Seeing as I’ve been suffering (for once, hell, yes, that is the word) from them on a daily basis for a month, I decided to compile a list of films on migraines.

The condition is so surreal, with no unknown cause and no treatment universally proven to work (in my case, I’d say there’s no treatment, sumatriptan alleviates some symptoms for a short time, but the derealisation and disorientation and the ****ing AGONY don’t go anywhere), that I feel like it merits a proper cinematic treatment.

Haven’t found much so far but will list all the films I come across here. If anyone knows any more, please add. I will neaten the links later as I just don’t have the brain capacity right now.

Out of My Head (2018)https://m.imdb.com/title/tt6856594/
Migraine (2012), short https://m.imdb.com/title/tt2241349/

The protagonist in Darren Aronofsky's Pi suffers migraines. They're so bad they make him hallucinate.

Need to rewatch that, loved the film but don’t remember that at all. Thanks!

James Cagney in White Heat. Though it’s arguable that he actually suffers from cluster headaches (the two often go hand in hand). As a migraine/cluster headache sufferer (runs in the family), the representation stood out to me.

Yeah, my boss and favourite migraine commiserator has cluster headaches and I have migraines, we’ve established they’re quite different. Don’t remember seeing White Heat so will check out, thank you!

Re: Migraine films
 

Though I don't suffer from migraines specifically about once every month or two I'll get a tension headache so bad it puts me to tears for like an hour. Would love to find a film that can simulate that. Keeping an eye on this thread for sure.

I can relate. Used to get a couple of these a week in my late teens. I had one last year which was my first in 20 years. Once the blind spots in my eyes start, I know I'm in for a bad day.

Exactly. I’m not in my teens but I’ve been having one every two days, the whole shebang - blind spots, nausea, dizziness, you name it. Today I had the idiocy to go to the gym in the morning after a good night - and lo and behold, I have been on the sofa for the last 8 hours unable to move. It’s a tad better now, so catching up on everything I need to watch, but it’s not going away, temples still pulsing and can’t move at all.

I commiserate. The flowing tears are horrible, especially at work. I’ve been taking time off as you can’t really do anything anyway.

Re: Migraine films
 

In the last 30 years, there's been so much unnecessary shaky cam. (I guess its a gimmick)

Sure. But I’d argue that’s a pretty ****ty and lazy way of conveying the migraine experience. Something to do with frying/heat is much more accurate.

Scanners.

David Keith's character suffers from debilitating migraines in Stephen King's Firestarter - but I don't remember the film well enough to say his character does onscreen. It's been well over 30 years since I saw it. One of those films which completely disappeared after it came out.

Torgo beat me to Pi - my very first reaction to your question.

Yeah, I remember Firestarter, seems that was much more to ground the supernatural ability and actually a kind of trade-off for the supernatural ability. I was hoping for something actually focussing on migraines, but thanks for the suggestion. Pi does very much fit.

lol Scanners just shows what you wish your head would do when you have a migraine. I always wanted to just lop it off.

Agreed.

If you're including TV, there's the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Battle," in which the Ferengi use a device to give Picard headaches.

A former friend suffered horribly like this. She had shots which greatly alleviate the symptoms. Have you tried this?

You may have developed a new dietary trigger. My sister, out of nowhere, could no longer eat onions. Near instant migraine when she touches the stuff. She also developed sensitivity to the smell of olive oil cooking and had to change how she cooks.

I’m not that sensitive but I know that if I drink stuff with aspartame, I’ll get one pretty quickly.

You may want to mead out what you have a habit of eating/drinking and remove it from your diet for a period of time and see if anything coincides with a recovery.

My mother (it’s genetic, unfortunately) used to get diazepam shots. Says they made her feel addicted so she stopped. I should try the shots, though, I doubt they’re all diazepam (though if worse comes to worst, which it certainly seems to be doing now, I could try that). Do you know which ones your friend had? Offers some hope, that.

Yes, this is exactly what I suffered from for most of my teen years. As soon as I stopped ingesting Aspartame, they went away. And when I mistakenly started chewing gum with Aspartame in it a few years ago, they immediately came back (thought not nearly as bad as they once were).


Most people I know who get them find it is directly tied to diet. Although it certainly isn't always the case.

Yeah. My whole family (except my dad) can’t drink aspartame. It jacks all of us up.*

I currently don’t have many other dietary triggers myself. Mine are linked to allergies so when pollen, rag weed or dust blow into town, my likelihood of getting one skyrockets. The trick is usually to regulate my allergies first but sometimes they’re unavoidable and I just have to ride it out.

Former friend. I think she moved to Florida a long time ago.

She would lose a day of work each time she had a migraine. She had to lie in a darkened room until it went away. Wish I knew what shots she took. They changed her life.

I get migraines rarely, but I always have Excedrin Migraine in the house. Three tablets is the only thing that will end a migraine for me. Mine are always behind my right eye & I hate them!

Sorry, I do appreciate the distinction. Not as careful with language as I usually am while this is going on.

Mine are more towards the side of the eye. Will have a look into Excedrin, thank you. I saw an overpriced neurologist at the Shard today because at one point I became really scared of how intense they were getting, he prescribed naproxen (never tried that before) and said I could mix it with other drugs. That’s always lovely, isn’t it! Will see what happens. He was very good, though. A real presence which is rare.

I doubt very much, given the extreme nature of your migraines, that Excedrin Migraine will help you. Definitely give it a shot though. I need 3 to work & it works SLOWLY. But the relief is beautiful. I am terrified of “rebound” migraines which, I think, means the sufferer gets a migraine the next day, takes Excedrin again & so on & so forth. Hasn’t happened to me so far, thank goodness.

I used to get far more. I still wake up occasionally with the signs of one, but eating will make it disappear. If I get on a cross-Atlantic plane for sure I will get a migraine. (Even with British Airways. :p)

Well, this interesting. I looked up naproxen & it’s sold as Aleve here. It’s an over-the-counter medicine. I always have it in the house for one thing or another (it recently helped me prior to my root canal), but no way would I take it for a migraine. Over here, it’s only an alternative aspirin type of thing.

Cannot believe a neuro wrote a scrip for this. Surely Boots sells Aleve?

Well, that’s the thing.

The neurologist’s quite famous in select circles of sufferers. The senior coworker who recommended him is the one suffering from cluster headaches and thus we commiserate with each other on a regular basis. He’s been seeing the guy for years and so has his entire family (another grim proof that the blasted thing for sure is hereditary; kids, beware!), they all say he’s very good.

I suppose he doesn’t understand how serious it is because I’m not one to overstate things; perhaps I should have. Thing is, that’s an effort too, and I just didn’t have it in me at the time (still don’t). He asked what I’d been taking; I listed a bunch of stuff. Nothing has been working this time ‘round, I’m still not all there, dizzy, etc. Sumatriptan is prescription-only here and they only give you 2 (!!!) pills in a pack. Instructions advise you shouldn’t really take them both during the same attack, but if you must, wait for 4 hours.

Well, I was alone when it hit me, in relative isolation, geographically speaking, and I thought I was going to die before I’d get the chance to call the ambulance. I took both, half-expecting an overdose, and it did… nothing. Nada. Didn’t even help with nausea.

Went to see the Shard guy on Monday, he gave me the prescription for this naproxen thing. Anyway, long story short, called him today and demanded an MRI, seeing him again on Tuesday. Not ideal, but at least he’s trying, and to get an MRI with Covid and everything at such short notice even at a private hospital is better than nothing.

Went to work today (because we’re dealing with the biggest High Court litigation case of the year and I can’t keep slacking off) and nearly passed out in the street. It was like some cheesy version of Notorious where someone’s being slowly poisoned. I went down on my knees in the middle of Victoria Street and now to top it all off I have raw bloody knees with red, red, red, red welts and have been nursing them in between meetings. To quote Hank Schrader, maybe the universe is trying to tell me something.

Re: migraine films, what came to my mind (though not sure it was in the films, I’m only remembering it from the books) is Harry Potter’s headaches when Voldemort was trying to get into his head or vice versa, whatever it was. I’m looking for a representation that at least attempts to capture how awful it is. On the plus side, have done a ton of reading on migraines this morning (instead of the Particulars of Claim, that was, but I don’t think anyone expects me to work just yet) and it’s fascinating just how misrepresented they usually are. Kind of what I suspected, but still. As one article says, the typical portrayal of a migraine is a woman giving a theatrical wave and excusing herself to ‘lie down’ (usually because the party has upset her or her husband is a jerk). Tragicomic, that, in light of my weekend. Also quite curious to see men hardly ever get migraines in films.

Re: Migraine films
 

Besides the agony, the most devastating thing about suffering migraines is the misconception that they are just a bad headache. And so people act like they understand, and play like they have survived them and are here to tell the tale, when they clearly don't have a ****ing clue what they are talking about.


I've only had three in the last twenty five years, but I still live in some kind of constant terror that one day they will return like when I was younger. A couple of times a month. Putting me in bed three or four days at a time. Having people begin to understand that it is more than 'just a headache' would be a nice beginning for those who suffer. After a worthwhile treatment is discovered, of course.

Interesting that this would not be prescribed for me because of its interaction with a daily drug I take. (Don’t ask. :p)

I have another former friend (sounds like I can’t keep friends) who worked at a huge hospital here. She had terrible migraines & I want to say she had to self-inject her medicine. Does that make sense? Wish I knew what she took because she told me her migraines are completely under control now. I do remember she told she must medicate at the slightest onset, not wait like I do with Excedrin. (I wait to make sure it’s not going away by itself.)

True, very true. The thing with a migraine is that it’s right there inside your head & it’s impossible to do anything when one is suffering. Read a book? Not a chance. Watch a movie? Heck, no, the lights, the noise!

Oh, I shan’t. We all have our guilty pleasures.

Now, that I understand (re: former friends) and no, it doesn’t sound like anything. Shots do make sense and I know for a fact my mother used to do that. Apparently they weren’t just diazepam. I do take your point and will have a good look into injections, there must something. The migraines had never been this bad before - nor so frequent - so I’d never had reason to consider it.

Eating did always used to help me - especially carbs, but again, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, didn’t work this time. I had cereal with heaps of sugar and cinnamon and jam on top, didn’t help. Ah well. Flying is horrible though I agree that BA generally delivers. My current boss pretty much masterminded the privatisation of BA, so I know all about them :)

I do sympathise - I can never sleep on planes so always watch films. Get very stressed, unfortunately.

It’s very comforting when someone understands, so thank you for that. I do get a sense in the office that people think I’m faking, especially these few weeks. You make a good point, I guess people genuinely think they know what it’s like, so they can’t tell the difference. What the hell.

I only have a vestige left now (in the left temple this time, what a ****ty pin). Exactly as you say, anticipating the next attack, the moment there’s even the slightest pulsing sensation I tense all over and wait in terror, as it were. I suppose the warm weather makes it worse.

Want to try running tomorrow but that’s probably a stupid ****ing idea. Might clear the head, though.

Re: Migraine films
 

⬆️ So you’re gonna wait now for your MRI?

Have you seen Haneke’s latest movie Happy End? It’s not horror or gore, but an intelligent rendition of a very dysfunctional family. I liked it very much. Guessing you might (possibly) parlez français so you could see it without subs.

Je depart maintenant. À vendredi. Bon nuit. :p

I really like Happy End. It does have a sad cruelty to it and a great ending. I think it might just be my favourite Haneke after White Ribbon. And yes, you guessed it, I watched the original version. I’m a huge lifelong fan of Isabelle Huppert, she is phenomenal. And the narrative with her on-screen son was so very believable. Poor woman.

C’est dommage, mais quoi faire. J’attends vendredi. À très bientôt. Bonne nuit. :)

Yes, I love White Ribbon. One of my fave movies.

The little Belgian girl who played the pyscho daughter in HE was so good.

I could not figure out why bon nuit looked wrong. Didn’t occur to me that it’s bonne nuit. There is nobody in America to speak French with so my familiarity with the language has long since disappeared. Dommage. :p

Re: Migraine films
 

@AgrippinaX, see if this NY Times migraine article will come through for you.

https://nyti.ms/3zYIode

Thank you! Yes, I see it, probably because I’ve got an NYT subscription. Funnily enough, my soon to be ex-boss flagged that study to me a few weeks ago. I’m sure it’s true. I do eat a fair amount of fish, but can always up my intake. Working on it.