Just imagine having migraine every day for five years. Victoria from Littlehampton telephoned me to enquire about therapy to end her long-term migraine. Victoria began to get migraine at about eleven years old, and it gradually became more frequent until it was happening every single day. Perhaps two or three times each week, Victoria would have to simply stay in bed. At other days, she was able to get up, but by mid-afternoon she was unable to participate in any activity, and just sit quietly, exhausted, waiting for the migraine to pass, later in the evening.

When I visited Victoria, she explained that she could often manage one activity during the day, like a trip to the supermarket, providing it was earlier in the day. After the event, she would be exhausted, and would be unable to do anything else but rest. Victoria is married, with a one-year old baby. Can you imagine getting married with a migraine? Can you imagine giving birth to a baby with a migraine? Victoria did all of these things.

Migraine is the most excruciatingly painful condition. Imagine all of the blood vessels in your brain pounding, alternatively dilating, and the next second contracting. Add to this a feeling of nausea as bad as being sea-sick, and then, if the next hormone knocks on in this crescendo, it causes vomiting, but this time without relieving the nausea, which just continues as if there had been no vomiting.Victoria hoped that each day would not reach the full spectrum of nausea and vomiting. That would be a good day, with only the severe pounding to contend with.

As I walked into Victoria's home, I noticed how there were so many things not put away. It was a normal, but untidy home, and I did not realise that this was all because Victoria ran out of energy before she had finished her essential tasks, and there was no more energy available to tidy up.

Victoria began the Migraine Resolution programme. At first, she noticed very little benefit, but she was determined to keep up the programme, and give it the very best chance of working for her. To Victoria, it seemed unlikely that it would work, but she had to try.

She had heard of others who had succeeded in the programme, and had become migraine-free, so she continued, even while she occasionally lost hope of it ever working for her. She just did it anyway! The programme consisted of hypnotherapy to relieve subconscious tensions, and NLP techniques to link a conscious command to her subconscious to get the migraine to reverse back to neutral. The subconscious sometimes knows what it should be doing, but needs time to make all the changes required to reach that objective. While this is happening, it seems as though there is no progress.

But Victoria kept on going. Her reward was about to happen. I re-visited Victoria to continue the programme, reducing subconscious stresses, and reinforcing the reversal programme. A few days after this second visit, Victoria had her first full day without a migraine developing. When the migraine began, she proceeded with her conscious command, and the migraine reversed back to neutral. Victoria was amazed that it had worked this time, but she was not yet convinced. It could have been a coincidence. The following day, Victoria tried it again, and it worked. The third day Victoria tried the programme, and she was disappointed. Her subconscious ignored her, and also on the fourth day, and Victoria had a normal migraine on these days. However, on the fifth and sixth days, she was once again successful, and enjoyed two days without migraine. She was delighted. She was now growing in confidence, and perfecting her own technique of sending her migraine away. It was wonderful to be able to spend so much more quality time, playing with her young baby daughter, and getting on with her life.

Over the next few weeks, on her weekly telephone conversations with me, Victoria grew more and more confident that she was getting more and more control over her migraines. She watched the gaps between the migraines grow from two days to six, then to twelve days. The concept that she is on the road to becoming completely migraine free is still hard to believe for Victoria, but she knows that she will get there, and be completely migraine-free for the rest of her life.

I spoke with Victoria today, and she told me that she has counted eighteen days since her last migraine. I could hear the joy in her voice, as she said, "I have even been able to tidy my home".

Olivia Roberts is a registered hypnotherapist/master NLP, practicing in many areas of the UK. She is a trainer in advanced hypnotherapy techniques, including the Migraine Resolution programme. Visit the web sites

http://www.end-migraine-now.com and http://www.hypnotherapy inspiration.co.uk