MAGNUM Force
Aids Head Throb

Migraine sufferers say they wouldn't wish their illness on anybody, but they'd like people to appreciate how it feels when their head is about to explode. "It literally feels like you're being hit by a baseball bat," said Michael John Coleman, a migraine sufferer who is capable of describing his pain more graphically when called on. Coleman is also executive director of an Alexandria group called MAGNUM, or Migraine Awareness Group - a National Understanding for Migraineurs. The lobbies the public and both local and National political leaders in the hope they'll recognize that people who are suffering from a migraine aren't just having a bad day. They're suffering from an illness. And they have some high-powered support. First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. Reps. James P. Moran Jr., D-8th, and Connie Morella, Md., believe in the groupís mission, and U.S. Sen. Charles S. Robb, Alexandria Mayor Kerry J. Donley have also sent letters to the group. In order to get the public's attention, MAGNUM is displaying artwork done by migraine sufferers at the Principle Gallery in Old Town, where the non-profit group is also based. MAGNUM is also gearing up for a bigger exhibit on Capitol Hill in May.

A migraine can hit someone disposed to them at any time, typically when weather conditions change the atmospheric pressure, MAGNUM group members said. That can trigger a response in the brain's blood vessels to dilate to a painful degree. Nausea, cramps, vomiting and blurred vision can all result, and women end to suffer from the condition the most, say sufferers. The condition isn't brought about by stress or lifestyle, some sufferers make a point of saying, and new studies, to be released in medical journals soon, will show that the condition is the result of genetics, Coleman and others said. "It's really out of our hands," said Teresa Miller Burchfield, a sufferer and also legislative director of the group. Coleman said vernacular often includes jokes about migraines, but that's only because people don't understand their severity. 'you can't give somebody a migraine no matter how annoying they are," Coleman said lightly, referring to people's tendency to use the word improperly. Beyond a broader public understanding of the problem, the group wants to see the condition recognized as a legitimate illness for which its victims can claim disability. Many sufferers say they can expect to miss one to three days of work as a result of their condition. MAGNUM says that about 150 million work days are lost per year due to migraines.

"Once again, I offer my support of MAGNUM and its effort to include migraines as a federally listed disability," Moran wrote in a letter to the group last month. A spokesman for Moran said it is unclear what specific efforts political leaders are taking on MAGNUM's behalf, but said that Moran will do whatever he can to advocate MAGNUM's cause.

The group hopes the various art exhibits they're holding will at the very least get the public aware of their condition, Coleman said, adding that Dutch artist Vincent van Gogh was a migraine sufferer, and not the insane painter many think he was. Artist and author Lewis Carroll also suffered from migraines and "Alice in Wonderland," Coleman said, is an allegory about the pain he experienced. Various methods have been used to get the word out about migraines as an illness in the past, but not all successfully. One attempt, sponsored by a pharmaceutical company some years ago, used migraine art" that depicts what it feels like to have a migraine. But people weren't receptive to the shocking, gory and revolting images used in the exhibit.

"People just didn't want to see heads exploding," said Coleman, who is also a photographic artist. So the group came up with a softer approach, one they hope will attract the attention of the public. "We tried to take a different tack.... We had to make sure we really reach more people." In a brightly lit art gallery on Cameron Street in Old Town, various kinds of artwork adorn the walls that are the work of migraine sufferers.

"'The concept was to use quality artwork to bring people in," Coleman said. The art exhibit is gradually being scaled back in Alexandria to prepared for a bigger show on Capitol Hill sponsored by the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues. That show will be held in the Cannon building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC between May 18 and May 31.

© The Washington Times Journal Newspapers 1997