Why are migraines such a pain in the ass?
Well, besides the debilitating experience of having one, there’s been stunning little progress made in the fight against the condition:
It still affects 1 in 6 Americans — and 1 in 5 women
Roughly 95% of today’s patients aren’t properly diagnosed
There are only 500 headache neurologists in the US
For every doctor, there are 100,000 patients waiting to be seen.
It’s a war seemingly impossible to win. For Sophia Fang, it’s just another day…a Peachy Day.
More on the fight below:
It almost felt both like relief. But also like a life sentence... 'Hey, you're just going to have chronic pain for the next 40 years of your life. Deal with it.' And I think for me, that just wasn't a good enough answer.
For Her, the Fight is Personal.
Sophia suffers from migraine herself. She’s learned to manage it as well as possible, despite the odds and, in part, thanks to her own technology. But at times, her condition worsens to the point of not being able to work (doubly painful for any founder or entrepreneur).
The pain, though frustrating, is familiar: Sophia has watched her mother go through the same diagnosis. Feeling unable to help her own family through long days in dark rooms and nights of no peace pushed her to the brink — of business, that is.
Through Peachy Day, she now serves a broad, ever-growing community of patients just looking for a little light.
Making Migraine Tracking Less of a Headache
If you’ve got an icepick in your head, the last thing you want to do is focus…on anything.
So in building Peachy Day, Sophia prioritized simplicity over everything. And after trying numerous other ways to track her own symptoms (mostly via lengthy surveys), she’s developed a straightforward six-question reflection which takes less than a minute a day. That information, over time, creates a personalized data set to help the user better understand their day-to-day condition, as well as get properly diagnosed upon sharing that data with their doctor.
This ease, in and of itself, may help reduce the stress associated with feeling that you’ve got a bomb in your own head, just waiting to go off.
Why You Should Watch
I learned a ton about chronic pain, and its management, from the host chair. Here’s why you’ll like this interview from your own:
The True Headache Behind Migraines: The staggering statistics revealing how prevalent the problem has gotten…and how underprepared we are to fight from a pure personnel perspective.
The Personal Battle: Often we hear of founders approaching problems, but rarely problems which are so deeply close to home. I found immediate respect and empathy for Sophia after hearing her mother’s story in addition to her own.
How Tech (and yes, even AI) Can Actually Help: In a sea of AI bloat and vapor, solving chronic pain is one of the better uses of next-gen technology. I think we can all agree with that, and get behind someone who’s actually building it out.
And, related to the shtick of the show: as adult beverages are a common migraine trigger, today we poured over a rainbow flight from the Pittsburgh Juice Company. (They don’t know we featured them yet, but maybe someone will forward the show along to them.)
This is the fourth installment of the “Six Pack” series, in partnership with Innovation Works.
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Cheers!
Adam
