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Ever feel a headache rolling before the storm?
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Turns out your brain might be better at predicting rain than your weather app.
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Welcome to the Migraine Heroes podcast.
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A podcast for people living with chronic migraines,
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years of pain, misunderstanding and no answers.
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I'm Diane Ducarme and I've helped more than a thousand people
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reduce the burden of migraines and feeling more in control.
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Each episode brings you grounded insight
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into what your body might be asking for and what can truly help.
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Recently, a customer shared something that really stayed with me.
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She wrote, this is a game changer for me and for my family.
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The constant brain fog and dizziness are so much less
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and the fear of pain is completely gone.
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A huge thank you to the team.
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What struck me most when I read her message
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was not only the reduction in symptoms, dizziness and fogginess,
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it was the absence of fear.
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Because when migraines take over your life,
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it's not just the pain itself that is difficult,
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it's the constant anticipation of it, the uncertainty,
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the feeling that your brain could turn against you at any moment.
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And this is something I see again and again in this work.
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The moment migraines stop feeling random and start making sense,
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everything begins to shift.
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You begin to see the patterns,
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you understand what your body is telling you.
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And little by little, that fear begins to fade
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because you finally feel that you have something to work with.
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That clarity comes from slowing down and looking at the whole picture,
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your medical history, your patterns, your other symptoms
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and the questions that often remain unanswered.
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This month, I've set aside to personally hold
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more of these 90 minutes migraine sessions
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and I'm offering them at no cost.
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If that feels important for you,
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you can book a session using the link in the podcast show notes
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or download the Migraine Heroes app
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and follow the getting started steps to reserve your session.
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Now, take a deep breath and let's dive in.
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In this episode, you will learn why your head starts to throb
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before the clouds even gather
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and what barometric pressure has to do with it.
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The five most researched triggers behind weather-related migraines
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and what science says about their effects on your brain.
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And a simple calming technique you can use today
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when a storm is coming to soothe your nervous system before rain hits.
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Stay with me till the end
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because you'll finally have the science to be taken seriously
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when you see your brain senses weather shifts
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before the clouds even roll in.
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You might have noticed it long before anyone believed you.
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A dull pressure behind the eyes,
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a strange heaviness in your head,
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fatigue that rolls in before the rain even does.
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And you check the sky, the forecast, the air
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and people around you shrug, tease or tell you it's a coincidence.
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And over time, you may have learned to downplay it yourself,
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to stop mentioning it, to wonder if you're imagining this.
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But your body has been sending you a signal all along.
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And that sensitivity isn't weakness, anxiety or overthinking.
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And today, we're finally putting science behind
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what you've been feeling in your nervous system for years.
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Now, in another time, you might not have been dismissed at all.
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You might have been sought after.
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In many Asian cultures,
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the people who sense shifts before they were visible
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were seen as oracles, seers, weather readers.
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They felt changes in the air, pressure in the body,
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disturbances before the storms or earthquakes.
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What we now called sensitivity was once understood as attunement.
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Somewhere along the way,
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modern life decided that only instruments could be trusted
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and bodies stopped being believed.
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So, what's really going on when you feel a headache
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before the weather changes?
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This phenomenon is called barometric pressure migraine.
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And yes, it's real.
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It's a measurable condition recognized by neurologists.
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Barometric pressure is the weight of the air
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pressing down on you.
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Before a rainstorm, that pressure drops.
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The lower pressure can affect your sinuses, blood vessels
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and even the way your brain interprets sensory signals.
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And if you live with migraines,
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that drop in pressure might be like a switch flipping on.
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A landmark 2004 study published in Cephalalgia
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found that 64% of migraine patients
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reported a clear link between weather changes and migraine attack.
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What kind of changes?
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Low barometric pressure, humidity and temperature fluctuations.
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Another study from Headache, the journal of head and face pain,
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tracked emergency room visits for migraines.
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And what they found was a significant spike
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in visits on days with large barometric pressure drops,
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suggesting a population level effect.
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So, what's going on biologically?
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Here are five Western science-backed reasons
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your brain might hurt before it rains.
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Number one, barometric pressure shifts brain volume.
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A 2011 study in the Annals of Neurology
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found that low pressure can slightly alter
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the volume of your brain's ventricles.
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The tiny space is filled with cerebrospinal fluid
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and this may trigger head pain in sensitive individuals.
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Number two, sinus pressure builds.
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When the air pressure is going to drop,
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the sinus cavities are going to expand slightly
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and that can lead to pressure, congestion and pain,
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especially if you're prone to sinus headaches
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or have migraine with facial pain.
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The third one is trigeminal nerve irritation.
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This major nerve in your face is a key player in migraines.
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It may become more sensitive
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under shifting atmospheric pressure,
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potentially releasing pro-inflammatory neuropeptides
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Number four, sleep disturbances before storms.
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Some studies suggest that storms affect sleep,
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possibly through barometric changes
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or electromagnetic shifts.
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Less restful sleep equals
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lower migraine threshold for the next day.
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Number five, inflammation rises.
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Pre-storm changes can suddenly boost systematic inflammation.
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For those with a sensitive nervous system,
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even a slight increase in inflammation
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may lower your resilience to a migraine trigger.
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You see, barometric sensitivity
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sits at the intersection of neurology,
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sensory processing and environment.
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It's a bit of a grey zone in Western culture,
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which prefers clean, visible causes.
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So lived experience can get trivialized.
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And over time, that leads people
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to second-guess themselves,
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stop speaking up or feel embarrassed
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about something their nervous system genuinely experiences.
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know that you don't need to convince people
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who aren't listening.
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Protect your energy instead.
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Anchor yourself in what you know your body experiences
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and in the science that increasingly supports it.
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Find spaces where your sensitivity is understood,
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you're not here to be believed by everyone.
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You're here to just take good care of yourself.
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Now, let's go east for a moment.
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Eastern medicine has always taught
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that your body doesn't exist in isolation.
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It is in constant conversation with the world around it.
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The air you breathe,
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the light you're exposed to,
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the temperature, the winds, the humidity,
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all of it shapes how your internal systems behave.
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Health in this view
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isn't just about what's happening inside of you,
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but how well your body adapts
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to what's happening around you.
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When that relationship is harmonious,
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the system stays steady.
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When external changes arrive faster
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than your body can adjust,
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In traditional Chinese medicine,
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this relationship with the environment is foundational.
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The entire system is organized around the season,
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spring, summer, late summer, autumn, and winter.
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Each season is linked to specific organs,
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rhythms, emotions, and vulnerabilities.
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And so treatment, food, rest, and lifestyle
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are meant to shift with the seasons
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because the body is expected to shift too.
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So from this lens,
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being affected by weather or seasonal changes
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is not abnormal at all.
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It simply means your system is responding to forces
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it has always been designed to sense.
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Now, in Eastern medicine,
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the goal is not to control your environment.
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It's to strengthen your body's ability to adapt to it.
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Rather than chasing symptoms,
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the focus is on restoring balance within the system
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so external changes don't create internal chaos.
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That means supporting digestion so energy is stable,
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regulating circulation so pressure doesn't build,
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calming the nervous system so sensory input isn't amplified,
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and ensuring the body's rhythms stay grounded
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even when the world shifts.
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When balance is restored,
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the body becomes more resilient,
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but responsive instead of reactive.
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Weather can change,
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and your body no longer has to sound the alarm.
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I'm thinking right now,
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Wendy is this divine woman,
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and she was on the podcast,
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and she shared a story with me.
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I don't remember if it's in her off-boarding,
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so her graduation,
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but she shared that she could, of course,
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sense the weather changes.
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So she was based in a very stormy state of the US,
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and she could feel the migraine before it happened.
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And she had learned how to recognize that trigger,
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and how to stop the migraine in its tracks.
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And she was, you know,
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what really struck me is she had so much joy
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and so much triumph on her face
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when she explained to me
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that she could just with an infusion
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stop those impacts on her body herself.
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And this really is not saying about it's easy,
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or that everyone's path looks the same.
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It's a simple reminder that awareness matters,
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not dismissing your experience,
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not letting others talk you out
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of what your body is clearly signaling.
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balance can become something you build gently over time
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with the right tools and support.
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We're still improving ourselves every day,
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including how to better anticipate
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environmental shifts in the app,
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like give you warnings.
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And we're committed to improve that over time.
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The point isn't perfection,
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it's giving your nervous system a little more steadiness
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and yourself a little more trust.
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And today I want you to trust yourself
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and disregard the opinion of those who dismiss you.
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So what can you try to do today in your home?
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When weather is changing,
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I want you to warm and ground your body,
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especially using food and fluids.
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On days when pressure drops or storms are coming,
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try to avoid cold, raw, icy foods and drinks.
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Choose more warmer meals, soups, stews,
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herbal teas, cooked grains.
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Warmth anchors energy downwards,
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supports digestion,
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and prevents pressure from rising to the brain.
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And by the way, that is always true.
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The more you will be stable,
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the more you will be resilient on all fronts.
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All of our podcasts are here,
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to take you in that direction.
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I hope you find the ones that are relevant
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to your migraine profile.
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every small step you take
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moves you closer to freedom.
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you are resilient,
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and you are no longer alone.
