I just wanted to get some advice and see if anyone has been through this aswell.
I have been suffering with chronic migraines for years now. I started having migraines as a little girl but maybe one or two a year. I started my current job 5 years ago now and my migraines have got a lot worse. I now have maybe one a month, 1 each week or two each week depending. I have always kept my work up to date with what’s going on with my migraines if I’m on new medication or seeing neurologist etc etc. I’ve always made it very clear.
My work unfortunately do not do sick pay and they have Bradford factor system for sickness where they monitor the amount of days etc and you get a score. Obviously due to having chronic migraines my sickness days are extremely high. I am loosing out on a lot of money each month with having days of for migraines. Most of the time I’m a hard worker and even when I know I’m not quite right I still try and go in. Unfortunately I work in a nursery which is probably not the best environment for a migraine sufferer but hey I chose that career.
I currently have sinusitis and went to work unfortunately didn’t feel well and asked to go home. My manager became very rude to me and rather than asking me if I was okay decided to tell me how high my sickness was and explained how bad it was. Unfortunately I didn’t really have a response as I cannot help the amount of days I have off due to migraines. But I explained that if you took migraines of the sickness days I would have maybe two days of a year for something other than a migraine.
I just wondered if anyone had any advice on what to do. I have sent records to work and shown letters etc etc so they are fully aware. But yet I feel I’m at a disadvantage when it comes to the Bradford factor because I suffer with chronic migraines. The attitude I received from my manager was not acceptable and I am very anxious perosn anyway and as many of you probably feel or have felt I feel a bit like I’m letting my team down every time I have a migraine.
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Hama123
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Hama, it would help to know where you are based. Many countries have specific legislation around discrimination. In the UK we have legislation that covers long term health conditions that affect your ability to carry out every day activities and chronic migraine - and it sounds like your migraines fall into this category - would be covered by this. The legislation is complicated but it does provide discrimination and means that employers need to make reasonable adjustments, Cases have included provision of rest areas and changing to replace fluorescent lighting. If you are in the UK then I would suggest approaching either the citizen's advice bureau, or if you are a member of a union, your union representative.
thank you so much for this response. I am based in the uk. I have had a discussion with work and they tell me to turn the lights off and we have lamp instead. (So I guess that is some improvement). I think for me it was just the rudeness and I’m already at a disadvantage in terms of how many sick days I have yet I seem to be penalised for it
Your employer has a duty of care to you and that would include educating your manager so they are aware of their duties under discrimination legislation. You have the right to raise a grievance - all employers will have a process for this so you may want to look into that as a way of ensuring that the behaviour is addressed
definitely thank you so much I will definitely have a look into this. I get so cross as I am very hard worker and try and each time I brush myself of coke back to work and work really hard. Yet that seems to be the only thing that I get penalised for which is something out of my control. As many of you know or think god if only we could fix it and no longer have migraines (if only hey)
In ththe UK you would have to have 15 migraines days a month to fall into the chronic migraine category, so I'm not sure migraine score would high enough. What medications are on?
Your employer sounds like a horrible person, it sounds illegal to me but then I've never heard of the Braford System. Like Gambit62 says they have make reasonable changes to accommodate you, have you or they requested occupational help get involved?
Thank you for your response. Oh wow I didn’t know that. My doctor has been saying for years I have chronic migraines. But I definitely do not have 15 a month thank goodness.
I have been put on many different medications over the years, zolmitriptan, atenonol, propanol, these are a few that I can think of. At the current time I do not take any as I was out on propanol and found that actually with medications my migraines are a lot worse.
The Bradford system is for example when you have a sick day they do something like 1 sick day x the amount of days you have of and total a score. Which then keeps track of how many days you are having of. However for me this score is very high because of migraines. I seem to be getting attitude from my employer because of this even though this is something I cannot control.
It just seems appalling, how on earth can a system like that be legal its so fundamentally discriminatory!
If I were you I would go to the GP and say if they don't refer to a neurologist you are in danger of loosing your job. The neurologist will have more medication options at their disposal and a better understanding of migraines. GP's on the whole are getting better but they have very poor record when it comes to migraine. If they fob you off on the phone email the practise manager bc they have to respond plus emails are good because they are date stamped and form a record of the discussion.
There many many options for migraine, I've been on over 13 different meds but I'm still having roughly 20 days a month of migraine so we are looking for options again but at least my neurologist understands the latest data etc.
thank you. Oh my goodness I am so sorry to hear about the amount of migraines you get. I can’t even imagine!
I have been to the neurologist etc it was mentioned more for me routine and sleep etc as a form of treatment when it comes to migraines. This was few years ago when I went. I have shown my employer this too to show I’ve tried many different avenues to help or to see if there is anyway I can understand my migraines better. I have emailed my doctors to see if there is anything else they can do or even another letter which I can pass on to work to show like this is out of my control.
I think after this if they are still rude I will take it much further. Have you noticed or is this a common issue when people don’t suffer with migraines they seem to believe you just pulling sick days for no reason. I seem to be affected alot on a Thursday for some unknown reason. So I feel like work maybe think I’m off for a jolly on a Thursday (if only hey) .
I know in some ways they cannot legally get rid of me at work. However I jusy find it despicable that I am treated rudely when I ask to go home for something other than a migraine and get told ‘your sickness is high it’s not good’ to which my response is yes I know but this cannot be helped.
Unfortunately what I am beginning to notice is that I work in a nursery which isn’t a great place I believe for migraine suffers (noise,lights,smell, heat etc ) but I think sometimes management forget their staff are not the children
I was thinking if you have say 1 migraine a week and that migraine last 3 days you would qualify for the label "chronic migraines", the advantage of this is it that opens up more treatment options for you.
I would suggest you start keeping a migraine diary, write down every day you have a migraine or headache, headaches are still very relevant, write down with a score from 1 to 10 how strong the pain is and whether you took any medications. Ultimately a neurologist should ask you to do this so if you keep it in the meantime you are likely to be helped quicker. Often they will see you and then ask you to go away for a bit to complete a diary so you can save yourself months by doing this.
Even if you have seen a neurologists in the past if your migraines are getting worse you have a right to see them again.
Bizarrely I used to get a huge migraine every Thursday but I think thats because I used to work part time in Tescos while I was at University and I hated every minute of it, Thursday would be the day I go to Uni for 4 days so the relief of not being at Tescos would trigger a migraine.
And yes I do find people don't believe you, but I actually found Doctors are worse than normal people in that respect. It took 10 years before I got a doctor to believe that I was having migraines almost everyday which is another reason I prefer neurologists to GPs. Although I went through at least 3 neurologists as well before I found one who specialised in migraine who finally believed me. This was 20 years ago though I hear things are much better now!
thank you so much. I really do appreciate your responses. Makes me feel so much better having people who understand.
Oh no way I think mine might be a Thursday as I have a Wednesday of so then it’s like ahh got to go back to work on the Thursday so maybe that triggers me.
Definitely worth seeing a neurologist then again I think from what you have said and go from there.
Yes I think try to address the migraines first. If you fight back at work things will probably get worse before they get better and that may exacerbate your migraines. If treatment can improve your migraines then you can avoid confrontation at work. I have a 4 and 8 year old so I can't imagine how hard a whole nursery of wailing and screaming must be for you.
Lastly maybe you can try and talk to management that might be above your line manager and see if you can be heard? Being bullied at work is appalling and while I am sure if you are too ill to work reasonably in that environment they may have no choice but to let you go they have no right to treat you like that in the interim.
i used to be episodic / acute migraine. Propranolol and amitriptyline worked well for ten yrs age 48-58. Then came chronic 24/7 for 30 months now. New daily persistent headache also diagnosed as chronic refractory migraine. I worked for uk nhs 27 years and eventually put my notice in as no adjustments could be made to help me. I retired at 59 then found out through migraine trust it is indeed a disability. I took an acas against them by way of highlighting how unfair my managers were not only to me but many many others . They have now been removed from post/ sacked but they appealed and found loopholes in how the trust conducted the investigation. You couldnt make it up. I didnt follow the acas throu as found it stressful and stress is a trigger to my pain scores. I did it mainly to aid my fellow colleagues who wernt in position to leave/ retire. Fight for what you need putting in place and score your pain daily x 3 . And note your triggers. Cefaly machine helped rid me of nausea. My new neuro up to now is great Dr Giorgio Lambru from st thomas hosp london. Finally rec a simple drug i think can even be bought over the counter fr travel sickness Cinarizine- this has bizarrely not helped my pain but rid me of facial tingling (caused by upset trigeminal nerve) he is first one in 2.5 yrs to mention this drug! Im waiting for neuro modulation spinal cord implant now.
hi not sure if it was you ive had a convo with for this before but i know I recognise your name. I paid private once for zoom meeting and he askd me to get regional neuro to refer me . I spoke to Lambru in july, regional Dr Dorman refer me on 5.8 and ive heard nothing yet. Yes id defs recomend him fr chronic migraine. So was private now hopefully nhs . Hope this helps
For me, as soon as I feel the first spark of pain I start treatment. I don't stop treatment until the pain has stopped. Even if that means I get an injinjection or go to the hospital.
Some things that help me are: peppermint, ice, almonds and sometimes whip cream.
Since I have had them for so long I can tell what kind of treatment I need.
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