Migraine is the most common neurological condition in the world, with more than one in seven people suffering from migraines in Ireland.

The neurological condition is also three times more common for women than for men.

On The Pat Kenny Show, dietician Orla Walsh who suffers from chronic migraines said she didn’t take them seriously until she thought she was having a stroke.

“I was episodic, meaning that it came sporadically and really, in my early 20s, it could be dealt with quite easily a cup of coffee and ibuprofen and I was good to go,” she said.

“Well, it just grew and grew and… I didn't realise how bad it was until I met my husband and he said ‘Actually, you're suffering most days with this. Can you go get seen?’

“I was still reluctant to go and seek help [but] one morning, I woke up and my eye had dropped and I had right sided weakness… I went to my GP and they thought I was having a stroke.

“I had CTS, MRIs, everything and it wasn't a stroke, it was migraine.”

Patient suffering from stress, eye pain and migraine visiting doctor at hospital. Image: Alamy.com

Ms Walsh said there can be a “whole host” of different symptoms associated with migraines.

“One of my most annoying ones is that I yawn when I'm not tired, but I can also crave things, I start to smell things really intensely and hear things,” she said.

“That's why it's so hard to find your triggers for migraine because it's brewing the whole time.

“It's during this brewing stage, if you can imagine that you're 10 steps away from a cliff edge and the triggers have the potential to bring you forward and the cliff edge is where you fall into the full migraine attack.”

“For me and for one in five migraineurs you get this aura where, for example, you might have flashing lights in your eyes or zigzags and you know that a migraine is coming imminently.”

Ms Walsh said in most cases migraineurs will seek out a “really cold, dark room”.

Migraine medications

She said there are incentives that you can get for chronic migraines but they don’t work for everybody.

“Most [preventatives] offered to people are ones where they're used for something else but they discovered they also happen to help a migraine,” she said.

“They would be the likes of beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, these antidepressants that work on pain pathways, as well as anti-epileptic or anti-convulsion meds.

“There are migraine medications that you can take when one comes on with up to 80% of people benefitting from [these] triptans and as soon as you feel it coming on, the earlier you take it, the better and it just works wonders for people.

“Other people take pain meds [but] you have to be super careful with the pain medication… there's one in particular, codeine, and most neurologists [say not to] have it in your house - it works wonderfully for migraine but it has the potential to trigger another.”

Doctor cosmetologist injects into the forehead. Image: Henadzi Pechan / Alamy. 23 June 2021

For Ms Walsh, Botox has been a “real game changer” – she receives doses in her forehead, sides of her head, scalp, neck and shoulder.

“I get it done every 12 weeks and there is a cost to it as well and it makes my eyelids a bit droopy, so I look sleepier, but it is transformative,” she said.

“I'm lucky enough as well that I qualified for the CGRP injections, which is an injection I take every four weeks.

“It helps with this thing which is released during migraine and when you take these injections, it blocks them, connecting to the receptors and really helps with the frequency, intensity and duration.”

Ms Walsh said she wished people would understand migraines are not just a headache – it’s so much more than that.

Listen back here:

Young woman rubbing her temples. Image: Alamy