OET Reading Poll 3C1

Migraines are often misunderstood, or dismissed as “just a headache.” Yet, they have the capacity to disrupt a person’s life, relationships, and sense of well-being. A study from Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia found that chronic migraine sufferers experience as much social stigma as people with epilepsy—a disease that produces far more obvious and dramatic symptoms. Some of that stigma is external—for example, getting treated differently by friends or colleagues. “Migraines are the unseen and undocumented pain that takes them away from work,” says Dr. R. Joshua Wootton, of pain psychology at the Arnold Pain Management Center, and assistant professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School. “There’s no empirical test for migraine yet. That’s why people who report these problems with chronic pain are often not believed or are thought to be exaggerating in the work environment’.