At the end of June I will be running for the Migraine Trust at the FSI 10K Challenge in the Peak District!

As many of you know I have suffered with migraines for the last 14yrs so this is a cause that's very close to my heart.  Looking back now it feels like it was much easier to deal with when I was younger and has just continually worsened as time's gone by.  Suffering with them has had a huge impact on my life, often stopping me from doing normal activities and putting life on hold at times.  As well as the agonising pain there are also the other symptoms including sensitivity to light and noise, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, eyesight changes and sometimes incoherent speech.  This is before you even get to the side effects of the medications that try to help you manage them!  As a result there are some days where you can't even get out of bed.  Having spent years trying all sorts of medications (most of which I can't even spell!), alternative therapies and being jabbed in the head with botox, it's still a case of trial and error to find a treatment that will help.

So a few key facts:  Migraine is the most common neurological condition in the developed world.  It is more prevalent than diabetes, epilepsy and asthma combined - eight million people in the UK have migraine.  Migraine is one of the top 20 causes of disability expressed as years of healthy life lost to disability.  In the UK, there are an estimated 190,000 migraine attacks a day, resulting in approx. 25 million days lost from work or school every year.  Migraine remains undiagnosed and undertreated in at 50% of patients.

The Migraine Trust provide's information and support to help people manage the condition and improve quality of life, campaign for increased awareness and promote research.  Please sponsor me to complete the run and help the Migraine Trust continue with the exceptional work they do.