Right now in this very split second of time, there are millions of people suffering from migraine headaches all over the world. It's a far more common problem than most people think. The main problem with being a migraine sufferer (or migraineur if you like) is that most people will dismiss that insanely painful migraine you have as "..just a headache..". People tend to be very dismissive of migraines - unless they actually suffer from them.

One of the worst offenders when it comes to discriminating against people with migraines are employers. They'll more likely to see a migraine attack "as just a headache" than anyone else in your job. What's more shocking is that some company doctors (especially in large companies or corporations) have only openly said they don't believe in migraine headaches!

Companies are legally obliged (well in most countries) to make "reason accommodation for people with disabilities". Basically your employer is legally bound to adapt the working environment to suit you as much as possible - as long as it doesn't wind up costing tens of thousands of dollars. Even if this process does cost thousands of dollars the company will get it back in tax breaks as part of Government and State disability incentives.

Does this mean that all migraineurs should now treat themselves as being disabled? Of course not- that's really bad karma. A bad migraine can know the hell out of you but it does pass in the end. The purpose of pointing out the disability aspect is that employers shouldn't just dismiss your migraines as if it wasn't a very real condition.

Some employers have even used the fact that some of their employees have migraines as an excuse to make staff redundant. They don't recognize the condition so the employee is simply seen as taking too many sick days. Companies are looking at how many man hours they're losing each year to migraine headaches - some estimates put this at several billion dollars in lost time and revenue each year - on a global basis. Migraineurs are seen as "serial sickies" who constantly suffer from the Monday blues and when company doctors don't even recognize your condition then it's hard to fight your own corner when facing being fired.

This is leading more and more people to take action against former employers for unfair dismissal and rightly so. The current economic climate means big companies are looking for ever more devious ways to shed employees and outsource the work elsewhere - the recession is being used as an excuse.

To help prevent this problem in the first place make sure that your co-workers know and understand that you have migraines and just how serious a problem this can be for you. Don't do it in a bleeding heart "pity me" style but raising awareness of medical conditions is important. It also means that people will understand why you're out sick or why your performance may suffer during a prolonged migraine attack.

Migraine headaches are real. Their effects are real. Don't let your migraines be used as an excuse to treat you badly in the workplace.