Over Thirty Years to Freedom: How I Unlearned Chronic Migraine
In this segment of her video, Joanne Smith recounts a six‑month period (late 2023 through May 2024) during which her chronic migraine symptoms dramatically worsened. Despite escalating pain, she continued to train for and complete a 100‑mile ultramarathon in May 2024. She describes wearing sunglasses, a cap, a head‑torch, and glasses at all times to mitigate light sensitivity, and relying heavily on the acute medication sumatriptan to abort attacks during runs. Joanne reflects that while she does not endorse pushing oneself to such extremes, her past experience of repeatedly “keeping going” without catastrophic outcomes led her to persist. She also notes that she declined preventive migraine treatments during this period, only seeking medical attention when the situation became alarming.
