MovieChat Forums > What Dreams May Come (1998) Discussion > Robin Williams Migraine remedy. Is ther...

Robin Williams Migraine remedy. Is there any medical basis for this?

posted 11 years ago by beavis_el_bunghole
3 replies | jump to latest

In the beginning of the movie, he tells a girl who is in pain to cup her hands over her face for a moment and breath and she feels better.

From this he ddiagnosis her with migraines. Is there any medical basis at all for this? I can find no reference to this anywhere. What would be the mechanism for this working?

Also, in the context of the stor, what do you believe is the point of leaving this scene in the movie? How does it advance the story/plot?

Just curious. I liked the scene a lot, but it has always made me wonder these things.

[–] PatchouliAndPearls 11 years ago

As a 20-year migraine sufferer, I wondered the same thing! I've never heard of this.

I think the overall point of the scene was to just to show how important his work and his family were to him, and how good he was at both. He was diagnosing a patient and stopped midway to take the call from his wife -- something that might annoy or offend a patient, frankly -- but he was so good at being both a doctor and a husband that he simultaneously solved each situation's problems effortlessly and happily. That's what I got, anyway.

I watched this for the first time last night, and it was incredibly hard...harder than I'd thought. It wasn't a minute and a half into the movie and Robin had just appeared in the rowboat and I started sobbing. He was just this vital presence on the screen, and I kept thinking, "He's not here anymore. He's GONE."

Powerful film, whether we'd just lost him or not, too.

"I cry because others are stupid and it makes me sad."

[–] cathy-creswell 11 years ago

I'm watching it for the first time. I always meant to do it, just put it off for......16 years!!!! It's a good way to mourn him, and our irreversible loss.

[–] ForeverVR46 10 years ago

25yr migraine sufferer here and no, there is no medical basis for this. I've tried it. I talked to many different neurologists about it, my acupuncturist and anyone else I can think of. Nothing. I can also tell you that an MRI and CT often will not show anything either before, during or after a migraine. Nice thought but no basis in fact.

However, I do love this film although Annabella Sciorra makes me grit my teeth no matter what she is in.