Every day, Rachel Hooper wakes up with a kick in her step and determination coursing through her veins; she is another day closer to fulfilling her dream of becoming a nurse and living out her purpose. Rachel is a 20-year-old college student in the nursing program at Grand Canyon University (GCU). For Rachel, a regular day looks like waking up around 6 a.m. for classes, studying with friends and testing her memorization of the latest content her cohort is learning. She demonstrates motivation and tenacity through her drive for success, and her constant dedication to keep working no matter how exhausted or stressed she may be. However, throughout this whole process, Rachel has been battling migraines.

This is the reality for so many people, who spend nearly every waking hour of their day working or studying while fighting through this challenging condition. According to the World Health Organization, (WHO), migraines affect about 40% of the population. This condition is characterized by debilitating pain on one side of the head, causing nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, sensitivity to light, noise, and smells and ringing in the ears, which is a condition called tinnitus. These symptoms can last anywhere from a few hours to three days.

Rachel experiences blurry vision that looks like a halo and tunnel vision that feels like she is wearing a baseball cap.

“My migraines typically happen on the right side of my head, and it will feel like my face is cut in half. My right eye, forehead, cheek, jaw, and neck will all be super tense and pounding.”

Migraines have been diagnosed and recognized by medical professionals since 400 BC and doctors understood them enough to know how this condition affected the vision of those experiencing it. Despite a long history in medicine, there is no cure for migraines and researchers are still determining what treatment options are helpful for migraines.

According to Harvard Business Review, who conducted a survey of 200,000 employees in the United States, 22% of employees answered that they believed migraine attacks to be a condition allowing employees to stay home from work. The article also found employees who suffered from migraine attacks struggled with confidence in their work and this led to performance issues and reduced salary. Many people do not understand the severity of migraines, highlighting the need for more education on the subject in the workforce.

“Migraines affect your balance. They make you dizzy. They affect the way you think, and you can’t process stuff, and it’s really difficult. If somebody says migraines are not that bad, then they have never had a migraine. They have had a headache,” Rachel said. “I am not able to focus, and I am not able to retain information. I am not fun to be around because I need people to repeat their words, or I prefer people not to speak. I just get very agitated.”

Migraines are often underestimated by those who do not experience them, and proper resources are rarely provided to those suffering from migraines. For individuals to have opportunities to succeed, it is important for migraine education and treatments to continue developing.

Rachel does not receive empathy for the migraines she experiences; professors expect her to work no matter what. If people do not experience migraines, they do not understand what others are going through, and therefore, cannot properly help them. If someone is in the classroom or the workplace and is struck by the overwhelming symptoms of a migraine, they are often expected to keep working in an environment that exacerbates their symptoms.

According to Harvard Business Review, a study conducted on a migraine education program in three companies in the United States showed promising results. After six months of giving employees access to information on migraines, there was a 25% reduction in days that those experiencing migraines missed work, and a 32% reduction in days that individuals experienced migraine symptoms while working. People with migraines showed a 10% increased ability to be productive, even when they experienced migraines, and these results saved the company 34% of the money previously lost to lack of worker productivity from migraine attacks.

If people are not given the opportunity to take time off while experiencing a migraine, they could benefit from receiving specialized care that works to reduce symptoms, like receiving more breaks in a day or having the opportunity to move to a quiet, more dimly lit room, reducing sensitivity. For many workplaces and school environments, providing these amenities would be a reasonable step for the organization, presenting a win-win scenario, where the individual experiencing the migraine is given a better environment for success, and there is no serious drop in worker productivity.

While there are efforts to increase education on migraines within the workplace, the education system is lacking on addressing migraine symptoms. Students in all levels of education are not often given grace when experiencing migraines. If a student is bedridden from a migraine and misses class, their grades may suffer. The only way to avoid grades being affected by absences is for students to provide their professors with a doctor’s note and receive approval through the Student Disability Services office, which can take months to process. Even if students have proof of sickness, and even hospitalizations, many professors will not accept this as a valid reason to miss classes or assignment deadlines.

This learning structure leads to students attempting to push through sickness and ailments so their grade will not be impacted, but this can make productivity nearly impossible. Instead of putting students in the position to push through pain and other symptoms of migraines to avoid facing penalty, schools and universities can increase migraine education amongst students and faculty.

Because of the variety of migraines and their causes, there is not a singular “fool proof” way to treat them. New treatment approaches are explained in an article by Diener & Dodick. The article states that migraines are the third most common and sixth most disabling of medical disorders in the world. Some ways to treat migraines are using triptans, humanized antibodies against calcitonin-gene related peptide, and simvastatin and vitamin D3.

Triptans trigger three different kinds of serotonin receptors that each have a different, positive effect on migraines. When someone is experiencing a migraine, arteries in the neck and cranium dilate, and this is a part of what causes pain during migraines. Using triptans helps to tighten the dilated blood vessels, and this reduces inflammation. Additionally, triptans help to reduce pain signals from the nervous system that travel to the brain, which positively affects the nervous system by reducing pain. Triptans also block many neurotransmitters and peptides, like calcitonin-gene related peptide, or CGRP, that act in pain signaling, and by blocking these substances, individuals experience less pain.

Another approach to migraine treatment is using humanized antibodies against CGRP. This is a protein that is released when an individual is experiencing a migraine and it works to dilate the cranial arteries. Additionally, CGRP triggers the release of inflammatory chemicals from white blood cells, which leads to more inflammation in the nervous system. CGRP also works in the transmission of pain signals between the brain and the nervous system, so each of the functions of this protein increase an individual’s awareness of pain and symptoms. By using antibodies to fight against it, this can help reduce the pain of migraines.

Lastly, combining simvastatin and vitamin D3 for the treatment and prevention of migraines showed positive results. Vitamin D deficiency has been identified as a possible cause of migraines, so taking this supplement may help to reduce the amount of migraine attacks an individual experiences. Endothelial dysfunction can lead to migraine attacks as it causes constriction of blood vessels in the brain, and simvastatin works to repair endothelial functioning, reducing pain from migraines. Using these two drugs together has a synergistic effect, which is when the combination of drugs has a greater effect than the sum of the effects of each drug when they are administered alone.

There are many organizations working to increase migraine education, like Migraine at School, which was created to help children who have migraines by educating them and their families on how to cope with them. By boosting understanding of this early on in children and their families, children who experience migraines will have better opportunities for success in school. It is also important for others, like teachers and fellow classmates, to be educated on migraines. Even if someone does not personally experience migraines, they can help to provide a better environment for those suffering from migraine attacks.

This could pave the way for schools working alongside students with migraines to provide accommodations for those who are not in the condition to be learning in a regular environment.

For the workplace, a program like Mastering Migraine Therapies, which was made by the American Headache Association, may be beneficial for the work environment. This program provides up-to-date information on migraines and the research about their treatment.

Starting the conversation is one of the most important steps toward implementing changes in school and work environments. Those who experience this condition can have more support in seeking help as others surrounding them will have a better idea of what they are going through. Instead of pushing through migraine symptoms alone, increased education and understanding of the condition can help those suffering from migraine attacks to have others advocating for them.

Migraines are a debilitating condition that needs to be addressed and understood in school and work environments. By helping more people understand the effects of a migraine, employers and teachers can work alongside employees and students who are suffering from attacks to find solutions that work for everyone. This will help set individuals who experience this condition up for success, provide resources and information for treatment solutions and prevent loss in student and worker productivity.