'we fake that we feel fine': living with migraines changed the trajectory of this nl woman's life
st. john's senior liz ohle was diagnosed with migraines at a time very little was known about the condition, sending her on a quest for info
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the first ever recorded mention of migraine was in 1550 bc when the term appeared in egyptian medical documents. since then, both traditional and modern medicine have found various ways to both treat the symptoms of migraine and prevent the attacks.
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st. john’s, nl resident liz ohle has somewhat of a unique experience with her migraines.
not only did she get diagnosed at a time when there was very little information about migraines available, but the 72-year-old has also seen the interesting trajectory migraine-related research has taken in the last 28 years she’s had the neurological condition.
ohle was on long-term disability because of chronic migraines before she retired from her job as an educator with the standardized patient program at medical school. she was 65 when she retired. her migraines started when she was 45.
“it was totally out of the blue,” said ohle.
no one in her family had had migraines, she said. however, her mother had brain tumours, so ohle grappled with whether or not she might be feeling the symptoms of a tumour herself when she first developed head pain.
a month after her first attack, she had a second one. since she was also experiencing menopause symptoms at the time, ohle visited her family doctor. the physician took a full history of her health and gave her a migraine-specific prescription drug sample to try out—naratriptan.
“she gave me the sample and told me to take it if i get the pain again.”
she also told ohle that if the pill worked, then that would mean that it’s diagnostic for migraine.
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“at that time, in 1997, when i knew nothing about migraines, i thought that was pretty crazy—to give someone a drug and that’s how you diagnose their situation,” she said.
“i have since learned that that is very much best practice.”
migraine medication has come a long way since then.
“a huge amount has been developed in the last five years,” said ohle.
how can you treat a migraine?
the first-ever recorded mention of migraine was in 1550 bc, when the term appeared in egyptian medical documents. since then, both traditional and modern medicine have found various ways to both treat the symptoms of migraine and prevent the attacks.
science’s understanding of what causes migraine has also evolved. once thought to be a vascular disorder, research has since started focusing on neural imbalances, too, particularly abnormal activity among nerve signals, chemical signals and blood vessels in the brain.
a naturally occurring peptide—calcitonin gene-related peptide (cgrp)—has also been studied for its role in migraine pain. cgrp and other proteins are thought to bind with receptors on sensory nerves in the trigeminal ganglion, potentially activating these nerves that are responsible for pain, touch and temperature sensations.
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migraines can be categorized by symptoms, frequency, triggers and treatment response and severity (refractory migraine), according to migraine canada.
there is currently no cure for migraines.
beta-blockers, triptans, anti-cgrp therapy, botox injections, therapeutic devices, ditans and cgrp gepants are just some of the medical interventions out there.
acupressure and acupuncture, biofeedback and relaxation, green light therapy and massage therapy are some of the alternative and complementary treatments for migraine.
how can changing your lifestyle habits and massage help alleviate migraines?
ellie emberley, a registered massage therapist and owner of ember massage in hubbards, n.s. experienced chronic migraine as a young adult. she no longer suffers from them.
during the course of trying to treat migraine in the long-term, and through her education in human anatomy, emberley found a functional approach to dealing with migraine—food, positive lifestyle habits like movement and proper sleep, and massage.
“massage was sort of the final piece. bringing all those things together basically eliminated my migraine. i honestly can’t remember the last time i had one,” said emberley.
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while she acknowledges that medication does have its place in migraine treatment, she also doesn’t think drugs are the best option all the time.
“i’m someone who’s always believed that there’s more that you can do,” she adds.
she has a considerable clientele who come to her for migraine-related treatment. at ember massage, the focus is on correcting skeletal posture and removing muscle tension so blood supply can move in and out of the head more easily and functionally.
“we start by looking at the posture of the neck and shoulders—your skeletal posture—and we look at what the muscles are doing around the bone,” explained the rmt.
moving a particular way consistently or sitting in a certain posture for long periods can cause your muscles and fascial lines to pull your bones into those positions, explained emberley. it’s almost like your muscles are being strapped. the focus with massage therapy is to loosen those straps and guide your bones back into neutral posture, according to emberley.
“you’re removing the conditions that create the scenario where you could go into a migraine,” emberley said.
“if you remove those conditions and allow the blood supply to move in and out of the head unaffected, then things like an irritant or a trigger, like a weather event or an allergy to something, are less likely to create that imbalance with blood supply.”
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information is power
ohle’s migraine attacks started increasing in frequency, and by the year 2002, she was also suffering from rebound headaches from having taken her medication too frequently.
“in newfoundland, there wasn’t then— and there still isn’t— a headache specialist,” said ohle.
“i saw a neurologist and i saw an internist. it was before there really was a lot of really great information available about migraines, so i can’t blame them, but they didn’t do anything to help me because there wasn’t much to do.”
she remembers the exact time when she received information related to her migraine that changed her life: it was when she met with a headache specialist in halifax in 2013.
“it was such a big deal for me to go and have an appointment with this doctor. i learned all kinds of things about my situation that i had just never been told before,” she said.
having learned about rebound headaches, ohle was also told that the only way she was going to get better was if she stopped taking the medication and was off it for long enough for her to go back on the recommended monthly dosage. she could do this by weaning off them or by going cold turkey.
besides the scientific information, ohle recalled how grateful she was to hear the specialist tell her that it wasn’t going to be easy, but other people have been in her situation before and that she could do it.
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“the fact that he told me i could do it made a big difference,” she added.
ohle tried three times, taking up to four to six weeks off work each time. since she lived alone, she had to arrange support systems for herself. people would come and sit with her in a dark room while her brain went through the process of quitting the medication. it took her about a year to get her life back on track.
in 2016, ohle discovered the migraine world summit, an annual online event where you get to learn from dozens of world-leading migraine experts, doctors and specialists.
“i was glued to this information,” said ohle, who has registered to take part in the event every year since then. she also joined an online support group called ‘migraine strong’.
“i started printing off research articles [and] studies from reputable journals and taking them to my neurologist here, and he became an excellent partner with me in treating my migraines … i’ve had excellent access to the best neurological help i can get in the absence of a headache specialist,” she said.
putting in the hard work to improve migraines
the headache specialist in halifax had told ohle that her best hope was to be 50 per cent better than she was at the time.
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today, ohle believes she’s doing even better than that.
“it’s hard work,” she admitted.
she’s tried different medications, elimination diets, herbal remedies, supplements and modulation devices. currently, she’s doing botox treatments every three months and also takes monthly aimovig injections.
she’s on a ketogenic diet, too, which seems to be helping her a lot.
“i manage my sleep. i manage my stress. i manage the amount of stimulation i get,” ohle said.
she’s grateful for friends and family who understand that she might cancel plans suddenly on account of her health.
the migraine attacks are still a major factor in her life, however.
“i wouldn’t say it defines me, but it impacts every aspect of my life … the truth is, i’ve missed a lot of meaningful and important things that i would have liked to have done,” she said.
ohle wants people to know something most migraine sufferers would want as well—that a migraine is more than just a bad headache.
she’s heard people say that someone is faking a migraine to get out of work early, cynical as that may sound.
“but the truth is, we don’t fake having headaches. we fake that we feel fine,” she explained.
this article was originally published in the st. john’s telegram on june 11, 2025.
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