He had worked his whole life for this opportunity. He grew up playing basketball in Miami and was drafted out of the University of Miami in 2003 to play for the Indiana Pacers in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was traded two more times before returning to his hometown. Nine years later as his team, the Miami Heat, entered the 2012 NBA Finals, 6’8 forward James Jones began to feel the onset of a migraine just hours before Game 1. He returned to his hotel room, took some medication and tried to sleep it off—but it wasn’t enough. The 32-year-old Heat star had to miss the biggest game of the year. Jones returned to play in the following four games, and the Heat won the championship in a five-game series against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Yet it is the migraine that sidelined him that will remain in many fans’ memories.
Jones is not alone with his condition. Miami Heat teammate Dwyane Wade, who led the NBA in scoring during the 2008-09 season, also experiences migraines and sometimes wears rose-colored sunglasses during games to avoid light triggers. Their coach, Erik Spoelstra, has said that Wade and Jones have made the team more aware of the complexities of migraine. Head Wise recently spoke with Jones to discuss his experiences with migraine and why it is important for male migraineur-athletes to speak out about the condition.
Head Wise (HW): Why do you love the game of basketball?
JONES: In most sports (football, baseball, soccer) you need a partner, somebody to pitch to you or a receiver to catch. In basketball, your partner is the basketball itself and that allows you to grow and develop even if you don’t have a coach, friend, parent or someone else around.
HW: When did your migraines start?
JONES: [They got worse] four years ago in the NBA, when I came back home to Miami. Prior to that, I had migraines sporadically but I never really paid close attention to them. In the last five years, I started to talk to physicians and trainers and they would ask me about my headaches.
I had a conversation with my mom and said, “They’re doing all these tests and everything looks good. I just don’t know where these headaches are coming from.” She said, “You’ve been having headaches your entire life.” I said, “I had migraines as a kid?” And she said, “Sure, you had migraines all the time.” I guess I never paid attention because as an athlete, you automatically figure that any type of pain or ailment results from dehydration or overexertion.
HW: Did you have a family history of migraine?
JONES: [My mom] has suffered [from migraine] for a good part of her adult life.
HW: What are your triggers?
JONES: Dehydration, bright lights and camera flashes. A lot of the arenas are switching to the brighter LED lights and those trigger it for me. Eating chocolate—if I’m on a brownie binge—I’m more prone to having them. If I [eat] really salty foods like salty popcorn, it usually compromises me and leaves me in a bad spot.
HW: It sounds like your triggers are all things in an arena.
JONES: The irony is that everything around me triggers migraine.
HW: How do you handle pre-game in the locker room with all the cameras and the noise?
JONES: Pre-game I find myself in mid-lighting in the weight room or off in our lounge. I also avoid taking electrolytes or sodium packets close to the game. But really it’s about staying out of the light because light is my worst trigger.
HW: How do you manage your migraines?
JONES: If I start to feel symptoms, I try to hydrate quickly, sit down and get out of the light. I try to avoid taking pills as much as possible, but I’ll start taking Advil or some prescription-strength headache medicine. If it doesn’t work, I’ll try an [aspirin] injection [to get the medicine in my system faster].
It’s tough because rarely am I able to stop it. Once it’s triggered, it usually runs its course for 12-24 hours. I’ll get sick, start to have visual aura, and then from there I’ll become nauseated and vomit. And then I can finally relax and maybe sleep an hour or two and start to feel better.
HW: Did the impact of missing Game 1 of the NBA Finals change the way you’ll treat migraines in the future?
JONES: No, it just reaffirmed for me that there’s no quick fix. At the end of the day it’s a condition that I have to live with. Medication works for some people, but it doesn’t work for everyone. My focus is to try to find a system that works for me—if it’s a particular medication or drink, a massage, sunglasses, sleeping—I’m always tinkering, trying to find the right mix that will allow me to combat my individual symptoms.
HW: Your migraine during Game 1 was not your first headache, but the media took notice of that one. What was your reaction to the coverage?
JONES: I think it raised awareness and showed the severity of a migraine. If a migraine is severe enough to stop me from playing in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, which is the most important game of the year that every athlete would literally die [to play in], then it shows that [migraine] must be debilitating, and it must be a crippling pain. So I think it brought recognition to the fact that migraine is more than just a simple headache from staying up too late or not getting proper rest. Migraines will shut down your entire body.
HW: Do you think you and Dwyane Wade are bringing awareness to the team as well?
JONES: I think so. We’re two guys who are extremely competitive; our team comes first. So it shows the impact [migraine has]. But I think there need to be more accommodations and more awareness [of migraine in sports]. If you’re not functioning, there’s no way to be the best.
HW: It seems like a lot of athletes don’t like to talk about their health. Do you see that?
JONES: I see it because it’s a very competitive sport. A lot of guys view that as a sign of weakness. Until guys are willing to step out and say, “Hey, I’m as strong as they come, but this is something that weakens me, this is something I deal with, this is something to be taken seriously,” until guys do that, then the status quo will be that you as one of the greatest athletes on earth should play through it and if you don’t play through it that means you don’t have the desire or that you’re not exerting yourself. As more high-profile guys, with proven track records of persevering and putting their teams first, step to the forefront, I think organizations will respect it and understand and I think fans will too.
HW: Do you and Dwyane Wade ever talk about your migraines?
JONES: Yes, normally we talk about them after we dodge a bullet [a migraine] or after we both come off of a migraine. Only if you experience them do you recognize the severe aching pain that you [suffer].
HW: The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported this summer that retirement was on the table for you. How have migraines impacted that decision?
JONES: Just for the record, there was no way I was retiring. But as you get older and playing sports starts to take a toll on your body, it becomes more difficult to fight through and combat your migraines. So much of what we do is physical. At the end of the day you do want to play this game as long as possible, but you also want to be conscious that you don’t leave the game and be in a bad state of health.
HW: What would you have to say to others who have missed out on important days due to headache?
JONES: It’s tough, there’s no doubt about it. [Missing an important day to deal with your health] is a tremendous sacrifice, but I think you have to do it because at the end of the day you’re talking about your health. We want life experiences and when you’re in the moment, they’re the most important thing you can think of. But really there’s nothing more important than your health. The more you can get under control, the more you can avoid migraines, the better you are. Outside of the birth of my children, everything else is an experience that could be possibly replicated in the future.
HW: You’re an NBA champ, a father, winner of the 2011 Foot Locker Three-Point Shootout— you even run your own Legacy Foundation to give back to youth. What do you consider your greatest accomplishment?
JONES: It’s a perfect storyline: I was born in Miami. I went to high school here. I went to college here. I was the first male in my family to graduate, the first Academic All-American in the family, the first professional basketball player in the family, three-point champion and NBA champion. Individually it’s tough to say because it seems like my accomplishments have been a bundle and it’s all happened here in Miami.
Winning the championship in Miami is by far one of the greatest accomplishments. But I think graduating from the University of Miami with my bachelor’s degree in finance as an Academic All-American, for my family and for the people who helped me achieve, I think that was a very big moment.
