14-year-old boy
I’m 14 years old and had bad headaches in elementary school and at the beginning of secondary school. I tried many things in order to know what it was and how I could alleviate the headaches. I went to many doctors who couldn’t tell me anything other than that it was migraines, but couldn’t help me any further. I was supported by my classmates in school, my friends and family. During that time I was absent from school an awful lot. Then the university clinic in Dusseldorf made us aware of the Vestische Children’s and Adolescents’ Clinic, where I spent three enjoyable weeks, at least, after I got used to it. In the “Lighthouse” ward with Mr. Dobe I had three stress days, which tested my reaction to stress. I didn’t like these days, they were stressful and strenuous, like their name says. You had to keep to a strict agenda and complete many tasks during the day. I quickly got a headache and Mr. Dobe was able to say that the migraines were caused by stress.
That was probably connected to our move then. Mr. Dobe showed me a technique called “pain provocation” (more about the technique below) which I did every day. After some time I didn’t get headaches from stress anymore. Today I don’t use “pain provocation” anymore. My headaches are almost gone. Very seldom, with a big change in the weather, I still get them, though not as bad as before (then the “pain provocation” helps right away). Meanwhile, I can go to school again and have no more absences or limitations due to headaches. Since Mr. Dobe told me that there was no reason to avoid school or other activities because of headaches, I took it to heart and went to school in spite of the headaches, where they quickly stopped with the “pain provocation”, which you can do everywhere.
I’d like to thank you again for this.
Best wishes,
Paul