A place for honesty—and hope.

Hi, I’m Emily, the creator of Head Hope.

How Head Hope Began

I clearly remember the day of my first migraine. I was in a night class during my junior year of college when a headache began. I hadn’t eaten much that day, so I assumed that was why.

By the time I got home, it was the worst pain I had ever felt. I was vomiting and frightened. I had seen television ads describing the symptoms of an aneurysm, and I wondered if that was happening to me. But I was scared to go to the emergency room. I just wanted to sleep and have the pain disappear.

Somehow, I fell asleep. When I woke the next morning, I felt much better, but I was confused about what had happened. I went to the college health center, where I was told I’d had a migraine and was given samples of migraine medication.

The migraines kept coming, and I quickly ran out of those samples. At the time, I didn’t believe I could afford a prescription or medical care beyond the campus clinic. So I suffered through them. I remember the visual auras, nausea, vomiting, and pain so intense I wanted to beat my head against a wall because I thought that might hurt less. There is a lot about my last two years of college I don’t remember clearly. I remember the migraines.

As the years went on, I became anxious about when the next one would strike. Perfume, candles, cigarette smoke, loud music, and flashing lights could all be triggers. I began avoiding social gatherings and other places where I might encounter them. Little by little, my world became smaller.

Depression settled in, too. It was hard to imagine a future that held anything but pain. During college, my depression and anxiety went undiagnosed and untreated. I knew I was miserable, but I didn’t yet have names for what I was experiencing. I was also afraid to reach out because of the stigma around mental health.

For more than 20 years, migraines affected roughly half my days. Depression and anxiety have been with me through those years as well—sometimes front and center, sometimes quieter, but present to some degree.

That is the beginning of my story, and part of why I created Head Hope. I want to share my experiences in the hope that someone living with migraines, depression, or anxiety will feel a little less alone.

These are my experiences, not medical advice. If you’re dealing with symptoms or a health concern, please seek medical care. Having an effective medical team has helped me more than words can say.