When I was Forty I Suffered from my very first Migraine

Yvonne Dartnall
When I was forty I suffered from my very first migraine; I was in bed for five days with it. Before this point in my life I had never really been ill. The attacks became more and more frequent, happening three or four times each year, and by the time I had reached the age of forty-eight they were a fortnightly affair and almost unbearable. I was becoming so tense that my head, neck and even my eyes were constantly painful. It was then that I decided to go along to the local college and enrol in what appeared to be "a way to relax" – the Alexander Technique. That was seven months ago. My last migraine of any consequence was over four months ago, but I would not be so brash as to say that I have been cured. I can now take precautionary action, however, to limit the severity of the attack and sometimes even prevent the attack itself. Hopefully, in the near future, I will say that I am cured, but I do know that whatever I have learnt through the Alexander Technique will help me through any other crisis in the future