Why are migraines still not taken seriously?
If a condition that disables one in seven adults were perceived as a ‘men’s disease,’ it would almost certainly receive more attention.
If a condition that disables one in seven adults were perceived as a ‘men’s disease,’ it would almost certainly receive more attention.
Migraine Is Not a Headache. It Is a Neurological Disability.
Some words are far too mild for the violence of what they describe. Migraine is one of them.
To most people, it suggests a bad headache—an inconvenience solved by aspirin and a glass of water. It is often treated as a cliché: a flimsy excuse to stay home, avoid a meeting, or lie in a dark room.
But for more than a billion people worldwide—including me—migraine is not a headache. It is a debilitating neurological disease that can shut down a person’s ability to function for days at a time. It is an invisible disability that millions are still expected to “push through.”
The Two Faces of Migraine
I often compare migraine to carrying a 60-pound weight everywhere you go.
On “mild” days, you can still walk, work, and answer emails. But you do it through fog, pain, and exhaustion that absorb enormous mental and physical energy. Many migraine sufferers lead normal lives while their brain fights a private war.
Ironically, this functional version fuels the disbelief faced by people who are incapacitated by severe attacks.
“But I know someone with migraines,s and she still works,” they are told. “Why can’t you?”
Because migraines are not all the same. Some are irritating. Some are devastating.
What a Severe Migraine Really Is
When a severe migraine hits, everything stops.
I lie in bed, motionless, in the dark. I vomit. I cannot read. I cannot watch a show. I cannot think. My brain is overwhelmed by pain and sensory overload. Light burns. Sound wounds. Words disappear. The outside world vanishes.
This is not psychological. It is neurological.
Migraine is driven by abnormal excitability in the brainstem. This triggers a biochemical cascade: CGRP molecules flood the system, blood vessels dilate, nerves ignite with pain signals, and the entire body is hijacked. The result is not just head pain but nausea, vomiting, hypersensitivity to light and sound, visual disturbances, cognitive impairment, and crushing exhaustion.
Roughly one in seven adults lives with migraine. About 80% are women, largely because hormonal fluctuations affect nervous system sensitivity.
Yet despite how common and severe it is, migraine remains astonishingly misunderstood.
The Discipline Migraine Demands
Living with migraine requires a kind of monastic discipline.
No alcohol.
No lactose.
Strict sleep schedules.
Careful diet.
Limited screen time.
Constant stress management.
Avoidance of harsh light, noise, and sensory overload.
Even with all of this, attacks still come.
For some people, migraine becomes chronic—pain that never fully leaves, a constant neurological storm in the background of life. Their resilience is extraordinary.
A Massive Workplace Blind Spot
The gap between lived reality and workplace perception is enormous.
Migraine is still rarely treated as a legitimate disabling condition. Many employees hide it for fear of being seen as unreliable or weak. Many managers still respond with skepticism or irritation.
Yet migraine is one of the leading causes of productivity loss worldwide. Between absenteeism, presenteeism, and cognitive impairment, the economic cost runs into the hundreds of billions every year. Behind those numbers are people losing days, weeks, and sometimes careers.
Treatment Exists—But Too Many Never Get It
Some preventive drugs help some patients. Triptans can stop attacks until they trigger rebound headaches. Many people know that cycle all too well.
Newer therapies—especially CGRP-targeting drugs—are genuinely transformative for many patients. But they are expensive, inaccessible for many, and often unknown.
Because migraine is not taken seriously, countless people never even seek care. They simply live with it. A condition that can destroy lives remains widely untreated.
The Gender Bias We Pretend Not to See
Migraine sits in a long history of medical dismissal of women’s pain.
For decades, it was labeled emotional, neurotic, or hysterical. That stereotype still lingers. Women are told to manage stress, toughen up, or “push through” a neurological disease.
If a condition disabling one in seven adults were seen as a “men’s disease,” it would almost certainly have more funding, more research, more workplace protections, and more respect.
What Employers Can Actually Do
Workplaces can make an enormous difference.
Give flexibility.
Schedule and location autonomy allow people to rest at the earliest warning signs—often preventing a full-blown attack.
Believe sick leave.
If someone says they cannot work due to migraine, trust them. Suspicion increases harm and stigma.
Reduce sensory triggers.
Harsh lighting, strong fragrances, and loud environments are common triggers. Quiet spaces and thoughtful design help everyone.
Train managers and HR.
Migraine education prevents years of misunderstanding and mismanagement.
Support access to treatment.
Modern migraine therapies are cost-effective compared to the productivity losses of unmanaged disease.
We Are Many—and We Deserve to Be Believed
Millions of people live with migraine in silence—carrying both the pain and the disbelief.
Migraine is not an excuse.
It is a neurological disease that steals days, damages careers, and reshapes lives.
We deserve flexibility.
We deserve access to treatment.
We deserve to be taken seriously.
Above all, we deserve to be believed.