Jessie James Decker Opens Up About Navigating Migraines

Jessie James Decker is used to being open with followers, from her music and motherhood journey to her marriage and life behind the scenes. Now she’s teaming up with AbbVie for the Love In Mind initiative, the place the nation star peels again the curtain even additional, opening up about how residing with migraines has quietly impacted her relationship, date nights, and moments of intimacy together with her husband, Eric Decker. Whereas migraine is commonly dismissed as “only a headache,” Jessie James Decker made it clear that for her, it has been something however, and at occasions, it has pressured her to place love on pause. 

“I can completely relate,” Jessie mentioned in the course of the press convention, wherein The Blast was in attendance, whereas discussing how migraine has affected her means to indicate up totally in her marriage. “Scheduling these date nights, particularly whenever you’ve received a lot happening. I’ve received 4 children, and our schedules are tremendous loopy… That point is so valuable.”

However for Jessie, these fastidiously deliberate moments don’t at all times go as anticipated. “There have been these nights the place a migraine will simply hit, and I simply really feel like I can’t go,” she admitted. “I’m not gonna be the perfect model of myself. I’m not gonna really feel good.”

As a substitute of getting dressed and heading out, Jessie says she’s typically left mendacity in a darkish room, wrestling not simply with ache, however guilt. “It’s at all times disappointing,” she shared. “You sit there mendacity in your room at the hours of darkness, and also you’re like, ‘I simply really feel so responsible that I can’t go on this date.’”

For Jessie, a migraine isn’t one thing she will be able to push via or ignore, particularly when it flares. “At any time when I’ve a migraine, I’ve to only shut it down, take heed to myself, take heed to my physique,” she defined. Fortunately, she says, having a companion who understands has made all of the distinction.

“I’m fortunate to have a companion who understands and is there for me,” Jessie mentioned, noting that her husband, Eric Decker, has realized to acknowledge the early indicators earlier than a migraine totally takes maintain. “He can normally catch when it’s gonna occur and he’s that assist system that I want.”

That assist didn’t come in a single day.

Jessie revealed that she first observed one thing wasn’t proper as a youngster, when complications triggered by sports activities and bodily exercise felt completely different, and way more intense, than what others described. “I observed actually early on that one thing wasn’t regular,” she recalled. “I didn’t know find out how to clarify it or articulate what was happening.”

It wasn’t till later, after assembly her husband, who was then in his rookie 12 months within the NFL, that she was inspired to take her signs severely. “He would say, ‘You might have complications lots. Have you ever ever checked into that?’” Jessie shared. “I saved pushing it off. I didn’t need to cope with the method.”

Ultimately, she did, present process evaluations and scans earlier than receiving a migraine prognosis that, whereas daunting, additionally introduced reduction. “I felt so validated in that second,” she mentioned. “It was like a light-weight bulb went off. These aren’t simply complications. That is actual. It is a illness.”

Even with remedy and higher administration, Jessie says migraine stays a relentless presence, one that may interrupt not simply her schedule, however her sense of closeness and connection. “There are moments the place you simply can’t be intimate or current,” she admitted. “And that’s arduous, particularly whenever you already really feel such as you’re lacking out.”

That actuality is echoed in findings from the Love In Mind study, commissioned by AbbVie and carried out by the Harris Ballot, which examined 606 US adults recognized with migraine to additional discover the influence of migraine on relationships. In reality, 73% agreed their migraine makes them really feel like a burden in romantic relationships.

What makes it much more difficult, Jessie says, is that migraine is invisible and sometimes misunderstood. “Simply because you may’t see it doesn’t imply it shouldn’t be validated,” she careworn. “Simply because it’s not a wound or a damaged bone doesn’t imply it’s not actual.”

In reality, Jessie revealed that for years she downplayed her situation, generally even blaming different sicknesses as a substitute. “I might say I had the flu as a result of I didn’t really feel like individuals would take migraine severely,” she admitted. “Don’t do this. It’s justified.”