to classify it as a "minor" ailment, even though it is not directly life-threatening. Furthermore, though in most cases it isn't directly life-threatening, there are plenty of cases of people dying from migrainous stroke each year. Not to mention that having migraine disease statistically increases one's chances of having a heart attack or stroke in their lifetime.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't a heart related disease one of the biggest killers in the US? If this is perhaps an early warning sign that people should be more aware of. I'm 29 years old, and had to make some major changes to my life (including watching my weight and cholesterol levels) as heart disease is rampant in my family (one of my uncles died at 36 from a massive heart attack that no one saw coming). Perhaps women should be made more aware of the links between heart disease and migraine as I believe this is one of the top killers of women and women seem to be more affected by migraine than men.

Sorry, took this a bit adrift, but jwar's information had a light turn on in my head.

Con Edison, why are you even on this sight? This is for people with serious migraine problems. seems to me that you`re just trying to stir up something. That`s sicker than a migraine.

As far as the Drs apologizing, I feel like they are doing this just to deal with the backlash they got. I don`t think that they are really sorry. It`s like someone in the political world apologizing only because they got caught. Not because they are truly sorry.

Kate,
They only apologised because of the backlash over here. 2 large organisations and a very revered cllinic.
Not to mention a lot of miggies.

I doubt they are in the slightest repentant, they just bowed to pressure.

We know where we stand, we always have. No one takes us seriously and even less care (with exceptions of course...I am generalising)

ConEdison, kindly refrain from making disparaging remarks about autism and "retards." Some of us find that offensive, and don't want to see that kind of insensitive, classless and tasteless kind of commentary, on our respectful forum.
If you can't be respectful of everyone, go somewhere else.

Why do we seem to attract these creatons? (A person who is a TOTAL idiot and a pain in the ASS).

First we had the vein stripping guy who's work was "stolen", now this guy. I'm mean, he turned a zit into a brain infection and compared it to migraines (which are minor aliments remember).

GO AWAY!

Wow, we have found the jerk of the month

Probably it's always the same frustrated person who needs to offend others to feel someone in this world....Just a new nickname, but always the same poor idiot....

I don't care about his/her statements - Serious doctors and scientists know what we are talking about and this is what counts.

P.S.: in French, CON means a**hole

[quote]"ConEdison, kindly refrain from making disparaging remarks about autism and "retards." Some of us find that offensive, and don't want to see that kind of insensitive, classless and tasteless kind of commentary, on our respectful forum.
If you can't be respectful of everyone, go somewhere else."

Thank you, Bubbs. My son is both mentally handicapped and autistic, and it brought tears to my eyes to see him belittled on a site where I come for support.

I think Con Edison has a brother over on one of the Face book migraine forums. He's the one that practically turns himself inside out at the association of barometric pressure fluctuations and migs. Just your basic antagonistic troll. All diseases and conditions have a relative danger and severity problem. Heart disease is the number one killer of men in the US. But any pathologist that performs autopsies quite often find small dead areas in the heart form an unnoticed heart attack. The patient never had chest pain or any symptoms.

So by Con Edison's logic we then must classify heart attacks as a minor condition. Even if it kills people quite often.

When I was puking my brains out during a migraine on my second day of lost work (self employed) I should have just told myself this is a minor thing. Here I thought that excruciating pain was real and very intense, little did I know it was just minor.

Thanks for clearing that up for us.

Brent wrote:I think Con Edison has a brother over on one of the Face book migraine forums. He's the one that practically turns himself inside out at the association of barometric pressure fluctuations and migs. Just your basic antagonistic troll. All diseases and conditions have a relative danger and severity problem. Heart disease is the number one killer of men in the US. But any pathologist that performs autopsies quite often find small dead areas in the heart form an unnoticed heart attack. The patient never had chest pain or any symptoms.

So by Con Edison's logic we then must classify heart attacks as a minor condition. Even if it kills people quite often.

When I was puking my brains out during a migraine on my second day of lost work (self employed) I should have just told myself this is a minor thing. Here I thought that excruciating pain was real and very intense, little did I know it was just minor.

Thanks for clearing that up for us.