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Migraine Relief Is Finally Accessible to Patients Living in Years of Migraine Hell Thanks to a New Drug


In my decades dealing with the vicious pounding in my skull, I’ve tried just about everything to get it to stop: I cut out alcohol, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, chocolate, aged cheeses, overripe bananas (banana bread is bad news), bacon, pizza, gluten, down pillows, crack-of-dawn flights, exercise, ponytails, hats, movie theaters, dinner parties, social small talk, sleeping in rooms over 70 degrees, too much screen time… The list went on.

I tried every over-the-counter medication (the equivalent of jumping into a bull pen armed with a toothpick); every available prescription drug (only useful once an attack had already brought me to my knees); and every natural tincture I could get my hands on (ironically most herbal concoctions actually gave me migraines). I tried acupuncture, mouth guards, osteopathy, Reiki, massages, and a migraineur’s fave: banging my head against a wall. At best, I found little relief.

In the nineties, pharmaceutical companies released a class of drugs called triptans, which helped significantly with stopping migraines once they started—but still, no magic pill existed to prevent them. That didn’t stop doctors from trying all the options available; faulty-brained folks like me could be prescribed antidepressants, anti-seizure meds, and beta blockers—all pills for another purpose that patients had accidentally discovered reduced their migraines.

I was throwing an entire arsenal of drugs and therapies but none could shove the bully in my brain aside. Instead, they unleashed insomnia, jitters, weight gain, fatigue, uneven brows, and a near nervous breakdown. I felt like I was living my life in purgatory—always waiting for the next blow to my head.

I thought I would be forever doomed to this migraine-induced hell, but recently science (praise you, science!) has delivered a breakthrough to those of us desperate to leave our days of writhing in pain in dark rooms behind.

In 2017, my neurologist, Peter McAllister, M.D., co-founder and medical director of the New England Institute for Clinical Research, told me about a promising new drug. Researchers had discovered a specific peptide released during a migraine episode, part of a chain reaction that triggers that ice-pick-in-eyeball pain I’d been trying to eradicate for four decades. Dubbed a “CGRP Blocker,” the drug travels directly to the site of this pesky peptide and stops the bugger in its tracks. “This is the first preventative drug designed specifically for migraine,” says Dr. McAllister, who was a principal investigator on the studies behind the development of the drug. In his experience as a neurologist, it was like night and day for migraine sufferers, he told me.

Only one issue: the please-let-it-be-a-miracle drug wasn’t yet available. I held my breath for six months, fantasizing about the new life I might have—as I had every time I heard about a potential “cure.” I would spend time with my kids every morning, instead of hiding under the damp towels they fetched for my head. I would enjoy a vacation without inevitable days spent locked in my hotel room whimpering after the blows of another migraine. I would feel the simple bliss of being able to take a yoga class or leisurely swim without paying in pain the next morning.

Then in happened: in May of last year, the FDA approved the first CGRP blocker (Amgen’s Aimovig) and it was as if heaven itself had opened up. Cue the chorus of angels: ahhhhhh! I tried to manage expectations. It might not work for me—until this point nothing had—but when my first cooler pack containing the drug arrived last September, I could barely contain my excitement.



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My Life as a Work-at-Home-Mom Was Hell


The heater blasted in the car as I typed furiously on my laptop. I was psyched because I was about to meet my deadline. Suddenly, my baby started wailing. I shut my laptop as if clocking out early, crawled into the backseat, whipped out my boob, and fed him. Over his head, I typed up an apology to one of my bosses on my phone—my work would be late.

The first year-and-a-half of my son’s life, I was a Work-At-Home-Mom, known as a WAHM. I thought it was the best way to have everything I wanted—a career as a freelance writer, a child, flexibility—but it took an immense emotional and physical toll on me. Our culture prides working from home as the holy grail of job arrangements. But doing it with a newborn, my vision was blurred from exhaustion. I worked when we could afford a babysitter and when he slept, if he slept. With few breaks from each other, he tended to nurse every other hour. I felt like a busy water cooler for a parched coworker. And after he turned one, my son had five months of back-to-back viruses or infections. A feverish toddler literally screams “no” when you need a bathroom break.

But being a WAHM still felt like my best option. Even if both my partner and I had full-time jobs, we would barely scrape by paying for daycare, which costs about $1,500 to $2,400 a month in Boston where we live. My partner works 40 hours a week at a UPS store, then comes home to do housework and play with our son. I do a lot of the unpaid, unseen work—shopping, paying bills, scheduling our lives, and managing mundane childcare duties. When our son is sick, I take off from the work I didn’t get done and stay up at night.

“That kind of multitasking, that emotional labor—it wears on you. I rarely feel fully rested or restored.”

Similarly, Leah Charney, 34, cares for her infant son while working at home as a marketing and operations consultant in Colorado. Postpartum, she returned to a demanding job but quickly left to scale back and work from home while her husband still worked full-time. Her son goes to daycare two days a week—that’s when she schedules meetings and tackles larger projects. On other days, she works while he eats and naps.

“It’s not impossible to work from home with children, but it requires planning and a willingness to be more flexible than Gumby,” she says. “I pride myself on being adaptable, [but] that kind of multitasking, that emotional labor—it wears on you. I rarely feel fully rested or restored.” She describes being a WAHM as “brutal.”

The American workforce needs women, but neither the government nor most employers make it easy for mothers to actually work. The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development analyzed maternity leave in 42 countries and found that the U.S. was the least generous of all the industrialized nations, guaranteeing no leave or pay. Bulgaria has the best policy with almost 59 weeks of paid leave. The International Labour Organization says that protecting expectant and nursing mothers from job discrimination is “a precondition for achieving genuine equality of opportunity,” yet workplace discrimination against mothers in the U.S. is rampant—from getting paid less than men to having a job offer rescinded because of a pregnancy.

Women who don’t work in fields with high earning potential and cannot afford full-time childcare are often forced to craft their own work lifestyles at home. Women are more likely to leave the workforce to care for children than men, according to a 2016 survey by the Department of Labor. When asked, 43 percent of women with children under the age of five said they passed up a promotion or asked for reduced responsibilities at work to care for a family member. Some women then work from home.A 2017 Gallup poll found that 43% of employed Americans spend some time working remotely, a rise over previous years.

The real struggle lies in trying to ensure you’re fulfilling the duties of being a good parent while showing employers you can handle their workload and meet expectations—all on little sleep and an unpredictable schedule

Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University, Suniya S. Luthar, examined the work-life satisfaction in new mothers. Her research shows the most satisfied are those who wanted to go back to work and did, as well as those who wanted to stay at home and did. The study didn’t address WAHMs, but she says from her own parenting experience, being a WAHM is “just not doable. It’s a distraction. One ear is always listening for them. The kid is looking for mom to feel safe…You’re not going to get your work done properly and you’ll end up being a mass of nerves and guilt.”

The challenges of WAHM-hood are plentiful, but the real struggle lies in the emotional labor of trying to simultaneously ensure that you’re fulfilling the duties of being a good parent while showing employers you can handle their workload and meet expectations—all on little sleep and an unpredictable schedule. You are nanny, mommy, and employee—at the same exact time. It’s a constant tug-of-war.

“My mom tried telling me I couldn’t have it all—but as it turns out, it’s possible to have it all but it’s impossible to do it all well,” says Meredith C. Carroll, 45, a Colorado-based freelance writer who’s written about her WAHM challenges. Carroll has two daughters, ages seven and 10. As a WAHM, Carroll felt she missed much of her eldest daughter’s early childhood, so she stayed home with her second child to fill in the gaps. “The stuff I missed wasn’t necessarily tangible,” she says. “It was more about being emotionally absent in the many small moments that quickly add up.”

Olivia Howell, 33, works in social media management and cares for her two sons, ages two and five, in New York. She works throughout the day, every day, on her phone until around 1 a.m. and tries to wake up before her kids. ”I feel so blessed I get to be flexible for my boys,” she says. “But I never have time for myself ever, and I never sleep, like, really.”

“My mom tried telling me I couldn’t have it all—but as it turns out, it is possible. But it’s impossible to do it all well.”

Howell does have a babysitter who comes six to ten hours a week and family nearby that helps occasionally, and flexibility from her clients is key. “Most of my clients are women with children, so often they understand my hours,” she says. “I need people who understand the work will get done, just on my time.”

Another real challenge of WAHM-hood for me was the loneliness. I used walk around stores just to chat with clerks for a break from baby babble. Luthar says that women with young children—especially those working from home—need to connect with people for their well-being. She suggests parent support groups, including virtual ones, like her Authentic Connections program. “Moms are not like the Energizer Bunny, an endless well that stays filled without replenishment,” she says.

Like other WAHMs I spoke with, I have a partner who supports my career. But the fallout from my stressful situation did strain our relationship. In the evenings after work, my son wanted “dada” and I wanted dada’s arms—to carry the baby away from me. We tried not to have the “who does more” fight, because we were both always “on.” But I shouldered more emotional work, which did make me resent him at times.

Some WAHMs have a smoother system down—like on-call relatives, they live near a coworking space with on-site childcare, they set up working playdates, or have mom friends with whom they swap babysitting duties.



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4 Ways to Wear Hair Accessories That Aren't Boring as Hell


Having fun with hair accessories is back in a big way. Take the scrunchie renaissance of last year, hair bows, and this winter’s claw clip comeback. To get as far as possible from their former reps, the new version of each trend is starkly chic and has the price tag to match. ($35 scrunchies are most definitely a thing now.) These cool, unexpected looks, however, let you try the accessory life without investing in something that does the job of a rubber band. Track down every M.I.A. hair tie, rogue barrette, and ribbon to make your hair look money—for $10 or less.



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'Riverdale' Season 2 Episode 10 Recap: Betty's Brother Is Here…and He's Creepy as Hell


Riverdale is back, my friends, and it’s appropriately bonkers. Did you expect anything less? Here’s how this high-key show rung in the new year:

It wouldn’t be Riverdale without Jughead opening the episode with an obnoxious voiceover, right? He’s clacking away—beanie in full force—about all the nonsense that went down before the holidays. The Black Hood was unmasked (well, so they think), Veronica’s now in cahoots with her scary-but-hot parents, and Penelope Blossom is sleeping with people for money. (Um, that’s what she was doing when Cheryl walked in on her? I mean, get your life and coins as long as you’re safe and in control, but this just came out of left field.)

Veronica is apparently on “ground zero” for the Lodge’s “plan,” which is still a mystery at this point. This show is really trying to make the Lodges seem like the mafia, and it’s hilarious. Meanwhile, Fred Andrews wants to know who the hell paid his $86,000 medical bill, and Archie wants to start a “band” filled with just redheads. Oh, God: Now that the Black Hood is caught, are we about to get Angsty Guitar Archie again? I’m annoyed, but also aroused. Someone keeps photographing Archie, too—probably the same person who snapped him and Veronica kissing before the holidays.

At school, Veronica tells Archie that it was her parents who paid Fred’s medical bills; this causes their teen hormones to rage, and they start making out—which Betty, who kissed Archie in the last episode, sees. Oof. This love triangle is going to be ridiculous.

The “plan” Veronica’s family was talking about earlier is the shutdown of South Side High School. The Lodges are planning on buying the land underneath SSHS, probably for something evil, and they’ve promised Mayor McCoy money to get the job done. Veronica clearly knew about this, because while the other kids are freaking out she’s like, “It’s chill, y’all. Calm down.”

Jughead and Betty are shook about this news because it means they’ll be at the same school again. Remember, they’re broken up, but probably not for long now. For some reason, Betty just can’t resist the allure of Jughead’s flappy black hair. (I can, if she wants tips.)

After this announcement, Betty comes home to find her sister, Polly, who’s apparently already given birth to her twins. Their names are Juniper and Dagwood, which Betty scoffs at even though her ex-boyfriend’s name is Jughead. Polly’s not back for good, though; she’s just home to pick up some stuff, and then she’s headed back to The Farm, the weird cult she joined after running away from home. Polly’s parents don’t even know she’s here right now. Savage.

Cut to Archie: He’s walking home from school and is stopped by “Special Agent Adams” from the F.B.I., who starts asking him about Hiram Lodge. Adams says the F.B.I. thinks Hiram is doing illegal activity tied to organized crime in Riverdale and wants Archie’s help catching him. Um, yeah he is. He’s sketchy AF. And hot! But mostly sketchy. They specifically want Archie to find out the truth about Nick St. Clair, who the Lodges ordered an attack on after learning he tried to assault Veronica and Cheryl.

PHOTO: The CW

Archie doesn’t fully agree to this, but it does make him worried about the Lodges paying off Fred’s medical bills…as it should. Who wants to be that deep with potential criminals? I’m officially terrified of Mark Consuelos.

And I’m uneasy about Polly, too: Betty’s not telling her parents that she stopped by the house earlier. Alice Cooper’s going on and on about how she wants to make sure Polly has “everything she needs” for the twins, but little does she know her daughter’s staying in that weird cult and blocking out her family. Why would you hurt mama Alice like this? Especially this season, when she’s proven to be the Best Ever?

Betty tells Jughead about Polly. The two meet up at Pop’s Chock’lit Shoppe to clear the air about going back to school together, and Betty asks Jughead for his social worker’s number. She wants to find her long-lost brother—mostly to help her mom cope with the loss of Polly. The Coopers are so messy.

But not as messy as Archie, who has dinner with the Lodges and starts asking them about South Side High closing, the Sodale Project, and the St. Clairs. They’re super evasive with their answers, which gives Archie pause. Also, Veronica asks Archie to help her “welcome” the new South Side students as a thank-you for the Lodges paying Fred’s medical bills. I’m so not into mobster Veronica.

I’m also not into Hostess Veronica, who rolls out the welcome wagon for the new South Side students…but only because of her family’s agenda. Cheryl iconically cuts her off, though, and tells the South Siders to GTFO. Archie diffuses, but he might be joining Cheryl’s side of this war: She tells him she saw Betty and him kissing before Christmas and that he should “consider changing his allegiance” if he doesn’t want that info to get out. Yes, Cheryl! Blackmail Archie and his doofy guitar! You look so good!

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Blackboard Jungle

PHOTO: The CW

They table this blackmail, though, for a conversation about Nick St. Clair. Cheryl accidentally tells Archie that Nick St. Clair assaulted Veronica, too, which he didn’t know about. He flips.

Later, Betty meets with a social worker and learns the identity of her brother: Charles Smith. She tells her parents about him—and about Polly, who’s gone M.I.A. Alice is sad about the latter, but intrigued by the former…even though she doesn’t let Hal believe that.

Meanwhile, all the Riverdale and South Side kids get acquainted with each other; there’s clear sexual tension between Kevin and a Serpent nicknamed “Fangs.” But their introductions are interrupted by the principal, who’s irate about a snake that was spray-painted on the school emblem. It’s obvious Reggie did it to set up the Serpents, but it causes the principal to ban all Serpent paraphernalia in the school. This West Side Story knockoff plot is wearing thin; where TF are Cheryl’s long monologues?

Jughead, who in my opinion is still a fake Serpent, is the only one pissed about the ban; the other Serpents are down with it because Riverdale’s a great school. He’s doing the most, as per usual.

Wow, Detective Archie’s in full swing this episode: He tells Agent Adams about Nick St. Clair’s car accident and Veronica’s assault, and Adams says Archie needs to talk to Nick himself to confirm. Because Veronica doesn’t know Archie knows about her assault, he needs a trojan horse to talk to Nick: an excuse that has nothing to do with Veronica. So he asks Cheryl if he can go on her behalf to snag another hush-money check. (The St. Clairs gave one to the Blossoms to keep them quiet about Cheryl’s assault, but Penelope threw it away.)

Snooze: The Serpents and the Riverdale jocks then get into a fist fight over the banned Serpent paraphernalia. Jughead gets suspended for not taking off his jacket. Blah, blah, stupid dudes, blah, blah. Veronica’s solution to this, oddly, is to buy the Serpents fancy new clothes. LOL, bye. F.P. tells Jughead to cut the shit and just take off the damn jacket. I’d say exactly the same thing. The Serpents later start wearing super preppy uniforms to school and are told that they’ll be suspended if they stop. So they keep wearing the clothes, but Jughead forms a secret club at Riverdale High where the Serpents can meet and “be Serpents” under the radar. Let it go, bro. You’re annoying.

Not snooze: Alice and Betty go to visit Charles, who’s staying at a roach-infested motel. He says he’s known about the Coopers since he was 18 and even drove by their house. He figured they didn’t want him around, which Betty says isn’t true in that pouty tone she uses when she’s trying to be serious. He’s super resentful that Alice wanted to “keep” Betty but not him and tells them to leave because he has a “client” on the way. He works in “fantasy fulfillment,” which…I don’t know what that is. Whatever, Alice is sobbing. We must protect Alice at all costs.

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Blackboard Jungle

PHOTO: The CW

Betty, for some reason, goes back to the motel and sees the manager beating up Charles (who calls himself Chic). She pepper-sprays the manager and gets Chic out of there. He stays overnight with the Coopers and acts generally creepy. At the end of the episode, he hovers over Betty’s bed like a full-on psychopath.

Also not snooze: Archie goes to visit Nick St. Clair and get Cheryl’s hush-money. He interrogates Nick about his accident, and then starts beating the crap out of him after Nick says Veronica is a shark. Cheryl gives Penelope the money in the hopes that she’ll stop having gentleman callers, but she doesn’t.

Archie comes clean to Veronica about visiting Nick, and she says there’s something “off” about him. He then comes clean about kissing Betty, but Veronica’s oddly cool about it. Well, maybe. For all I know, she’s secretly pissed.

Things end with Archie meeting Agent Adams; he’s down to keep spying for him, but wants to know his dad and Veronica will be safe. He also wants Agent Adams’ opinion on the Black Hood, because he thinks they didn’t catch the right guy. They stare at each other like two schoolboys playing cops and robbers, which is what Archie is, TBH. Damn it, this Black Hood shit isn’t over.

Parting thoughts: Chic’s going to start murdering people, isn’t he?



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Ivanka Trump on Roy Moore: 'There’s a Special Place in Hell for People Who Prey on Children'


It’s been nearly a week since The Washington Post first reported that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore had allegedly initiated sexual contact with a 14-year-old and pursued relationships with other teen girls when he was in his 30s.

On Tuesday, Ivanka Trump offered the sharpest White House criticism of Moore yet, telling the Associated Press, “There’s a special place in hell for people who prey on children. I’ve yet to see a valid explanation and I have no reason to doubt the victims’ accounts.”

In the days since the Post first broke the story, a former coworker revealed to CNN that it was “common knowledge that [Moore] dated high-school girls,” The New Yorker reported that Moore had been banned from an Alabama mall for bothering teenage girls, and a fifth woman came forward accusing Moore of sexual assault.

Other prominent Republicans, like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, have stated publicly that they believe the women and have called on Moore to drop out of the race. But in her interview with the AP, Ivanka did not implore Moore to withdraw his candidacy—and considering the administration’s ambiguous response to the Moore scandal, it should come as no surprise.

And much like her brother’s Harvey Weinstein commentary did earlier this month, Ivanka’s remarks conspicuously overlooked her own father’s history of harassment and sexual misconduct. Aside from the infamous Access Hollywood tape, numerous women have accused the President of sexual harassment and he’s had his own history of crude moments with young girls.

Who could forget Donald Trump’s 1992 appearance on Entertainment Tonight when, after talking to a 10-year-old girl on an escalator, he turned to the camera to say “I am going to be dating her in 10 years. Can you believe it?” Or when he met two teens outside the Plaza Hotel, asked them how old they were (they answered that they were 14) and then quipped, “‘Wow! Just think—in a couple of years I’ll be dating you.'” And of course, there was the time he reportedly visited the dressing rooms of several Miss Teen USA contestants as they were changing.

Twitter, unsurprisingly, was quick to point this out—promptly challenging Ivanka’s comments on Moore.





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We Tried Those Lush Jelly Masks, and They're Fun As Hell


PHOTO: Instagram / @lushbirmingham

As a brand, it feels like Lush lives by the John Mayer mantra: “your body is a wonderland,” except it’s not just your body, it’s your bathroom at large. Because thanks to the brand, getting ready’s gotten more fun: Lush has given us bath bombs, basically explosions of joy and glitter; it’s given us flubber-y shower jellies to totally one-up the bathing process; and now, it’s taking that technology to face masks. The good news is, they’re incredible. The bad: you’ll need some serious willpower to stop fiddling with them and actually put them on. They’re like silly putty for adults.

If you haven’t been keeping up with everything landing at Sephora lately, everything’s coming up jelly. From Butter London’s bouncy Glazen Eye Glosses to Boscia’s Charcoal Jelly Ball Cleanser, we’re collectively obsessed with jiggly, jelly products that are as addictive to play with as they are to use. And why not? Anything that makes beauty more fun and playful is rarely a bad thing.

Coming back to Lush’s masks, it just comes down to picking your best fit, there are five in total from the new line. First up is Bunny Moon, a mild, soothing medley for sensitive skin. 1000 Millihelens contains anti-inflammatory green tea and witch hazel, which is great for anyone with acne-prone skin. FOMO features a redness-reducing blend of calamine and rose, while Birth of Venus has a smoothing combo of kaolin clay and sea water that’s great for moisturizing oily skin. And lastly, there’s Just to Clarify, a brightening mask with scrubby bamboo bits and exfoliating papaya juice. Obviously, the names are amazing.

As a mask enthusiast eager to experience every single one, as soon as I got my hands on the jellies I whisked them home and did an “all of you get on my face” situation. Using the jellies is at first a little bizarre: you shake the blob out of its recycled plastic carton, pinch off a bit and work it between your dry hands, then smear the resulting paste across your face. Pro tip: keep them in the fridge to help them slide out easily. I really had to dig the jelly out, and it hurt my heart to maul it like that (still super fun, though).

For the full experience, I slathered Bunny Moon on the left side of my face eyes-down, FOMO (fittingly) on my right, and Just to Clarify across my forehead, because who doesn’t love a bright forehead? Ten minutes later, I washed all three off, and, to be honest, I didn’t notice an immediately significant difference. But these guys are a waiting game, because this morning I woke up to crazy-soft, velvety smooth skin, especially on the FOMO side.

Each jelly mask goes for $13.95, which would be reasonable in mask-land by itself. Add in that literally a pinch off the blob is all it takes for a full face go, and these should last you about six masks. But, with the brand’s rep for fresh-made products, that means you’ll have to use it quickly—given the lack of preservatives, you’re typically supposed to toss Lush products on their expiration date or else they’ll go bad.

Luckily, Lush says that the very agar (i.e. jelly-like) ingredient that gives the masks their texture keeps them fresh in the fridge for 20 days, so you’re good to go for about a month of weekly masks. They’ll be available on Friday, September 1, on Lush’s website and in its North American stores, alongside the upcoming bath bomb that literally turns your bath into jelly. I never thought the day would come when I’d want to bathe in Jell-O, but Lush has sold the lifestyle.

Related Stories:
–Dr. Pimple Popper’s New Face Masks Get Rid of Blackheads in a Much Prettier Way
–Emma Watson’s Beauty Mentor Swears By This Boob Oil
–Glow Recipe’s Watermelon Face Mask Has a 5,000 Person Waitlist—And It’s Worth It



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