03-06-2025
Maryland migraine headache research advocates head to Capitol Hill
MYERSVILLE, Md. () — Advocates for more medical research to treat neurological diseases associated with migraine headaches made their way to Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
Advocates say it's an epidemic, and they want lawmakers to improve care.
Their crusade is called Headache on the Hill, their health advocacy initiative for those challenged by headache disorders.
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Heather Eig is a 51-year-old school counselor struggling to overcome this common medical condition.
'I suffer from headaches that are often caused by barometric weather change, stress,' Eig said. 'Sometimes I don't even know why I have them.'
Eig even wears a wrist device to help monitor her symptoms.
'I'm part of a medical study at the National Institutes of Health looking at brain issues,' Eif said.
It's a study she and other advocates across the country hope will be expanded to improve access to care for migraines.
Thirty-one-year-old Shelby Blondell, a singer-songwriter and artisan, also wants more federal attention to neurological disease.
'I'm a chronic migraine patient, but it leads to much more,' Blondell said. 'Speech difficulties, brain fog, nausea, dizziness, all kinds of things that come along with headache and migraine disorder.'
Eig said she has a 17-year-old daughter who has had a migraine disorder since she was diagnosed at 8 years old.
'She started having headaches at age five,' Eig said.
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Eig and Blondell are crusading with other advocates from across the country to make treating headache disorders a much higher public policy priority. They said 40 million people need improved diagnoses.
'We need that research to be able to understand,' Eig said. 'We need the funding to be able to have the research.'
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