Do You “Hide” Your Migraine Attacks? (Of course you do…)

A study in Japan about migraine stigma was recently published in the journal Brain and Behavior. And the more I think about it, the more surprising the results are.

The study focused on migraine-related stigma (MiRS), asking questions about work, family, and school. Does your employer minimize your migraine attacks? Do you hide your migraine attacks from others? Have you ever been accused of being a “drug seeker”? Has this caused problems in your marriage? Have you ever lost a job due to migraine? Have you ever had to ask someone to adjust your schedule because of migraine? And so on.

You can read the details of the study for yourself. Most of it isn’t too surprising. For example, about half of the people with migraine felt that their employers were not very understanding regarding their condition.

But the conclusion of the authors was quite interesting. At first, the burden of migraine on society didn’t seem too high. A lot of people responded that they didn’t even know a person with migraine. And although there was stigma, it maybe wasn’t as high as one might expect.

But then they took note of something else – many migraine patients hid their migraine attacks from others.

In other words, it wasn’t so much that it wasn’t a “burden” on society – it was likely more that people didn’t realize how much of an issue it actually is.

Now, the researchers found that over 1/3 of patients sometimes or even very often hid their migraine from coworkers. Really? Only 1/3?

It sounds bad to “hide” something, doesn’t it? And it can be, if you’re hiding it because other people are going to misunderstand, or misjudge you. Or if you’re just lying straight up.

But on the other hand, we know that migraine can make other people uncomfortable. If you can somewhat hide your pain, that’s not always a bad thing.

So there are many, many reasons to “hide” a migraine attack. I’m not recommending you do it, I’m just saying that – I find it hard to believe that only 34 or 35% of a group of migraine patients ever “hid” their attacks. It’s probably the way the question was asked. It’s one thing to admit you have a migraine, it’s another thing to really explain how bad it is! So I imagine most people hide somewhat most of the time.

So I want to hear your comments. Do you…

1. …hide the fact that you’re having an attack?
2. …minimize just how bad it is?
3. …complain a lot less than you really want to?

…and if so, why? For example,

1. …you’re afraid that people will think it’s “your fault”.
2. …you’re afraid of losing a promotion/job/project/status?
3. …you don’t want people around you to be uncomfortable?
4. …you’re afraid that people will treat you differently? How?
5. …you’re embarrassed?
6. …other?