How Marvel’s Kat Manages Denning’s Attacks

• Actor Kat Dennings talks about her journey with migraines.
• She is speaking out to raise awareness and advocate for treatment reform.
• Dennings hopes others living with migraine attacks will join her in calling for change.

Marvel and “2 Broke Girls” actor Kat Dennings has lived with migraines since she was 12.

Sometimes the pain she experienced was so intense and frightening that she slept next to her mother.

“She actually had a crib in her closet that she would take out if I had a seizure,” Dennings told Healthline. “When she first took me to the doctor, we were told I would grow out of it, but news flash – I didn’t.”

In her 20s, Dennings finally came into contact with a doctor who officially diagnosed migraines.

To raise awareness about the severity of migraine headaches, Dennings is participating in the Migraine Blackout campaign by going dark on social media for several days.

In October, Dennings archived all posts to her Instagram account and has refrained from posting on other forms of social media for five consecutive days as a symbolic stance to raise awareness of the toll migraine attacks can have on someone living with the condition .

She also hopes to rally the migraine community to enact healthcare reform.

Pfizer and advocacy groups including the American Headache Society, National Headache Foundation, Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy and The Headache & Migraine Policy Forum are leading the campaign.

“The program addresses some of the systemic issues that people with migraines face when trying to access treatment,” Dennings said. “We provide resources to help people deal with challenges in working with their insurance companies or getting the treatments they are prescribed, while also advocating for step therapy reform.”

With step therapy, people with migraines and other chronic diseases should try to beat the insurer’s preferred treatments before switching to another therapy.

Patient advocacy groups, including the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy and the Headache and Migraine Policy Reform, support reforms in step therapy. This aims to eliminate step therapy and help reduce delays in treatment, so people can access treatments earlier.

“This push for federal change… is one of the most powerful ways we can effect change for people with migraines,” Dennings said.

If you would like to join her efforts, you can electronically sign an open letter sent to your congressional representation asking them to support step therapy reform and emphasizing the urgency of increasing patient access to migraine care .

“I’m an example of how long it can take to find the right doctor and treatment, so I know many people may be frustrated because they can’t find help,” Dennings said. “I hope to help people advocate for better access to care. I believe we can help bring about real change and increase access to medicine for many people affected by migraine.”

Below, Dennings shared more with Healthline about living with migraine headaches and spoke out for everyone with the condition.

Dennings: I cancel personal plans all the time because of my migraine attacks, and that’s the worst because I feel like the ultimate flake. But the truth is, when I have a migraine, I struggle to do anything. That’s why I blacked out my social content as part of the Migraine Blackout campaign. I’ve endured my pain for years, but this is my way of saying, “I’m done.” By staying in the background on social media, I show that people with migraines actually need to look at themselves and take care of themselves, but also get the care that works for them.

It’s hard to stand up for yourself sometimes, and I have to remind myself to speak up and be honest about what I’m feeling and what treatments are or aren’t working. Raising awareness of the true burden of migraines and helping to improve access to care is why I wanted to join Migraine Blackout.

Many people are unaware of step therapy; it’s a requirement in some states where people with migraines must try three medications without sufficient relief before moving on to a newer one, even if your doctor prescribes the newer option. I advocate for step therapy reform and believe it is one of the most powerful ways we can effect change for people with migraines – and people can do that by signing the open letter at migraineblackout.com.