Migraine headaches stem from various reasons. They afflict millions of people all over the world. In the USA alone, there are more than 30 million people who take regular treatment for migraine.
Migraine headache is often described as a throbbing or pulsating one-sided (unilateral) pain that is intensified by routine physical activity, such as coughing, straining, or lowering of the head. The attack of migraine is often debilitating, and the sufferers are left feeling tired and weak once the
headache has passed.
Migraine is not confined to human beings of any particular age group. It can strike the young and the old alike. However, statistics prove that women
sufferers of migraine far outnumber men the world over.
Some women experience migraine headaches just prior to or during menstruation. These may be related to hormonal changes. Other women develop migraine during pregnancy or after menopause.
Interestingly, some great men and women of world-wide fame suffered from migraine for years and yet, undeterred by this affliction, they bravely
carried on in their respective professions. For instance, as many as three American Presidents – Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Woodrow
Wilson - were chronic patients of migraine.
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) : The 3rd President of America, used to have severe migraine attacks, which he said sometimes lasted for more than six
weeks. Jefferson described his attacks like, "They came on every day at sunrise and never left till sunset.” Jefferson’s migraine was diagnosed to
have resulted from his inner conflict and repressed anger.
These attacks occurred through most of his life. But these ceased after he left the presidency. Unlike most migraine victims, Jefferson forced
himself to work despite the pain.
Ulysses S. Grant(1822-1885) : America’s 18th President Ulysses S. Grant(1822-1885) got migraine every three or four weeks. His wife Julia wrote in her memoirs that when he
returned from office he would be suffering from a dreadful headache. She ministered to him as best as she could to alleviate his suffering. She would
arrange for him a mustard bath and also give him little pills to make him sleep.
Grant had a severe attack of migraine just two days before the climax of the American Civil War. But the instant he came to know that General Lee
had surrendered, his headache completely disappeared!
Alfred Nobel (1833-1896) : The renowned inventor and founder of the Nobel Prizes, suffered from acute pain in the head periodically. When an attack of
migraine had him down, he would still be carrying on his writing work with his head wrapped in a wet towel. Sometime when his migraine became unbearable, he would suspend his work and disappear for weeks on end. His worried friends and assistants would eventually find that he had returned
to his laboratory wearing dark glasses and a wet towel tied round his head.
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) : The celebrated inventor, suffered from headaches all his life. In childhood, he had attacks of what his mother described as ‘musical fever’. Listening to music affected Bell so deeply that he could not sleep, leaving him with a headache in the morning. In later life, Graham Bell suffered from insomnia because of overwork and stress. Acting on his mother’s advice, he kept off pickles and daily splashed cold water on his eyes. Even when Graham Bell slept soundly, he would have a severe headache if someone woke him up before nine in the morning.
Guy De Maupassant (1850-1893) : A French short story writer Guy De Maupassant (1850-1893) suffered from some agonizing symptoms caused by syphilis. Migraine was one of them. Maupassant sought relief in morphine, sunbathing, and endless other cures.
George Bernand Shaw(1856-1950) : Syphilis, so easily curable today, killed the great short writer when he only 43. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), great playwright and critic, became a vegetarian chiefly for two reasons. Firstly, he wanted to emulate the poet Shelley. Secondly, to cure himself of the monthly headaches that left him surprised to be alive after each bout. At the age of 70, he switched to a completely vegetarian diet – beans, lentils, macaroni, fresh fruits and vegetables. He was successful in making his last 24 years more
comfortable with this diet.
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) : The Austrian psychiatrist and pioneer of psychoanalysis, suffered from migraine attacks all through his life. His sinusitis further aggravated the agony brought by these attacks. He took mild painkillers, such as aspirin, for the headaches. For the nasal problems he often applied cocaine. One cause of Freud’s headaches was the Fohn - a warm, dry wind which blows down the slopes of the Alps and quickly changes the atmospheric pressure and temperature.
Freud also held that his migraines resulted from sexual deprivation. This was at a time when he and his wife were voluntarily exercising abstinence in order not to add to their already considerable brood of six children. Eventually, Freud’s headaches decreased in number as he freed himself of many of his neuroses through careful self-analysis.
Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) : Indigestion and migraine were the two main ailments that dogged America’s 28th President Woodrow Wilson (1856-1924) throughout his life. He started having his ‘ominous headaches’ as a child. So delicate was his health that his parents could not send him to school. So, he did not learn to read till the age of 11. Wilson never found a cure for his malady. However, he did not ever allow migraine to slow down the pace of his work. He tried to cure himself by dieting and fasting, but it proved of little avail. It was not until he was in his late 70s that he found a diet that worked. It consisted basically of brown bread, fresh fruit, and celery. He kept away from wheat and meat.
Princess Margaret (1930 - 2002) : suffered from migraine for most of her life. She was a patron of the British Migraine Trust. James Brough, who has written a book on Princess Margaret, says she was a victim of a hereditary porphyria which is an incurable illness with many painful symptoms, migraine being one of them.
Her doctors prescribed her, by way treatment, a special diet which combats low blood sugar. It mitigated her suffering to some extent, but failed to cure her completely. - PTI Feature
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