Migraine is a common, often debilitating condition characterized by severe headaches often accompanied by nausea, visual disturbances, and sensitivity to light and sound. According to the American Migraine Foundation, at least 39 million Americans live with migraine. Unfortunately, the experience of male migraine sufferers is often dismissed or downplayed.
Derek Walker’s journey with migraines began in the 1970s when he was just 10 or 11 years old. At that time, the prevailing belief was that migraines were primarily a female issue. According to the American Migraine Foundation, a person with one parent with migraines has a 50 percent chance of developing migraine. The possibility of having migraines rises to 75 percent if both parents have it. Despite the statistics and the fact that Walker’s mother and sister both suffered from migraines, he often found himself overlooked and not considered as someone who could have migraines.
It wasn’t until the early 80s, when Walker began college, that medical professionals started to take his migraines seriously. However, the road was far from smooth.
“I had a migraine that was so bad I drove myself to the emergency room and this doctor was arguing with me that men don’t get migraines and I could barely see. My vision was blurry, I was nauseous and the only reason she took me seriously was [because] I vomited on her and her whole demeanor changed,” Walker recalls. “What’s happened over my lifetime is people don’t think I’m in as much pain because I’m a man, and especially a Black man, so they’re slow to prescribe the medication. They’re slow to even acknowledge that I have a migraine.”
“What it’s saying is you’re faking it…I’m in pain and your perception will determine how I get treated – how my pain gets treated – so it helped frame how I addressed medical professionals,” Walker adds sharing that these experiences caused him to feel angry and frustrated and put him on constant defense. “If it’s not a Black man or a Black woman, I know I have to fight to get the right prescriptions, the right care, the right diagnosis.”
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The Impact of Dismissive Attitudes
Walker is not alone in his fight for equal care. According to a recent study of 2000 Americans conducted by Advil in partnership with Morehouse School of Medicine, 68 percent of Black respondents wished healthcare providers would be more supportive when seeking help managing pain.
Additionally, 66 percent of respondents said their pain stayed the same or got worse after a negative experience.
“What ends up happening is Black men tend to die from conditions we shouldn’t die from,” Walker says. “I was slow to go get treatment because I knew I would have to fight with somebody about whether I needed treatment…Think about how dangerous a position that is.”
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Walker, whose father suffered a stroke, knows firsthand the dangers of medical gaslighting.
Because Walker lives less than three minutes from the hospital, he decided to drive his dad to the emergency room. Once they arrived, he was told to fill out paperwork instead of receiving immediate care. Fortunately, Walker knew stroke protocol and was insistent on proper care for his dad, which prevented a potentially tragic outcome.
“Imagine if we had followed their directions,” Walker says. As a father to two sons and a daughter, Walker says the constant need to advocate for equal care takes an emotional toll and can become exhausting.
“During my daughter’s pregnancy, we coached her on how to talk to physicians and what to ask for and what to demand because Black women die during pregnancy way too much in America,” Walker shares. “But shouldn’t we just be able to enjoy the journey of her pregnancy instead of sweating? It’s a weight on your soul. I choose where I go with my migraines – I try not to go to an emergency room. I hope I can make it to a physician because they know my condition. I’m actually afraid to go to somebody who doesn’t know me because I don’t know whether or not they’re going to give me the proper care.”
Coping and Hope for Change
When asked about coping mechanisms, Walker, who just underwent a bout of prostate cancer, has a sobering response.
“I went in there on guard and halfway through our treatment, the doctor said it’s nice to see you let your guard down and I can’t. It’s my life. I don’t think we’re coping – I think we’re surviving or doing the best we can to survive. People think we cope because we survive or come out of it, but we’re not coping. I will never be able to trust a medical professional on day one. That’s not coping – that’s just the reality. I can’t afford to lose my life,” Walker adds.
While the 59-year-old has witnessed some shifts in the treatment of Black male migraine sufferers as he has aged, changed and learned to advocate for himself, certain aspects of the situation have remained unchanged.
Walker believes that training and a younger generation of doctors have caused a shift in how medical professionals view those impacted by migraines. However, when he sees commercials for migraine medications, he still feels that the target audience is women.
“We’ve got a ways to go. but I think it starts with education…We also have to train patients on how to deal with doctors when they don’t want to listen,” Walker says. “I believe that the healthcare system has to change the way that they look at and treat Black patients.”
“I do not believe most medical professionals are racist, but we as human beings all have biases and prejudice. If they don’t train them – if medical schools don’t train them to recognize and see their biases and prejudice – they’re not conscious of how they treat people differently. They’ve got to learn the soft skills: How do you talk to people? What questions do you ask? How do you listen? What is your body language saying to Black men and Black women? We read your body language – the tone and tenor of how you talk is sometimes more important than the words you say,” Walker adds.
Walker’s Advice to Black Male Migraine Sufferers
- Believe in yourself. “You have to believe in yourself because, for a while, I thought I was crazy. My head was hurting. As a teenager and a young adult, I’m sitting there going ‘but these aren’t migraines’ so you have to believe in yourself – you have to trust your body,” Walker says.
- Understand when over-the-counter medicine isn’t working. “When it’s in that much pain, you can’t walk it off. Your migraines get to a point where over-the-counter medicine just simply will not work or you’re going to OD on taking too much of it. So you have to educate yourself on your condition,” Walker adds.
- Find a neurologist or specialist. “Migraines aren’t one kind of headache. They’re a group of conditions. Mine come in clusters. So if I get one, I don’t get one all day, I get a bunch of them all day. We have to start seeing specialists,” Walker says adding that he started seeing a neurologist.
- Learn the difference between a headache and a migraine. “I don’t think we talk about what a migraine really feels like or looks like so people sometimes may think it’s just a very bad headache, but migraines can do physical damage to the brain,” Walker adds.
