An amazing amount of great information about Migraine and other headache disorders can be found on the Internet. Unfortunately, an amazing amoung of MISinformation can be found as well.
The information we find online can be bright, polished, and valuable — like a pearl — or it can be... well, rough and stinky — like an onion.
This feature of my blog, "Migraine Pearls or Onions?" highlights both the gleaming "Migraine Pearls" I come across and the malodorous "Migraine Onions."
Today's Pearl goes to The Migraine Project . Spearheaded by award-winning filmmakers Susanna Styron and Jacki Ochs, The Migraine Project is developing Out of My Head, a feature documentary film that takes a good, hard, real look at Migraine and living with it. Thsi important film is meant to inspire greater compassion for Migraineurs and increased support for research within the scientific community.
They also do some great Tweeing, and through Twitter, brought today's Onion to my attention!
Today's Onion goes to The Florida Agenda and Andy Kress for the article Migraine No More. At the end of the article, Kress's credentials are listed as certified fitness
trainer, yoga instructor, and nutritional counselor. He lists no sources for his
information, and I see nothing on the site that would indicate that the content
is physician reviewed.
This is undoubtedly one of the most ill-informed articles about Migraine that I have ever seen. It's just plain shameful that such blatant misinformation has been published.
Not only is there a great deal of misinformation in this article, much of it is of the "blame-the-patient" variety that not only adds to the miasma of bad information, but also adds to the stigma surrounding Migraine.
Allow me to quote and rebut some of the more egregious sections:
- "...being under the harsh grip of this painful tension headache..."
Make up your mind, already. Are you talking about Migraines or tension-type headaches? Migraines are most definitely not tension headaches. Tension-type headache is an entirely different headache disorder. - "... does not have to be so for intelligent, methodical, and
perfection-minded people who suffer from it."
So, what's he saying? That only this type of person has Migraines, or that other people have to continue suffering? - "Ironically, migraine sufferers often unknowingly bring this problem on
themselves through their busy daily lifestyles. Most cases are caused by low
blood sugar, infection, allergies, over-intake of certain drugs and
chemicals, over working, low energy from loss of appetite, improper sleep
and over-consumption of tobacco, alcohol, and sex."
First of all, many of us DO know our triggers and avoid them assiduously. However, the author failed to mention many triggers that are unavoidable such as barometric pressure changes, hormonal fluctuations, and others. - "Having a balanced diet along with a balanced lifestyle is a sure-fire
way to eliminate the unbearable symptoms that migraines can cause."
If only! There are many, many Migraineurs who work diligently to have a very balanced diet and as balanced a lifestyle as Migraine permits, but that has NOT eliminated their "unbearable symptoms." This is oversimplification at its worst.
I could go on, but I'll spare you. You get the idea by now. My plea to Mr. Kress is that he either not write about Migraine or learn a bit about it before he writes more. If I were a betting person, I'd bet that he wouldn't appreciate someone publishing articles full of misinformation about fitness, yoga, or nutrition.
There is a place to post comments about this article if you're so inclined. Maybe a few comments would encourage them to correct the article. Who knows? It's happened before on other sites.
Live well,
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© Teri Robert, 2012.
Last updated October 23, 2012.
