Migraine, headache, and art
migraine time - migraine art courtesy of silas216
Did you know that the three words - migraine, headache and art - really do go together*? It's natural, when you think about it. When you've gone through an intense experience, such as a migraine attack or cluster headache, or if you suffer from chronic headaches, it's something you want to express to others. We want people to understand.
Migraine (which, as you know, is not a headache but a disease) and various types of headaches have often been misunderstood through the years. Some of the earliest "art" was done by doctors and neurologists trying to understand what was happening in the body.
Upon seeing an art teacher's portrayals of her migraine attacks, the late David Robinson began to develop the migraine art concept in the 1970s (more about Robinson, migraine, headache and art). This turned into a wider movement, and migraine, headache and art competitions were begun in various parts of the world.
Today, many of these competitions continue. But there's an even bigger revolution - people sharing their photos, paintings and drawings on their own websites, in Facebook, Flickr, and in blogs. This isn't just self-obsession - it's a way to help the rest of the world understand what we're dealing with. It can even help researchers learn more about headaches and migraine, and lead to new understanding and better treatments.
Read more here about the history of migraine art, and see more examples.
Have Your own Migraine or Headache Art to Share?
You want the world to understand? Share your own photo, drawing or painting that tells us what your headaches, migraine or clusters are really like!
What Other Visitors Have Said
Click below to see contributions from other visitors to this page...
The Pain Tunnel
So blinding is the light
I shut my eyes
Digital Photoshop Work after migraine.
Feels Like...
Pictures can tell a thousand words. This image came to me this morning during a migraine attack. After taking medicine because I caught it early enough,...
Eye Aura
This is a basic image showing what i would be seeing when i have an eye aura. if in fact that is what it is.
Migraine Skulls
This is a work in progress...But I wanted to share it because I often love to see where a drawing has come from and where it is going...
Two skulls,...
Instant Torment
It's not *exactly* what I see right before a migraine hits, because I can't ever seem to focus on it and study it - when I try, it moves out of my direct ...
Chaotic Confinement
For the past three years, I have been plagued with daily headaches. Relatively recently, I began to work through it with the use of drawing and found that ...
Things I see
I've been seeing this thing in various colors and intensities for 25 years. I thought I was developing clairvoyance because I always felt a "presence"...
Mine's prettier than your's
My first one ever. It was in constant motion with the chevrons dancing side to side. Lasted 20 minutes, no headache at all. I recently ripped two out ...
Category 5
Everyone in my family gets migraines, and I'm the only one who doesn't get auras. I'm kind of jealous because a)I feel left out, and b)some people see ...
Another headache
Its like I'm lost in a fog where the only real thing is the pain in my head.
aura
This is more or less the colours and visuals I see, this has intensified over the last couple of months followed by neck pain and migraine.
Intense: Pronunciation: \in-ˈten(t)s\ Function: adjective
I've had migraines for so long now (35+years)That I just gotten use to them I guess. I can always tell how bad it's going to be by where the aura starts,...
Artistic Interpretation of Vacillating Crystalline Arc Shapes of the Migraine Phenomenon
I never had Migraine aura until perhaps two years ago. I was worried about it at first. Now I know they'll go away in just a couple minutes or so.
After ...
Migraine Monster
The pain got to me... I guess that's self evident. After a pulmonary embolism some two years ago I have been extremely prone to migraines lasting weeks ...
What I see
I produced this during college. 2002. At the time I was studying graphic arts and it dawned on me that I might now have the skills to show the world ...
Silent Ocular migraine
It is so scary. I never know when it is coming, until I am in the throws of it. All of a sudden my eyes start acting really weird, I can't focus and ...
Silent Ocular migraine
It is so scary. I never know when it is coming, until I am in the throws of it. All of a sudden my eyes start acting really weird, I can't focus and have ...
migraine monster
when i get migraine pain, it's in the back of my head. i painted the monster and the background in shades of green, as green has always represented nightmares ...
self portrait with migraine
It is like seeing sound,and hearing colors, which only a migrainer could understand.
Zebrallusions
My migraines are either intense headaches or visual disturbances, which never occur together. During the visual migraines, I typically think I am having ...
Blade
It makes me nauseous to even think of it. It appeared yesterday. It was like a jagged saw-blade but oval'ish, not round. But very true saw blade edges....
The Chute
This is the way I felt, as if the top of my head was going to go off in a horrible chute of pain and nerves and flashing lights. I felt nauseous and ended ...
Blinded
Before and during a migraine my vision is greatly disturbed and I experience pain that feels as though my head is torn apart. My eyes also swell. This ...
Injecting Pointless DHE 1 & 1/2 Inches Deep Into My Thigh
This was during my Hades days with a doctor in Minneapolis, MN, USA, whose philosophy was not to treat disabling migraine pain at all. I was only allowed ...
Voodoo Migraine
Sometimes while in the middle of a migraine, I find myself wondering where did these things ever come from. Although I've heard they are hereditary and ...
Me -- On A Bad Day
I'm always left to wonder why is it that I was saddled with this particular affliction...migraines. I mean -- growing up an asthmatic was bad enough (laughing ...
Migraine #4
Migraine - (2008) With this series, I make the often private and debilitating experience of a migraine open to all. "Migraine" is wrought with melancholia....
first occular migraine
i have suffered from migraines without auras for years. i had a hysterectomy 4 months ago and have not had any since the surgery. a few days ago i had ...
Migraine Aura
Digital artwork, set against one of my own photos depicting what I see during the migraine aura
A collage of my migraine auras
Hi there
I have occular migraines. I get the migraine aura's - sometimes the scintillating scotoma usually in the day time, and sometimes brightly coloured ...
* Note - this page talks about art based on headaches and migraine. Remember, however, that migraine headaches are only one symptom of migraine. Many people with migraine don't get any headaches at all! Migraine headache is only one possible symptom, not the disease itself. Read more about migraine headache and other symptoms of migraine.
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