Angela’s Story: the power of personalized Migraine Management

0:02 I’m very passionate about film
0:05 I’ve worked in the film and television
0:07 industry in Toronto for 22 years now and
0:09 I’ve been going to films since the 80s
0:11 since I moved to Toronto
0:13 but I have these things called migraines
0:17 and that got in the way migraine got in
0:21 the way of a lot of life
0:23 [Music]
0:28 my whole family suffered from migraine
0:31 my older sister does my younger brother
0:33 does it was in our family my first
0:36 recollection of having a migraine attack
0:39 I was 14 years old
0:41 and I was in high school I don’t even
0:43 know if I would have called it a
0:45 migraine I probably called it a very bad
0:47 headache
0:48 did I talk to anyone about it never did
0:51 I go to my doctor about it no I learned
0:54 to live with it
0:55 but never ever did I consider to ask for
0:58 help
1:00 migraine is probably the most common
1:03 brain disorder that exists amongst
1:06 people so about 1 billion people in the
1:08 world are affected and there’s a lot of
1:10 stigma from having migraine that people
1:12 often don’t want to disclose to friends
1:13 to family to employers that they have
1:15 migraine because it’s often being seen
1:17 as just a headache but the truth is is
1:19 that migraine is the second most
1:21 disabling condition that exists in terms
1:23 of what we call years lived with
1:25 disability
1:27 sometimes I felt like a bit of a freak
1:29 why am I the only one who spends three
1:32 days straight in a row in bed
1:35 try to do things to stop it but I could
1:39 never ever control when I got migraine
1:43 there have been family summer picnics
1:46 I’ve missed there have been concerts
1:49 I’ve missed I mean you name it
1:51 and I probably had to cancel on it no
1:54 matter what it was I had to be the one
1:57 that bailed that happened all the time
1:59 week after week
2:01 month after month
2:03 year after year
2:07 what I commonly see is it can take years
2:10 sometimes to actually have someone be
2:12 told you have migraine there’s tons of
2:14 barriers when it comes to a diagnostic
2:17 delay for example living in a rural
2:20 community where they may just not have
2:21 access or knowledge so people it may not
2:23 understand what migraine is
2:27 my nephew got married in July of 2017
2:30 and I missed his wedding
2:33 so the following week I went back to my
2:35 doctor and I said I have had enough
2:39 cannot do this anymore
2:43 eight weeks I had an appointment at the
2:46 headache Clinic
2:48 with a nurse practitioner the first day
2:50 I saw her I was given this chart with
2:54 these detailed categories like it it was
2:57 intense I took it very seriously it was
3:01 a job for me
3:03 and it it changed my life
3:12 the truth is is that many people not all
3:14 but many will improve with treatment and
3:17 the more types of treatments we have
3:19 available the more chance we have to
3:21 help and improve the lives of more and
3:23 more patients there’s actually some
3:25 newer treatments coming out that act on
3:28 a chemical called cgrp or calcitonin
3:30 Gene related peptide which we know is an
3:33 important driver of migraine
3:35 I found the right treatment when I was
3:37 under the care of a nurse practitioner I
3:40 had been tracking my migraine
3:42 with her for a year so we had
3:45 quantifiable proof that I was a
3:48 candidate for this cgrp medication and
3:51 for me that changed everything
3:54 I’m someone who almost lives without
3:57 migraine I still get it but I’m able to
4:01 manage it much much better my sick days
4:03 at work are no longer up here I’m not
4:06 the person that cancels anymore
4:08 [Music]
4:09 it’s important to have open and honest
4:12 communication with your Healthcare team
4:14 because they can only help you as much
4:17 as you help them when you’re managing
4:19 any kind of chronic illness we have to
4:21 make sure that we are communicating with
4:23 one another Physicians and providers
4:24 need to be honest with patients about
4:26 what we can do and what we can’t do and
4:29 patients need to make sure they’re
4:30 forthcoming about you know what they’re
4:32 taking how often they’re taking it are
4:34 they tracking their headaches and you
4:36 know the truth is having a good
4:37 relationship with your Healthcare team
4:39 can really help improve outcomes
4:42 so from that kid at 14 in that high
4:44 school hallway
4:46 who had a searing migraine to today I’m
4:49 in a much better place
4:53 and there’s a few reasons for that
4:54 number one is I’m a patient in a
4:57 headache Clinic
4:58 I’m on a treatment plan that’s
5:00 customized for me and I think in 2022 I
5:05 am finding a community of other people
5:08 who experience migraine
5:11 it can get better I am proof of that
5:15 [Music]