My Warm Table ... with Sonia

Living with Migraine with Brenda Moore

November 01, 2022 Sonia Nolan Season 1 Episode 27
My Warm Table ... with Sonia
Living with Migraine with Brenda Moore
My Warm Table ... with Sonia +
Become a My Warm Table supporter and help us continue creating great WA content!
Starting at $3/month
Support
Show Notes Transcript

Migraine attacks are not just bad headaches. They can be debilitating and as My Warm Table guest Brenda Moore explains, migraine is a complex genetic neurological disorder.

Brenda shares her lived experience of migraine and how after much angst she accepted the disability as a constant in her life, finding effective treatments and life work balance. 

Brenda has established her own productivity consultancy, working on her own terms and also helping others understand the superpowers of migraine. 

*NB audio correction:  Brenda refers to some medication as “off-brand” in our interview, but instead this should have been “off-lable”. 

 

Duration: 40 minutes.

 

Links:

Happen Consulting

Migraine Australia

 

 

Want to join the conversation on this week’s episode?  

Facebook  LinkedIn  Instagram 

 

Listen, subscribe, rate and review:

Apple Podcast  Spotify  Amazon Music or your preferred platform.

Podcast website: https://mywarmtablewithsonia.buzzsprout.com/

Please share this podcast with your friends and take a moment to rate and review. 

 

Thank you!

·      Sincere thanks to Jay (Justin) Hill for his expert sound mastering and patience! Jay, together with the incredible Eva Chye, have inspired me through their passion project If Innovation Could Talk – a YouTube vlog also promoted through LinkedIn. If you have your own ideas for a podcast or video, feel free to reach out to them through the LinkedIn page.

·      Thank you to all my generous guests for their time in sharing their expertise and experiences around My Warm Table.

·      Music: ‘Sweet Soweto’ by Cast Of Characters. Copyright licence for use via soundstripe.com  

Support the show


Please rate and review this podcast - it helps to share the love with others!
You can also follow My Warm Table on social media and join the conversation:
Facebook Instagram LinkedIn
Catch up on all episodes. You'll find My Warm Table on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Buzzsprout and more ...

My Warm Table, translated into Italian is Tavola Calda. These were the words my Papa used to describe a table of good friends, good food and good conversation. I always aim to create a tavola calda in my life and I hope this podcast encourages you to do so too!

Brenda Moore:

Here's actually really interesting thing about migraine if you look at from a burden of disease perspective, migraine primarily affects people in their prime working years. So what you're doing is taking out a big chunk of your workforce on disability. So the, you know, if you if you look at the numbers around our government actually taking this health issue seriously, and addressing it, it's a no brainer.

Sonia Nolan:

Migraine is an invisible illness. It's not merely a bad headache, but a debilitating experience that is not well understood. Today around my warm table, we're speaking with Brenda Moore, who's battled migraines for decades and has researched the illness thoroughly. She also served on the migraine Australia board to help others navigate their pathway. And she is a productivity consultant, finding clever strategies and efficient solutions to ensure best results. It's a fitting career for someone who strives to make every moment count and create an optimal environment to help businesses shine. Although Brenda tells us her preference is to dim the lights as she's working from home to keep the migraines at bay. I'm Sonia Nolan, and welcome to my warm table. Well, there are lots of reasons why I wanted to catch up with your friend Joe, of course, you know, we've been friends since gosh, I think we were six years old when we first met you back in primary school and have watched a journey of of life happened for us both in and out of contact I guess over many years, but now very happy to be back in contact, and so much that I can learn from you. And one of the things that I really wanted to talk about today was migraine, because I know that something that is a very common part of of life and many people. And I'd love to get a deeper understanding of it. And I thought you'd be the perfect person to help us.

Brenda Moore:

Well, thank you. I'm always happy to try to inform people whenever I can. Because migraine is very, very poorly understood as a disorder. There's a common misconception that migraine is bad headache. Yes. And you'll hear a lot of people use the word headache and migraine interchangeably. That perception has not helped the treatment and management of for people who who live with migraine. Migraine is actually a complex genetic, neurological disorder where essentially, you have a very highly sensitive nervous system. And any system in your body, going out of whack can trigger an attack. Some people are sensitive to one thing and somebody else will, that thing will not bother them at all. But other things will set them off. So you'll hear people talk about they have a range of migraine triggers. For some people, it's citrus for some people, it's caffeine, chocolate, cheese, food triggers, yes, yes, stress is a trigger. Some people can't tolerate smells. So a whole range of but basically anything sensory can set the brain into this sort of fight or flight response, where it starts firing off all these pain receptors. And basically, you know, telling that person, that person with a migraine to get the hell out of there, wherever you go somewhere safe. Yeah. Most people that you meet with migraine will talk about episodic migraine. This is this is your coworker who maybe once every six months or so needs to take the day off because they've had a migraine attack. But for some people, that condition becomes chronic. So

Sonia Nolan:

episodic just going back is just it happens every now and then. Yeah, right? Yeah.

Brenda Moore:

So you'll just have an occasional attack. If you think of it like a spectrum, sort of disorder, and then the frequency and severity of symptoms varies along that. And that varies for individuals across their life as well, depending on what's going on. So for some people, that condition becomes chronic. The term chronic is not necessarily the best way to describe it, but it's also the shorthand that people are familiar with. Certainly in migraine Australia, who I was associate had been associated with, they promote the use of effectively managed or, or, you know, poorly managed or whatever. But when you're in this when you're in this chronic state, this poorly managed state, you may find that you're having symptoms daily, and the only variation is severity. Technically, the definition as a diagnosis is more than 15 symptom days a month, but again, not helpful diagnostic criteria for chronic Yeah, that's how a doctor will say,

Sonia Nolan:

More than 15 symptom days a month, gosh that would just mean that you're sick every second day.

Brenda Moore:

Pretty much So I guess we're talking now because in the last 18 months or so I've started coming back into the workforce, I actually had about three years where I was completely unable to work, because I was spending maybe 70% of my time shutting my bedroom with lights off and just unable to leave the house. And that obviously, you can imagine there's a whole lot of mental health and physical health stuff that comes along with that. And it becomes this really sort of vicious cycle, I was lucky enough, I shall call it some lifestyle changes, I broke up with my partner, that is a lifestyle change. And that that turned out to be very positive lifestyle change and things things started to improve. And then I also started trialling medicinal cannabis as a treatment. Yeah. And I've actually found that is really good as well. So what does that help you with? There are painkillers that actually act on physical sensation of pain, and there are painkillers that act on your emotional response to the pain. And both of them are really important into how you actually experience the pain. So the cannabis acts on your emotional response. So I still have the pain, but I just don't care about it so much. And so and by the way, when I say I don't care about it, I don't mean that I'm stoned. It's quite a low dose. But I do feel remarkably chilled.

Sonia Nolan:

So that's medicinal, medicinal cannabis. Yeah. And then what other? What other treatments, have you?

Brenda Moore:

So I have been having anti CGRP medications, which are some of the quite new ones that are coming out. So you might have heard about them in the news. So

Sonia Nolan:

sorry, can you just explain what is CR GP? What does that say? CGRP, or CGRP

Brenda Moore:

stands for calcitonin gene related peptide.

Sonia Nolan:

So that's a new,

Brenda Moore:

it's a very new theory, it's actually sort of the first class of medications to come to market that have been specifically developed to treat migraine based on new research that they're starting to understand the neurological things that are going on with migraine. Up until this point, everything that's been prescribed for migraine has been prescribed off off brand, basically, they run anecdotally found that a medication for blood pressure or, you know, whatever, has a positive effect on migraine for some people,

Sonia Nolan:

right? Okay, so it's sort of been almost like a byproduct of something else. Okay, well, that'll that'll be okay to treat some migraine stuff.

Brenda Moore:

And so if you're fortunate enough to get a diagnosis, and a referral to a neurologist, that's a whole other rabbit hole of issues. Yeah. And I was fortunate, I very quickly got under the care of a neurologist. But essentially, what the neurologist does is then you systematically work through this showbag list of, of medications and see what works. And then you combine them and see if that makes any difference. And the other fun thing that happens in this is that quite often you'll become tolerant to a medication. And so while it worked, initially, the effect wears off. So coming back to the CGRP, I was already in this kind of, I'd pretty much tried everything in the showbag by the time the CGRP is became available. So I got on to the drug company trial. So that's not the clinical trial, it's already been approved. But then the drug companies do a thing where they need to demonstrate that there's a market, right? And that's part of them taking that application to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Sonia Nolan:

So you actually have subsidised in some way. Right? So I

Brenda Moore:

got into this trial where I was basically supplied this medication for free for 18 months, two years anyway. And it was very it worked quite well for me initially. And is

Sonia Nolan:

it a is it a tablet is this is when you go into hospital to have your choice. That's a different again, I want to talk about that one in a moment too, but describe what this one is. So this

Brenda Moore:

one is a once a month injection, so you get it in an auto injector like an epi pen, just by cutting your thigh and off you go. I would certainly notice it tailing off toward the end,

Sonia Nolan:

what sort of symptoms would you start to have again, to know that it's tailing off

Brenda Moore:

more frequent attacks basically, for me, it's quite common to have some level of symptom nearly every day and so that might just be the common ones for me a light sensitivity and sound sensitivity so I have the most insane collection of sunglasses and you have ever seen in your life. And that's to protect you from the sun that is to protect me from the sun but also because I'm me matches my outfit.

Sonia Nolan:

I was gonna say that, you know, you may as well rock the sunglasses if you're going to have to wear them, hey,

Brenda Moore:

that's what I think. Absolutely.

Sonia Nolan:

And so for a person who suffers migraine attacks, they would would they normally be a Patient hoping urologist or what do most people just sort of suffer through this and talk to their GP about. So

Brenda Moore:

again, and that's about it being a poorly understood condition. Doctors, generally speaking in their medical training, don't get a lot of information on migraine, like does depend on you having a GP who's taken an interest in the subject, or is willing to take an interest in the subject. So there's been little education of the doctors, but there's also been little to educate the doctors with up until very recently. So you know, even the ones who know a lot about migraine, will the medical community didn't know a lot about migraine. So they, you know, they only knew what was there. So. So that's that turning in terms of the research assisting, but that's still a problem within the medical community is that they don't receive a doctor doesn't receive a lot of education on the nature of it. And it's such a complex disorder, as you were saying, yes. So a lot of people will go in, I guess the first line is you'll you'll treat the symptoms, if the if you know, the attacks are infrequent. It's all about symptom management. But a lot of people will go in and it won't be diagnosed as migraine, you won't be identified as migraine. I'm certainly people with some of the more severe presentations, the chronic conditions. So there's, there's one called hemiplegic migraine, which really affects your balance and your speech and people look like a drunk, right? Some people just can't walk when this happens. Vestibular migraine gives you vertigo. So there's multiple presentations, and then there's colloquially called a silent migraine, which is a migraine with no pain. So you might have all of the other symptoms all the other neurological sensitivities, but you're not experiencing a painful headache. And so doctors will not think to check that that has been caused by migraine. So there's, there's all these things that look like other things, misdiagnosed?

Sonia Nolan:

And there's also something called an abdominal migraine.

Brenda Moore:

Yeah, so that's very common with children. Yes. And yeah, basically presents a severe stomach pain. Yeah, so there's, there's so many ways that it can present so it becomes misdiagnosed. And maybe you know, you and your doctor feel that you're managing it quite effectively. But by not having been referred to a specialist, you may be not getting the optimal treatment or the options of treatment. Yes, yeah, exactly. So there might be something out there that can completely turn your life around. But you haven't, you know, you haven't delved into it. You don't know. We don't know that exists.

Sonia Nolan:

Yeah, no, I understand. You also mentioned once to me, Brenda, that migraine seems to be predominantly a female issue.

Brenda Moore:

Yes. I just when I was talking about the misdiagnosis, I thought about the same thing. women outnumber men with migraine, I think by five to one, I have to wait, don't quote me on that. But it's something like that some element of theory talks about the fact that the hormones are obviously involved, because that's one of the systems that can get out of balance. And it's very, very common for women to report that they'll get a migraine just before their period or when they're ovulating or you know, it can be very, very cyclical for some people historically, then that has led to migraine being looked at as a woman's disorder. And we all know how well that's worked out for women in history because women's pain is not perceived as being as real or as legitimate as, as men's pain. Women's health conditions are written off as being hormones and something that you just have to live with.

Sonia Nolan:

So many rehaul hysteria, yes. Hysteria.

Brenda Moore:

Yes. I listened to this hilarious podcast called the Dollop and they was two comedians and they talk about stories out of history. And they were talking about how when bicycles first became popular, there was a massive panic that women's uteruses were going to fly out because they were moving so fast on these bicycles.

Sonia Nolan:

Wow, man, you know,

Brenda Moore:

thank God, we had people looking out for it.

Sonia Nolan:

Oh gosh, there's so much more to learn. But it does sound like there are some inroads in regards to understanding more about migraine attacks. Yeah, that's really positive. So tell me about the other treatment that you have. Brenda? Oh, so fairly new to and a little bit radical. Yeah. So

Brenda Moore:

the first time we tried to set this podcast up, I was in hospital at the time and we were going to try and record in the hospital but then we decided that might not be a great environment for it.

Sonia Nolan:

But it's just that's that's actually an interesting history about us trying to get together to do this podcast that has been sort of migraine influenced, yeah, some respect.

Brenda Moore:

This is I just nowadays when I meet a new person when I get involved in a professional or personal capacity with anyone, I'm really quick to say look, I just need to let you know this So I have this condition, and it means I cancel a lot. Yes. And please don't take it personally. It's not you. It's me.

Sonia Nolan:

And it's not that you're unprofessional. It's that you have a chronic health issue. Yeah, yeah, that's right. And I guess, that hasn't always gone hand in hand in language that are I've got a migraine. I've got a chronic health issue. I think people just oh, gosh, she's, you know, she's got that bad headache. Yeah. And she's scared to come home and she's hungover and she's just gonna, you know, scamper off work. And as you know, so, so sadly, it comes with a lot of that sort of attachment

Brenda Moore:

as well. And I, I resisted that for a long time, because I also had to go through all this stuff in my head about bringing this into my identity. Because I've always been hardworking and ambitious. And if I, you know, if I had a tough time at work, my solution would usually be Well, I just have to put in some extra hours for the next few months. And I'll get on top of it. Yeah. And then it will be call. And now that strategy not only doesn't work, it just makes things worse,

Sonia Nolan:

it's counterproductive. But no look, and and, you know, because we've known each other a long time, Brenda, and I knew you before migraine. Yeah. You know, I know the hard working, intelligent, incredibly capable woman that you are and have been all along. It's so yeah, it's been a very dear. So hi, I'm for gender identity to

Brenda Moore:

that realisation that, oh, no, I can't just power through this one. Yeah, is really hard. And is to think of myself as a person with a disability and, and all of these things. And so yeah, it was a long time coming. But I really just think, you know, the best thing is just to say, I'm going to tell you this, yes, this is going to affect my behaviour in a way that's probably not typical of everybody that you meet. And this is why it is and so far, so good. That's working well, you know, it's never received, I've never had that received poorly by anyone. So Well, I think it's

Sonia Nolan:

because you've put yourself out there and you know, sort of laid it out front pretty quickly. I think that that's a really, you know, clever strategy, but also, you know, completely authentic to the type of business that Yeah,

Brenda Moore:

well, I think, yeah, and the type of business that I want to do, it is really important that my clients understand that about me, because yes, I've got migraine, by the way, does give you some superpowers. Turns out, you're really good systemic thinker. Tell me more about that. So mostly, I do business process improvement, or project management or setting up new initiatives. And my background to date has been in the health and community services space. What that amounts to, I guess, is that I'll come into business and spend a lot of time talking to different people and the people who do the jobs and hearing about their experiences. But one of my strengths and that's led me to love this work is that I'm very, very quick to spot the interrelationships and see the interconnections between things. And that it turns out is a common characteristic among people who have migraine.

Sonia Nolan:

Let's step back a bit because we were starting to talk about their treatment that you have in hospital. So tell me about that.

Brenda Moore:

So my neurologist is Dr. Andrew Kelly, who works out of Nexus urology in Murdoch. And this is a protocol that he ordered. So I don't know, I'm sure other neurologists have their own things that they do. The one that I have Dr. Kelly, which the people at the hospital just called Dr. Kelly's cocktail. But it's I think it's magnesium, vitamin B, anti inflammatories, anticonvulsants, anti nausea, they put these on an infusion pump. And I will stay in hospital for three to seven days having this treatment

Sonia Nolan:

as in constantly being pumped. Yeah, yeah, well, I

Brenda Moore:

mean, you'll get sort of an hour or two break in between. Actually, as funny the last few times I've been in, they gave me what is called a PICC line, which I can't remember what it stands for. But basically, they instead of giving you an IV in your arm, because I have horrible teeny tiny veins, and they would basically have to do a new a new cannula every single time. So they gave me this PICC line which goes straight into one of the chambers of your heart. So they use ultrasound to put it into place. Yeah, and you just, you basically get this little, just like a little button in your arm that they can connect the IVs to. Anyway, that's great, because now I come out of the hospital and I don't look like I've just gone six rounds with Mike Tyson. So that's good. So yeah, so I'll spend three to seven days in the hospital depending on what's going on in my life and why I've asked. I usually do that once or twice a year. And the effect for me is it just resets the light bulb moment for me is if I noticed that I'm taking painkillers every single day. If I'm needing, like if I'm needing to Tramadol today for a period of however long, I need to go in and have this treatment done, because it just resets, resets, my brain takes it out of that agitated state, I'll usually be pain free while I'm in the hospital having the treatment. And I'll get a period of good pain relief after that. And then the frequency and severity of the symptoms will build up again over a period of six to 12 months. And then I ring Dr. Kelly and say, I need to go in again. And can I

Sonia Nolan:

have another cocktail? Yes, off we go. Yeah. Okay, but at least you've got something that you can manage with, and you're very aware of your symptoms. So can you describe for me what it feels like to have a migraine attack? And I'm sure it's very different in every year. But can you describe for me what it's like for you in,

Brenda Moore:

in my case, and you're right, everyone just a little bit different four phases of a migraine attack, we have a programme, which is a period of symptoms leading up to the attack. And sometimes that can be quite recognisable, and sometimes it's not, then you have aura, which is you know, where you, people will tell you that they have visual disturbance, that's an aura. Then you have the attack itself. And then you have the post syndrome, which is also known as a migraine hangover. Colloquially, you'll usually have a period of time where you just, you basically just feel hungover, you're just wiped out. So prodrome for me usually is feeling very, very tired. Like if I wake up one day, and I feel like I've got a massive flu coming on, and I've just been hit by truck and all aches and pains. That's maybe that can be a good indicator for me that that there's an attack on the way. Interesting thing that they're saying about that now is when you look at how food triggers and people talk about that they crave chocolate before they have a migraine. There's now some theory going on about is that something happening in that in that prodrome phase, that with your body chemistry made you crave a particular food and you ate the food, but then that's not actually what triggered the migraine because the migraine had already started.

Sonia Nolan:

I see so much. Okay, so they're looking at looking into that. Yeah.

Brenda Moore:

So then if I get an aura, I usually see like spots or sparkles in my vision. And I have tingling mostly in my face. Sometimes in my body, first have a migraine attack my head, I ended up in the emergency room because I thought I was having a stroke, because the left side of my body was tingling from head to toe.

Sonia Nolan:

And how old were you at that time?

Brenda Moore:

Would have been about 30? Early 30s. Yeah, okay.

Sonia Nolan:

All right. So early 30s, your very first sign of migraine and you actually thought you were having a stroke rather than knowing what it was. Yeah. And you were very early diagnosed. And at that moment, they said this, this is migraine.

Brenda Moore:

Yeah. You were really you one of the lucky I was lucky. Yeah, absolutely. So the aura for me is visual disturbance and tingling. I will also this is about the time when I'll start being very light sensitive that might have actually started in the programme as well. That can be something that I noticed, that indicates that I've got an attack coming as if I feel very light sensitive. And also if I feel very nauseous, light sensitivity and nausea are linked for me like I will. I'll get up one morning I think I'm fine. And I'll walk out the door and feel like I want to vomit because oh because then I might feel like sensitive. Okay, then we go into the attack. I do have the pounding headache and again, nausea. light sensitivity, sound sensitivity, I get something called Ella allodynia which is being sensitive to touch. So I was really really hard when the kids were little because you know when what is the five year old want to do when mommy sick is coming give her a big cuddle and I would just leave him

Sonia Nolan:

with the best of times. My skin crawl it was horrible. I want to how sad for you.

Brenda Moore:

I know. Yeah, I know. Because I'm such a bum. Yes, exactly. You have right. So I get that. Sometimes I will get vertigo. Sometimes I will get tinnitus. There is Yeah. potluck. Yeah, the so the headache. And a classic migraine headache is made worse by movement. So I don't do anything. So usually what I do is just to take some strong painkillers and sleep it off. However, when you have them frequently that really messes with your sleep cycle. And one of the biggest triggers for me is disrupted sleep. So that's another juggling act of resting enough to get through the pain versus not being awake all night the next night. So usually what I would try to do then, in all but the most severe pain is I'll sit in my room which is the darkest room in the house because I've made it very migraine friendly, and I'll listen to a podcast or an audiobook. So that's to keep me in distress. and unoccupied, and then I'll play like Candy Crush or something on my iPad, mindless so that I don't fall asleep, listening to my audio, and that

Sonia Nolan:

does the Candy Crush mess with the visual the eyes. For me

Brenda Moore:

a lot of people can't, can't watch a screen Yeah, when they're when they're during an attack. And that doesn't bother me so much. But like, if I watch a movie or something, I won't take it all in. But if I listen to an audio book, I do take a lot of it in, I don't know, maybe that's just my brain. And I have I've got this thing I do, where I try to make it at least a little bit productive. And so quite often, my audio book will be something business related. And then I keep a notebook by the bed. And if I think of anything brilliant for the business, I write it down. And

Sonia Nolan:

well, this is why you are a productivity expert, because you can actually find opportunities to be productive when you're in a migraine.

Brenda Moore:

I love being called a productivity expert. And I always tell people, what that actually means is I'm really lazy person. I don't want to think too much about this. I'd like it to happen with zero input from me. So that's what I like in my home. And that's what I like in my work is

Sonia Nolan:

that it's find a system that's actually going to make that happen. Yeah.

Brenda Moore:

And then of course, what happens then is I don't use that time that I saved by being lazy to be lazy. I go on to the next project to do something else. See,

Sonia Nolan:

there you go your counterproductive render. So that's what the attack looks like for you. Yes. And I remember you saying to me what your personal best was once in regards to how long one of those attacks went for? Was it 18?

Brenda Moore:

Something like that? Yeah. Sounds about right. That's a long time

Sonia Nolan:

to be in full attack mode. And is that fairly common for people who suffer from chronic migraine,

Brenda Moore:

it's hard to say because it's so it's so variable. When my condition first became out of control like that I did, what I always do was which I go out and start researching because I like to understand things that I know, that just helps me make sense of the world. It's just what I do. For so I quickly found myself in migraine chat groups on Facebook, which fantastic, really good source of support. I got connected with migraine Australia. And I started talking to a lot of people who had the condition. So when it first happened for me, I've never heard of this happening to anybody before. So I'm like, you know, what, what is it? What is this? What's wrong with me? But then, when I became involved with the support groups, I realised there's actually there are a lot of people out there in that and I can't tell you the figures, but certainly a big community of people who are living with daily symptoms, some of whom, you know, much more severe than what I've explained. Lots of people out of work. Here's actually really interesting thing about migraine if you look at from a burden of disease perspective, migraine primarily affects people in their prime working years. So what you're doing is taking out a big chunk of your workforce and putting them on disability. So the you know, if you if you look at the numbers around our government actually taking this health issue seriously, and addressing it it's a no brainer. But

Sonia Nolan:

yeah, oh, that sounds it makes sense. Look, I've got some all I've got here are some US numbers from an article which I happened to stumble across the other day and apparently this this says migraine headaches currently affect more than 1 billion people across the globe and are the second leading cause of disability worldwide. In the US. Like I said these us numbers nearly one quarter of US households have at least one member who suffers from migraines. An estimated 85 point 6 million workdays are lost as a result of migraine headaches each year. Yep. Well, they've used the words migraine headaches, but I know that it's migraine attack.

Brenda Moore:

Yes. Yes, thank you. So anyone who's interested in knowing more about migraine, please go to the migraine Australia website. That's www.migraine.org.au They're a fantastic volunteer led organisation up until recently 100% volunteer, but they were fortunate enough to get some funding and being able to put, I think a staff member on but they are sort of the peak body in Australia for representation for people with migraine. So it's a it's a patient led organisation. So there's another group, migraine and headache Australia who are part of the brain Foundation, and they're the sort of medical

Sonia Nolan:

peak body, right. So run by doctors.

Brenda Moore:

Yeah. Migraine Australia is run by the run by the patients, people lived experience. Yes, yeah. Right. So they produced a fabulous resource. Migraine language Guide, which I'd encourage people to have a look at. One of the issues, as we talked earlier about getting diagnosed and getting proper treatment is this misperception that migraine is, is code for a bad headache. And so we use language that supports the misperception. A more effective way of communicating is to think that my migraine is a disease. And so when we talk about migraine, we are talking about the disease. And that is lifelong, incurable, neurological. It's always with you all the time. But if you have migraine disease, then you might have migraine attacks, which is when your symptoms flare up.

Sonia Nolan:

So Brenda, tell me about how you have through necessity, but also through choice, yeah, reinvented your life, knowing that you are a migraine sufferer, and there's something that is with you for life, unless there's a magical cure. And you've actually redefined yourself professionally and reestablished yourself as a small business owner working in this field of productivity through happen consulting, tell me a little bit about that journey.

Brenda Moore:

I stopped work about three years ago, and I was fortunate enough to have some insurance. So after that initial tough period of arguing with the insurance company to get them to approve it, I was okay financially. And I said, I was really fortunate, not everybody's in that position, I'd had a fantastically supportive boss, and my work was St. John Ambulance. But honestly, I'd probably stayed at work. Maybe three years longer than I should have, because I'd had, my performance had just been declining. So I had this amazing boss did everything for me to keep me in there. But ultimately, it got to a point where I was barely making it to work half a day a week,

Sonia Nolan:

because you were just always having attack. Yeah, yeah.

Brenda Moore:

So okay, I'll pull the pin. I can't do this anymore. And you know, and I was really depressed for a while, you know, and it was very, very hard. And this is what I was talking about all the stuff about my identity, and, and who am I? And is this what the rest of my life is gonna look like, and maybe, I don't know, 18 months, two years of that, and I had this lightbulb moment, and for the life of me, I cannot remember where it came from. But I had this moment where I'm like, Well, you know, you can sit here and feel sorry for yourself. Or you can accept the reality that this might be what the rest of your life looks like, and make it better. So you can feel good about yourself, not to just be, you know, uplifting and inspiring. There was also there's a five year limit on my insurance. So I needed a plan for what was going to happen. Next Next. Because, you know, I've got a big mortgage.

Sonia Nolan:

And you want to be productive. I mean, you know, you just want to keep doing well. Let me talk young for

Brenda Moore:

Yeah, and we talked about that sort of professional identity. Yeah, that's so much a part of me. So the idea that I wasn't working and contributing, and all of those things, was really hard for me. So I toyed around with this idea of consulting for a long time, it's actually always something I wanted to do, because I really enjoy project based work, have a bit of a low threshold for boredom. So it's really nice to be moving on to something new all the time. And so I'd always thought I'd love to be a consultant. But I never felt I had the financial stability to take the risk. So I had to turn this around. I'm like, Well, I've no, I've got an income for five years. That's actually a massive opportunity. This, you know, this is the opportunity I've been waiting for to be financially secure. This is my own. Yeah. You know, the expression, you're only as good as your last gig. My last gig was not my best. So I really sort of got my head into i had to get into strategy mode and sort of reestablish my networks rebrand myself, re establish trust. And I decided and, and also, you know, build build a brand and, but it was always a long game. I knew this was going to be a process. So I just started started doing the social media. I've got myself a website. And yeah, just started blogging and writing and being active in the small business community and in the various professional networks that I want to be a part of volunteer work with migraine Australia. Now I volunteer as the chapter lead for the Australian organisation for quality peak body for Quality Management Professionals. Yeah, so I got involved with a lot of volunteer projects to start to get me working professionally and get myself confidence back. Yes. And yeah, get get the confidence of others back or, you know, meet new people who are confident in my abilities. And so that's been I think 18 months in now, and I'm starting to get, well, I certainly have a lot of communication and really strong networks, I am beginning to book paid work off the back of those efforts. And certainly the, you know, the referral networks booming. And so it's starting to translate into results. And I'm really happy with that. And I'm booking the kind of work that I want and the size of jobs that I want. Because this was really important, I guess, in thinking about who my who my audience was, Who out there, do I want to know who I am and what I do? Yes. So I'm very much targeting small to medium business, in what sort of sector mainly health and community services, but also through my involvement with the Australian organisation for quality. I ended up in a lot of engineering and resource type stuff as well. So as fine I grew up in Rockingham, I can speak the language I was gonna

Sonia Nolan:

say, that's good. So that sounds like it's going well, Brenda, yeah. And you've given yourself you know, you're patient with yourself and building it as well because you've got that buffer, which is

Brenda Moore:

well, and again, another mental health shift, I guess, that I had to make was whatever I accomplish on a day is enough. I can't set myself brutal deadlines. And you know, I can't commit to large amounts of work because I don't know where that's gonna go. So yeah, needs to be it needs to be small and snappy and lean. Lean into my strengths.

Sonia Nolan:

Yeah, good for you. What would you like people to know about migraine sort of three top things that as we leave and round up the podcast, three things you want people listening to understand about migraine if they know someone who's got a migraine or perhaps they have got migraines, themselves migraine attacks, I'm going to try and get my positive language going here if they have the disease, migraine and suffer from migraine attacks. What should people know what do you want people to know to help destigmatize?

Brenda Moore:

Okay, the most important thing to know is that it's more than just a headache. Yeah, there's so much more going on. Something that you can do personally to help address that stigma is not to use the term migraine for anything else other than actual migraine. Don't say that you're so stressed out you're getting a migraine or that this has given me a migraine? Well, what do you mean is you're getting a bad headache? Yes, I guess be compassionate and understanding about the very individualised nature of migraine. Many, many very well intentioned people will tell you about their auntie who had migraine and started taking a particular supplement, and it killed it, or somebody who had a particular therapy, and it completely cured it. And I certainly understand that that comes from a well intentioned place. But remember that the person that you're talking to has lived with likely lived with this condition for a very, very long time. And that can feel insulting to be suggested that you haven't spent your whole entire life trying to manage this horrible condition. Of

Sonia Nolan:

course, no, absolutely. Yeah. A bit of sensitivity. Yeah. And if people have got migraine attacks, and they are currently seeing a GP, clearly doing the best they can, can they ask for a referral to a neurologist? Can they?

Brenda Moore:

I can certainly, yes, yes, you can do that. Also, feel free to shop for GPS. One project that I know was in the works at migraine Australia. And I can't tell you if it's been completed or not, but they were working on a directory of migraine friendly GPS and neurologists, because even neurologists, they're not all migraine experts. So if if and when that resource is available, that will be a great place to get directed to someone who's going to have a good understanding of the condition.

Sonia Nolan:

That's fantastic. Brenda, thank you so much for sharing your lived experience of migraine attacks. I'm so delighted that you have been able to find the silver linings and make it work for you and and the fact that you're able to do something that you've You know often dreamed about doing running your own consultancy and doing it in your own time and with the projects that you're more passionate about. That's actually a really positive outcome for something that you know at one point was was really debilitating for you. So I wish you good health. I wish you migraine attack friendly, free time. And I'm so delighted to be able to reconnect with you today.

Brenda Moore:

Oh, thank you, Sonia. It's been lovely I've had a really nice time.

Sonia Nolan:

You've been listening to my warm table with Sonia Nolan in Italian a tavola calda is a warm and welcoming table where you can share big ideas, friendship, laughter and life. So much happens around the kitchen table and I wanted to amplify it here in this podcast. My aim is to feed your mind and soul through smart conversations with heart. No topic is off limits. But good table manners rule. I hope you'll join us each week as we set the table for my extraordinary guests who will let you feast on a deep knowledge, life experiences and wise insights. Let's keep the conversation flowing. Please subscribe to the my warm table podcast and share it with your friends and network. Perhaps if they're new to podcasting, take a moment to show them how to download and subscribe so they don't miss an episode either. I'd also love you to join our community on Facebook. You'll find the group at my warm table podcast. Your support is very much appreciated. So that together we can eat, think and be merry