About me

My name is Ellen Schnakenberg and I'm the chronic Migraineur behind Migraine Interrupted and several other blogs and websites devoted to Migraine, headache and chronic pain disorders.

I'm a 48 year old Missourian who began city life on the west coast, and now live on a quiet farm near Iowa. I am married to 'D' and together we have a grown son and daughter. 

A part time blogger, Migraine and chronic pain community and newsletter contributor, I was discovered online and then hired at the website WEGO Health and spent several years researching, writing and advocating with them as a community leader, as well as helping other health activists network and become better at advocating and educating patients utilizing various social media platforms. Much of the rest of the time I spent educating, advocating for and sharing my experiences with other everyday people who wish to become proactive in their own and their family's health care, including working with the media. 

I now work for Migraine.com as a patient advocate/educator and community manager, helping the amazing team of patients and doctors there develop a useful platform of support and education for both patients and physicians.  

I stay current on the latest and greatest information by attending American Headache Society's annual scientific meeting as well as their fall symposium, and actively participate each year in the (AHDA) Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy's Headache on the Hill in Washington, DC. 

I am also an Ambassador for the United States Pain Foundation.

Although I've been active in online websites and communities approximately 20 years, I've been blogging about Migraine and other health related issues since March 2008, starting with my first still located in the WEGO Health site. 

Due to multiple personal and family diagnoses I began to be asked to cover other health subjects including:

• Cluster and other headache disorders
• Dystonia and tardive reactions
• Autoimmune diseases including lupus, Graves' disease, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Sjogren's syndrome and others.
• Nutrition, vitamin deficiencies, complementary and integrative health care  
• Chronic pain
  

You can find me:

Twitter @ESchnak                        Putting Our Heads Together

Facebook                                     AHS ACHE blog

Learni.st                                       Headache Disorder Blog Network  

stumble.upon                                Migraine.com blog

Pinterest

Love.it

answers.com

There are many good, informative websites now, unlike 30 years ago when my Migraine journey began. 

My wish: to add one more voice to those who no longer accept living in the dark. One more explanation of what Migraine is and is not. One more person to offer support to another looking for ways to live with Migraine disease. One more place to go for connections to other bloggers and websites who can help.

In my old life I worked with children, managed an Arabian horse farm/reproduction facility, was an emergency dispatcher and an award winning artist. I also volunteered with kids and animals, running successful programs for each of which I'm very proud. I am a medical First Responder, and still keep my spoon in many of these pots including CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), Search and Rescue teams, 4H programs and my church.

As you'll be able to tell from my blogs, I'm descended from photography and travel nuts and I love my horses, dogs and cats.

I hope that's given a glimpse of where I'm coming from. If you're a Migraineur or headache sufferer and want to learn more about these disorders and how you or someone you love can live well despite their symptoms, then I'd love to keep in touch. You can subscribe to this blog via one of numerous subscription methods by clicking the SUBSCRIBE TO button below the blog title. Additionally, I'd love to hear from you about Migraine or other headaches in the comments sections on my posts.

This page was last updated June 1, 2012