Letter from the Editor
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With the exception of the tragedy of 9/11, there has been nothing in my lifetime to approximate how much, how rapidly and how pervasively the viral pandemic has changed our behavior and perspective. We have had to swallow an enormous dose of change and, with that, the growing realization that life will never be the same as it was. For better and worse, much has changed. Irrevocably changed.
To paraphrase an old adage, courage is not the absence of fear but rather the inclination to act with grace despite one’s fear. Much the same can be said for adapting to change. If change is inevitable, perhaps our courage can be measured in how gracefully we accept that change and manage to maintain our creativity, good humor and personal integrity. Intolerance and extremism thrive during times of great change. History will judge us in large part according to how patient we prove to be in our dealings with one another.
In its own small corner of the world, Migraineur has been changing in parallel with the greater changes occurring all around us. Prior to the pandemic we focused heavily on producing print versions of each issue which were distributed directly by providers to patients at high-volume headache centers throughout the US. The electronic version of the magazine was catching up but still of lower priority.
Then came the pandemic, and as “face-to-face” headache clinics closed down and slowly began to re-emerge as telemedicine clinics, the need for print issues correspondingly plummeted.
The electronic version of Migraineur and its “home-base” website have stepped up to fill the void created by the inability to distribute and disseminate “hardcopies” of the magazine. As a reader and writer for whom the look and feel of printed material have almost a religious significance, it has not been an easy transition to a Kindle and iPhone world. But it was a necessary transition, and in making its own transition the electronic version of Migraineur already has reached a far greater audience than we ever could have achieved via print distribution.
If you have not done so already, I urge you to go to our website and become an electronic subscriber. There is no cost involved. In return for providing your name, ZIP Code and email address (data which will never be sold or shared for profit), you will receive an electronic notification each time a new issue of the magazine is published, each time a new blog is posted on the website or whenever other information potentially relevant to your needs and interests appears on our radar (for example, a local conference on the topic of migraine that is intended for a lay audience).
If you have family members and friends with migraine, please share this information with them. Our primary purpose is to provide all migraineurs with a reliable source of accurate and up-to-date information which is presented in a manner they hopefully will find entertaining. And it’s free! You have nothing to lose but your migraine burden.
