Always Alert for the Unpredictable: Experiencing and Treating Migraine

Abstract

Migraine is a disease with serious impacts on quality of life. We conducted a phenomenological qualitative inquiry in order to understand how 10 female patients with migraine dealt with their disease and its treatment, at a headache unit of a reference hospital. Through a phenomenological analysis, we highlighted seven themes that connected participants’ experiences to those reported in the previous literature. We noticed that participants recurrently described their migraine experiences through metaphors. The communicative metaphors indicated an overarching theme of constant vigilance for the unpredictable. Participants felt lack of empathy from others during headache episodes, and showed ambivalence about several aspects of treatment. Our interpretation is that addressing to how patients communicate about their illness might help health professionals to establish stronger therapeutic alliances based on empathy and respect. Professionals’ communication skills are the primordial resource to facilitate adherence to treatment and its success.