The Book
Live Well With Migraine
How Migraine Works
A clear, honest, and hopeful guide to understanding migraine as the neurological disease it is — written by someone who lives with it every day.
By Gillean Dean · Available now on Amazon
How Migraine Works
Live Well
With
Migraine
Gillean Dean
About the Book
Migraine affects more than a billion people worldwide. Yet most of them — and most of the people around them — have a fundamentally incomplete picture of what it actually is.
It isn't a bad headache. It isn't caused by stress or weakness. It isn't something you just push through. Migraine is a complex neurological disease with a wide range of symptoms, phases, and patterns — and understanding those patterns is the single most powerful thing you can do to start living better with it.
Live Well With Migraine: How Migraine Works is the book Gillean Dean wished she'd had when she was first trying to make sense of her own condition. It explains the science in plain language, validates the lived experience, and gives readers the foundation they need to understand their migraine — and to advocate for themselves in a medical system that doesn't always get it right.
"Understanding migraine changed everything for me. Not because it cured it — but because it gave me a map."
What's Inside
Seven chapters. One clear picture.
What Migraine Actually Is
A clear explanation of migraine as a neurological disease — not a headache disorder — and why that distinction matters.
The Brain Behind the Attack
How the migraine brain differs, what makes it more sensitive, and why attacks happen when they do.
Phases, Symptoms & Signals
Understanding the full arc of a migraine attack — from prodrome to postdrome — and what your body is telling you.
Triggers, Patterns & Thresholds
Why triggers aren't causes, how your nervous system threshold works, and how to start recognizing your own patterns.
Why Diagnosis Takes So Long
The systemic and social reasons migraine is so often missed, minimized, or misdiagnosed — and what to do about it.
Treatment: What Works and Why
An honest look at the treatment landscape — acute, preventive, and lifestyle — and why there's no single right answer.
Living Well Within It
How to build a life that accommodates migraine without being defined by it — practical, compassionate, and grounded in reality.
Who It's For
This book is for you if…
You've been living with migraine for years but still feel confused about what's happening
You've been dismissed or told it's "just a headache"
You want to understand your condition so you can advocate for yourself
You're newly diagnosed and looking for a clear, honest starting point
You love someone with migraine and want to understand what they're going through
1 in 7
people worldwide live with migraine
3–4 years
average time to a correct diagnosis
50%
of people with migraine are never diagnosed
Sources: Migraine Research Foundation, American Migraine Foundation
Ready to understand migraine differently?
Live Well With Migraine: How Migraine Works is available now on Amazon.
Paperback
Available on Amazon
By Gillean Dean