The Long and Winding Road in Chronic Migraine

This article is based on a research that explored the illness
experiences of 16 women with chronic migraine and the healing
practices employed in their daily lives. The term “healing
practices” refers here to techniques, strategies, and adaptations
employed to alleviate or more effectively manage migraine
symptoms and episodes. These practices may, in some
cases, interact with and influence the use and effectiveness
of pharmacological treatments, while in others, they function
independently of any medication intake. We analyze, on one
side, which meanings are given to these practices and why
they are considered to be effective once identified; on the other,
how, biomedically speaking, they can reduce the symptom
severity and perception by acting on a biochemical and pathophysiological
level.