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You're not alone if you suffer from migraines. When the really bad ones hit, it certainly seems as if you are the only one suffering. As a matter of fact, however, not only are migraines extremely common, but some of the most famous and notorious people in history have been plagued by this debilitating neurological disease.
Not only have the famous suffered migraines, but some of them have actually left behind artistic records of their pain and suffering. In fact, Lewis Carroll's timeless children's classic about Alice in Wonderland is theorized to have been inspired by Carroll's migraines and accompanying auras.
Goodness knows there are precious few, if any, people in this world, whether migraine sufferers or not, who haven't gotten at least a figurative headache from the boneheaded decisions of politicians. But a few of the most famous and infamous politicians in history suffered migraines themselves. Among the biggest headache causers and sufferers were Roman dictator and future salad inspiration, Julius Caesar, and French emperor and future pastry inspiration Napoleon Bonaparte.
With all those cannons and muskets firing, it is hardly surprising that Thomas Jefferson would get a headache while writing the Declaration of Independence. And talk about your irony, or rather your coincidences: Both the commanding generals on each side of the American Civil War, Robert E. Lee for the Confederacy and Ulysses S. Grant for the Union were migraine sufferers.
Lewis Carroll wasn't the only writer to suffer from headaches, nor were his the only books to be written in response to the ravages of migraines. Migraines also inspired the work of Virginia Woolf and Miguel de Cervantes. Emily Dickinson even penned a poem about migraines, using as a metaphor for the disease, the very descriptive image of coffin nails.
Even more so than writers, artists have been particularly moved to create artwork echoing their state of mind during their migraine attacks. Impressionist paintings by Vincent Van Gogh have been variously described as being influenced by either cataracts or insanity. One of the most recent theories explains his unique brush strokes and brilliant hues as a visual record describing the effects of visual disturbances emanating from migraine auras. The technique of pointillism (large images created by the eye piecing together small dots of color) created by fellow Impressionist Georges Seurat also has some similarity to the visual images that people have reported seeing during the aura stage.
If listening to someone drone on about their therapy sessions with a psychoanalyst has ever given you a headache, you may be glad to know that the Father of Psychoanalysis himself, Sigmund Freud, is thought to have suffered from migraines.
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche theorized the concept of the Uberman, a master race. One can only assume that he thought he himself to be among those on this elevated plateau. Still, one can't help but think maybe Ubermen should somehow be above such health disturbances as headaches. Unfortunately, Nietzsche was, indeed, plagued by migraines. So much for a master race, I suppose.
Musicians and actors have also been prone to migraines. Among his other maladies, the King of Rock & Roll, Elvis Presley, was victim to headaches. Other celebrities who have admitted to battling headaches include actress and comedienne Whoopi Goldberg, British royal family member Princess Margaret, and even Cindy Brady herself, actress Susan Olsen.
As an example of just how debilitating migraine headaches can be and of how democratic the disease can be, consider the story of Terrell Davis, migraine sufferer and star American football player in the NFL. The end of the football season in American culminates, naturally, with the Super Bowl. During Super Bowl XXXII Davis, the running back for the Denver Broncos and the eventual Most Valuable Player of the game, missed the second quarter of the game because of a migraine. Right in the middle of the biggest game of his career, Davis found himself prevented from playing due to the onset of terrible headache pain accompanied by double vision.
Because Davis was informed and had educated himself about the disease, however, he was ready to play after halftime. He had kept a journal and was aware of exactly what triggers were involved, allowing him to overcome the effects of the migraine. |
