When someone you know suffers from migraines, it can be hard to know what you can do to help. You can’t stop their pain, as much as you want to, but you still want to do something to help them if you can.
One of the things which is most helpful to someone suffering from a migraine is just for somebody to ask “how can I help?”. It may be that you could bring the sufferer their medication, or a hot water bottle or ice pack, but it may even be something more every-day that they’d really appreciate. Preparing meals while suffering from a migraine is horrible, so they might ask if you could make dinner. Leaving the house with a migraine is similarly awful and, for some, nearly impossible. Perhaps you could do the school run, or go to the supermarket for them?
Another thing which is really helpful on a day-to-day basis is to refrain from using any strong smelling perfumes or aerosols. A major trigger for some migraine sufferers is strong smells, but it’s not a trigger all that many people know about. Reducing the strong chemical scents around a migraine sufferer helps a lot.
A migraine sufferer can often need help after a migraine attack ends, as well as during one. Once the head pain phase of a migraine attack is over, there is often a phase known as a migraine hangover. This is where the migraine sufferer still feels ill, run-down and drowsy. If you can help them while they’re still recovering from the attack then that is great. Even if you can’t, just knowing that they won’t be back to their full energy levels and allowing for this will be a big help!
The main thing to do though, is ask if you can help. It means a lot to migraine sufferers just to know that there is support there if they need it.
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