Greater Than the Sum: June 28, 2018 Migraine & Headache Awareness Month

There are 38 million people in the United States living with Migraine and over 1 million living with Cluster Headache. Those are big numbers. So why is it that we can’t seem to gain any ground in raising awareness? It’s easy to blame it on stigma, but that’s not the whole story.

We are greater than the sum of our parts.

Currently the headache community is divided. Whether we have Chronic Migraine, Hemiplegic Migraine, Episodic Migraine, NDPH, Cluster Headache, or something else, we are more focused on competing agendas than on uniting together in the common cause of raising awareness.

Do you remember what happened on June 21st? A lot of organizations joined together to support Shades for Migraine. There were sunglass selfies filling social media all day. Everybody joined in, not just those who came up with the idea.

Wouldn’t it be nice if every day in June were the same way?
It can be. We just need to stop trying to do our own thing, stop worrying about making a mark for our personal causes, and join forces.

1. Use the official awareness color.
2. Use the current year’s awareness month logo.
3. Use the officially recognized hashtags: #MHAM and #NotAlone.
4. Make sure our message is consistent with the current year’s theme.
5. Stop trying to reinvent the wheel.
6. Join together on a single bandwagon, shouting a single message.

Today’s Challenge

Using your social media profile, use this year’s theme, hashtags, logo, etc. to send a message telling anyone living with Migraine or Headache that they are not alone.

Ways to participate

1. Share this post on your social media profiles. Personalize the post by sharing your response to today’s challenge.
   • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
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   • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
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2. Respond to the challenge by commenting below.
3. Write a blog post, responding to today’s challenge. When published, share the link to your post in the comments below and we’ll promote your blog’s participation in the #MHAM2018 Social Media Challenge.
4. Don’t forget to invite your friends to take the #MHAM2018 Social Media Challenge, too!

Want to know more?

• View the full list of this year’s daily challenges.
• Discover the history of National Migraine & Headache Awareness Month

The #MHAM2018 Challenge is a project of MigraineDisease.org.