In this podcast, Patient X talks to us about her patient journey and her experiences, as both a patient and patient advocacy leader.

Five years ago, a high impact event led to Patient X being diagnosed with chronic migraines. Patient X is a volunteer with several migraine and headache non-profit organisations, she has a Master of Public Health and Epidemiology and works as a health economics and outcomes research worker.  
 
Migraines have many manifestations and according to the International classification of headache disorders, more than 50 types, these include migraine pain with and without aura, chronic migraine, menstrual migraine, hemiplegic migraine - a rare type involving temporary weakness on one side of the body, migraine with brain stem aura, vestibular migraine, predominant vertigo, abdominal migraine, cluster headaches, and many more. 
 
There is much more than just head pain in a migraine or headache, the heterogeneity of diseases and social determinants of health for example, race, urbanicity, and access to health care providers makes it hard to consistently identify migraine patients.
 
Advocacy is key to combating the burden of migraines. There is stigma attached to migraine disease related to the historical view that it was a 'hysterical woman's problem' which was not serious and could be cured by simply 'popping a pill’.  
 
Educating the wider population about the wide variety of symptoms of migraine and removing that stigma is essential in reducing both the clinical and economic burden of the disease.