The Great Migraine Battle...

My Migraine Story

I remember my head hurting in elementary school.  It hurt enough for me to ask to go to the nurse and ask to be sent home.  This was crazy for me because I LOVED school.  This continued until junior high when one day a pain so unbearable hit me above my eye in Algebra class.  I dealt with the pain taking Excedrin Migraine, but it didn't touch my migraines.  Sleep, time and darkness provided my only relief.  The migraines came and went throughout high school (as I look back, I think they depended upon my stress level and sleep schedule) and as I began college, they became much more frequent.  Finally, I went to see a neurologist, who put me on a host of preventative medications over and over trying new ones because we couldn't find one that worked.  He also put me on Imitrex as a rescue drug.  THANK GOD for Imitrex.  It was a life saver.  Except I was taking it 2, 3, 4 times a week, which is not good for your body.  I bounced from one neurologist to the next, each one thinking they could help me.  Despite their best efforts, nothing helped and the migraines kept getting worse.  I was up to 8-12 migraine attacks a month in 2011.  Finally, I begged to be referred to a migraine clinic.  They saw me and gave me a strict sleep schedule (wake and go to sleep at the exact same time each night and no napping unless completely necessary) a special diet* (low tyramine headache diet-see below) and instructions to get 30 min of exercise monitored with a Heart Rate Monitor.  Also, I was to keep stress under control.  Now I can sleep and avoid certain foods and even exercise, but keep stress under control??  Have you ever tried that?  It was stressing me out managing my stress!  Thankfully, a friend suggested a counselor nearby and I have been seeing her for about 9 months.  She has helped me tremendously with stress and anxiety.  That has been a huge help with migraine management.  I was also given Maxalt as a rescue drug because my body had become immune to Imitrex.  All of these things have reduced my migraines from 8-12/month to 3-4/month.  WOW!  How awesome is that??!!  It hasn't been easy, but it's been completely worth it!  Oh and my aunt gave me this cream called Real Time Pain Relief.  It's an anti-inflammatory.  When I feel a migraine coming on, I rub the cream on my forehead, jaw line, neck, shoulders and then repeat again in 5 minutes.  It does work and has greatly decreased my reliance on rescue drugs.  That's my story and I pray you can find something that works for you too!

 

This is what I have tried thus far in my battle with migraines:

• 9 preventative drugs
• 4 rescue drugs (just recently changed from Imitrex to Maxalt)
• Propanolol (blood pressure medication)
• Magneseum
• chiropractics
• accupuncture
• trigger-point therapy
• TMJ appliance therapy
• anti-inflammatory food diet** (see example below-didn't help my migraines, but I lost 30 lbs in 6 months on it)
• daily exercise
• hormone therapy (progesterone and testosterone)
• Low tyramine headache diet (I have had the best results following this diet, but I had to follow it very closely)
• Real Time Pain Relief cream

Here's what's left to my knowledge: Botox injections, steroid injections, kineseology, or de-stressing my entire life by selling all my possessions, quitting my job and becoming a bum in Hawaii.  The best option for me right now is to try out kineseology because I am not privvy to injections nor to being a bum.  My friend goes to a doctor a few hours away who practices kineseology and I am definitely intrigued.

2013
January: 3 separate migraines, one lasted 3 days
February: 1
March: 5
April: 4

May: 3
June: 4
July: 5
Aug: 1 (to date)
 

2012

January: 4

February: 4

March: 12

April: 5

May: 12

June: 11

July: 8

Aug: 9

Sept: 8

Oct: 8

Nov: 10
Dec. 7

*Low-Tyramine Headache Diet: Tyramine is produced in foods from the natural breakdown of the amino acid tyrosine.  Tyramine is not added to foods.  Tyramine levels increase in foods when they are aged, fermented, stored for long periods of time, or are not fresh. PDF for Low-Tyramine Headache Diet

 

 

**Anti-Inflammatory Food Info:

I am not a medical professional and my choices are merely based upon my own personal research.  Please consult your doctor before starting any diet or exercise changes.

I stuck with an anti-inflammatory diet from January - July of 2012 and saw great progress in my general health and weight loss.  The theory behind this diet is that not eating certain foods will allow your body to be less inflamed.  Therefore, when blood vessels begin to constrict, the tissue in the vessel will not be as swollen or inflamed, allowing more blood to circulate, hence not resulting in a migraine.  For me, it didn't work.  But I know it does for some.  Migraines are tricky. 

Here's what I've found from my research:

• no sugar (unless found naturally in fruits and honey)
• no sweeteners (aspertame, splenda, stevia, etc.)
• no preservatives (MSG, nitrates and nitrites especially)
• no red meat
• no enriched flour
• no alcohol

I reintroduced one every couple of months to test whether or not the foods have an effect on inflammation in my body.  My health was much improved, but my migraines were not.