All in my head
In this guest blog, we share a reflection on living with migraine from Elizabeth Heritage. Elizabeth is a creative non-fiction writer and freelance publishing professional living with the disability that is chronic migraine. She is based online at www.elizabethheritage.co.nz and lives in real life in Te Whanganui-a-Tara/Wellington. When you are lying flat on your back […]
WINZ contributes to Emgality costs
There aren’t many people in New Zealand who are on a benefit because of migraine, despite migraine being a common and disabling disease, that can seriously impair people’s ability to work. But if you are, and you want to try the new migraine medication Emgality, but can’t afford it, here’s a story of hope. Cheryl (not her […]
Lack of medicine access contributing to health workforce shortage
Despite the hedging of various Ministers of Health, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that our healthcare workforce is in crisis. People are waiting weeks to see a GP. Between 2019 and 2022, 28% of general practices had fully closed their books. This was due to factors such as staff shortages, workload and burnout. According to […]
Migraine and partners: A tale of two halves
Helena* recounts her experiences of ‘always’ and ‘never’ feeling judged or misunderstood by a spouse or partner because of migraine. ‘You always get sick when we visit my parents,’ my husband would complain, petulantly. As if it were my fault and I deliberately brought on a migraine attack. Or, worse, that I found it stressful […]
I tried Aimovig for six months. Here’s my verdict
Calcitonin gene-related peptide or CGRP for short. That’s the target of most of the new medications developed to treat or prevent migraine attacks, the first medications that were specifically developed for migraine, based on basic science research on migraine pathophysiology. CGRP monoclonal antibody medications (mabs) are the big ticket new preventive treatments. Previous medications used […]
Sharing our story on That’s So Chronic podcast
One of our co-founders Sarah had the opportunity to be a guest on the weekly podcast That’s So Chronic, with host Jess Brien. Sarah shared about her life living with migraine, and how starting a migraine blog in 2020 led her to co-found Migraine Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand with Fiona and Suzanne. Sarah’s episode was […]
Raising awareness of migraine on ‘The Medicine Gap’
In December 2021, a few months prior to launching Migraine Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand, one of our co-founders Sarah had the opportunity to share her story about living with chronic migraine for ‘The Medicine Gap’. Sarah has been writing about her experience of living with migraine since 2020 on her blog, and was honoured to share […]
Highlighting the impact of migraine in New Zealand
One of our co-founders, Dr Fiona Imlach, penned a compelling piece for The Medicine Gap about the migraine landscape in New Zealand. Examining the latest research, Dr Imlach highlights the huge lack of research funding for migraine disease, a lack of recognition of the disability migraine causes and how far behind New Zealand is in […]
