The other victims are spouses, children, parents, other family and friends. Migraineurs expend energy educating themselves and others about their migraine suffering and ways to cope with it. Migraineurs must help these other victims understand that the reason for the headache pain is not always explainable, and what is explainable is complex. This is because there are many factors triggering headaches. At any one time there might be one or three or seven mitigating triggers affecting the migraineur.
Communication is essential.
The sufferers must accept the responsibility of identifying their own triggers. Many times the pain is different with different triggers. All this must be explained to spouses, parents, family and friends. In addition, migraineurs must accept their own limitations due to the migraines, and in a very real sense, explain these limitations to adult family members and friends. How to explain to the family member or friend what it means to miss the event takes on a significance for the sufferer as well as the family member or friend.