Chronic Migraine Recovery Is Possible — And It's Time We Talk About What That Really Means

In honour of the first annual Chronic Illness Recovery Day (July 13, 2025)

Today marks my first-ever blog post, launched in celebration of the inaugural Chronic Illness Recovery Day — a day created by a group of passionate, recovery-minded advocates, which I'm proud to be a part of, to:

       🙌 Celebrate full and progressing recoveries
       💌 Acknowledge and thank those who’ve supported us along the way
       🫶 Offer hope and direction to others just starting to explore recovery

Migraine Oasis is proud to stand behind this day — recognizing all forms of long-term illness and the many, many ways people are reclaiming their health, peace, and joy.

When it comes to migraine, what are we recovering from?

It’s a question I’ve come back to again and again — 

The obvious answer would be we're recovering from head pain, but this is incorrect in my view.  Reducing pain and symptoms is just the side effect of healing the root causes.

In my experience, what we are actually recovering from is:
     🔑 a deep misunderstanding of how pain works & becomes chronic (latest neuroscience)
     🔑 chronic state of overwhelm, worry, and stress (in its many forms) 
     🔑 a nervous system stuck in a prolonged stress/survival state
     🔑 a lack of felt sense of safety in the body
     🔑 the effects of learned neural pathways in the brain 
     🔑 never having been taught how to process emotions 
     🔑 anything in our childhood that effected our self-worth for a prolonged period of time 
     🔑 a lifetime of tension within body, due to bottling-up emotions and traumas
     🔑 an adversarial relationship with migraine-pain 
     🔑 internalized pressure caused by coping strategies / defence mechanisms learned in childhood (e.g. perfectionism, people pleasing, lack of or unhealthy boundaries, etc)
     🔑 the effects of a lack of self-compassion and tough inner judge and critic
     🔑 messaging that kept us stuck in pain with no hope for recovery ("incurable" disease, genetics) 

 What do all of these have in common?
• They are not being spoken about in mainstream (biomedical) medicine as possible root causes of migraine, nor often factored into our overall health.
• They are common aspects of the more holistic, whole-person approach in the biopsychosocial / mindbody medicine model 
• Most are developed and/or happening outside of our conscious awareness.

So how do you heal something you're not even aware of?
By becoming aware of it. And that is exactly the intent of this blog post!  To plant a seed and give you a new perspective to consider.  Take what resonates, leave the rest.

Before We Can Talk Recovery, We Need to Know How It Started

"We’re all living in a mindbody system, living in the human condition" as Nicole Sachs says. When looking at symptoms through the lens of our mindbody connection, we know it is quite normal and natural for our thoughts and emotions to show up as physical sensations in the body.

When I think a sad thought, I may cry.  When I'm nervous, my stomach often gets upset. When I'm overwhelmed, emotionally triggered, or angry, my head may hurt. That’s normal and a part of living the human experience.  

While migraine pain may begin as a natural response within our mindbody system, when it becomes chronic (lasting 3+ months), the latest neuroscience shows that neural pathways in the brain have become established. In other words, the pain has been learned and reinforced over time.  What reinforces it?  The items listed above that are at the root cause of creating tension within the body, keeping the nervous system stuck in a stress or survival pattern, and feeling very unsafe to the brain. The brain moves in to protect and can get stuck in a vicious cycle as we react to the pain with more fear and frustration which then fuels even more danger messages to the brain. 

Chronic migraine is a form of primary pain—meaning there’s no underlying cause to the pain like structural damage or disease. By definition, this makes it neuroplastic pain, generated by the brain rather than a physical injury.  

Pain is always a decision of the brain. Pain is a protection mechanism.  Think of a broken bone or when your hand gets too close to a hot stove. The brain receives input and decides if pain is in the best interest of our safety and survival.

A brain that feels safe does not fire pain. Please re-read that...

In the case of migraine and other neuroplastic pain and symptoms, the brain is trying to protect you from a non-physical threat— but from what?  The brain cannot distinguish between physical and emotional threats. So, we need to ask: What does it feel unsafe about? What deeper patterns or experiences might be driving that sense of threat?  Simply go back to the list above and see what resonates for you.

Let's get to the good part - Recovery!  Yes, It's possible

The good news?  Healing doesn’t require you to find and fix every root cause. We recover by helping the brain and body feel safe again.

The other good news? Migraine is neuroplastic pain - a type of pain that is reversible.

The latest neuroscience confirms it—and I’m living proof.

So, if migraine can start as a midbody sensation, progresses over time - fuelled by the list above - can get established as a neural pathway within the brain - but these can be reversible AND you don't have to fix every single thing that has ever created this sense of tension and threat within the nervous system and brain............I'd argue there is really nothing to "recover" from. Hear me out. 

Bottom line is, we are not broken.  Our nervous system and brain are doing exactly what they’re designed to do—protect us and keep us safe and alive. Some say the brain is making a mistake, a judgment error, and this is a false alarm. I see it differently. While predictive coding can sometimes misinterpret signals —especially when the system becomes sensitized or reactive—I don’t believe the brain is malfunctioning. Instead, I view it as an input vs. output mismatch. The brain is responding to perceived threat based on the information it’s receiving, even if that perception no longer serves us. Why? Because it’s familiar—and the brain likes familiar. Familiar feels safe. 

It is not likely to eliminate the output (migraine pain/other neuroplastic symptom) from the source (the brain = protector), unless we change the input to something that can be perceived as safe. 

How?  Well, that is the million-dollar question the 1.13 billion people living in migraine pain want to know - and need to hear (from the latest neuroscience and mindbody medicine approach).

To reverse this, we must ensure the input data the brain receives feels safe (input = both physically and emotional, and both in and out of our conscious awareness) in order to ensure there are no miscommunications or reasons to keep the learned pain neural pathways firing. This comes with building a felt sense of safety within the body, working to understand and regulate the nervous system, and any of the other items on the list above that feel relevant to your situation. 

This is exactly what my work entails - helping people find the root causes of their brain's perceived danger, developing strategies to reduce them, and increasing a felt sense of safety.

What does Recovery Look Like?

There is no single or right answer to this question.  Recovery looks and feels different for everyone, because we are all different.  It's unique to each of us - shaped by our stories, beliefs, emotions, and lived experiences.

To me, "recovery" is when we are no longer controlled by or a victim of our pain or symptom. You are able to live more freely, more fully, more authentically – with far less fear and concern about the pain. As the pain neural pathways weaken, symptoms fade into the background as you begin living and even enjoying life again. The nervous system works as intended, and flows in and out of stress responses instead of getting stuck for too long. A symptom flare no longer feels catastrophic because you have tools to manage and have come to understand it as a part of our mindbody connection. It's now seen as a messenger versus an attack. But that’s my thoughts on it.

We all have different expectations and goals when it comes to healing. One person may be thrilled to have fewer or shorter migraine “attacks”. Another may not feel recovered until they’re completely migraine-free. Some measure success by reducing or eliminating medication. Others feel recovered when they’re able to spend more time with their kids, reconnect with their partner, or get back to work or hobbies they love.

Who am I to define recovery for you? All of these versions are valid.

To me, recovery doesn’t mean being 100% migraine-free for the rest of your life. If a symptom flares, it doesn’t mean you’re failing or that healing has stopped. It simply means your brain is sending a signal — a message that it feels threatened by something in your physical or emotional environment.

At those times, stop to consider, what is the data input it is receiving?

Want some Inspiration on this Recovery Day? 

• Explore chronic migraine Recovery Stories on the "Migraine Oasis Podcast" (Ep. 2, 3, 16) to see what’s possible.
• Check out my interview with Dr. David Clarke on Symptomatic YouTube channel 
• Recovery Stories of all kinds (long-Covid, ME/CFS, chronic back pain, pelvic pain, etc)
  • Nicole Sachs "The Cure for Chronic Pain" Podcast
  • Living Proof, a UK non-profit "Recovery Wall" 
• Information on how to heal: 
  • Curable Health's Podcast "Tell Me About Your Pain" 
  • Curable Podcast "Like Mind Like Body"  

Want to Chat About Your Recovery Path?

If you're curious about this mindbody approach or want help navigating your own healing journey, I’d love to support you.

💬 Book a free 25-minute consult with me here
📩 Or email me at: [email protected]

Let’s explore what recovery could mean for you.

#migraine #chronicmigraine #migraineisneuroplasticpain #migrainerecovery #migraineoasis #recoveryispossible #chronicillnessrecoveryday #mindbodyhealing