Migraines....I hate them!

Here's what I know about that! Migraines are oftn triggered by a food - like an allergy of sorts. Stress and tension aggravate them. Caffeine helps.

There was a prescription med called Midrin which worked great for me, therefore they took it off the market. (Not recalled so - you might be able to get a componding pharmacist to make it?) It was Tylenol and caffeine and something else I don't know.

When I could not get it I tried 1000mg Tylenol with 3 cups of black tea and it worked. I had to pee a lot and drink lots of water to not get dehydrated. I figure tea is as herbal as anything else. I personally won't take meds if I can help it but I'm not tough enough to wait out a migraine by choice.

As for food triggers - here are some - Citric acid/ citrus fruit, sulfites, red wine, chocolate, aged cheese, MSG (in flavored chips, crackers: Chinese food; many packaged savory foods; canned soup, etc. etc. etc. READ labels!), preserved meats like salami and hot dogs, wheat.

There's a forum for migraines - I bet they have tons of info there.

Aspirin is an artificial copy of salicylic acid from the Salix, or white willow tree so you could get willow bark and try that. Heat pads to neck and head help me.

As for food, not every food gets every person. Nor do foods always get people every time. I can eat anything most of the time, but when I do have a migraine I have usually had choc, citrus, cheese, and msg in large amounts combined with some big tension source.

If you figure out a trigger, stay away from it for a week or more after a migraine because it seems the sensitivity lingers.

I will take my tea and Tylenol right when I realize the 'aura' is there. Do you get a warning aura? For me it is numbness somewhere, followed by tunnel vision or 'Predator' vision - shimmery like in the movie Predator.

I often notice the tunnel vision when I have to re-read something to get it right. Also, I'll use the wrong words a lot - like pelican for seagull. One friend smells wet dogs. Go figure.

I hope some of this helps.

An ice pack on back of my shoulders, neck and base of skull always seems to reduce pain and duration for me. Just had a bad run with multipleigraines last week. Hopefully they stay away now !

Hi JeminiJ,

So sorry you are dealing with this. I used to get a lot of migraines. Drinking Green Vibrance has helped prevent a lot of them. My good friend used to get terrible migraines as well and started drinking Green Vibrance, and now she only gets one a month.

A bag of ice on the back of the neck and head sometimes helps.

Hope you are feeling better soon!

Georgia Hunter,

this is what my dr confirmed me on my appointment with him last Tuesday: he thinks that the migraines are provoced by serotonin inbalance, as many other of my complaints. 

and I have certainly noticed that fats are very bad for migraine attacks. Before, I used cole seed oil with my meals, to cover the histamine. Not working anymore: fats (saturated and unsaturated) in my meals give me more headaches. Even my home made mayonaise is off my diet...

JeminiJ, how are you feeling today?

Please let us know how you are doing with them! They can really interfere with life and especially trying to get through treatment!

Jeminij said...
I was doing a little better yesterday until I decided to go into the sauna to detox for 1/2 hour. Came out with a severe migraine which is still got me down today.

I appreciate all the feedback. I have given up a lot of different foods that I found to be triggers (no caffeine, no chocolate, no dairy, no strawberries, cherries). If I give up more foods I might not have anything left to eat lol (I am super picky).

I have found that heat (detox baths, the sauna now, being out in the sun on a hot day) also triggers them. But I have two small kids (1 and 5) who like to be outside so it's hard to avoid the heat sometimes.

I don't get as much sleep as I need (given the above children who wake me up constantly).

I think I have tried just about everything I know to avoid them, yet I still have them almost daily. I don't want to turn to medication, so I will try some of your suggestions.

They are just terrible and all the things I need to be well are hard to do when you have a migraine, like detox and exercise and get some sun. Ugh.

If heat is causing migraines, there could be a problem with your sodium levels. Forget about what you tested the last time your sodium was tested, the problem can be from an increase in the elimination of sodium. The last time I checked, there were 3 specific gene mutations at the cellular level that affected sodium elimination and excretion. The drop in sodium decreases fluid volume causing hypovolemia. That is what happens to some patients with epilepsy. The genes for epilepsy and the genes for migraines parallel each other. I see a lot of people with migraines that have people with epilepsy in their family. The same applies to people with kidney stones. Try loading up on sodium and water prior to exposure to heat.

The hypothalamus is responsible for heat regulation and there could be something directly affecting it. MRI would automatically rule out a mass and is usually the first thing to be done after a CAT scan ruled out a cranial bleed. You would expect to have sleep, eating, or temperature regulation problems if there was a blood flow issue to the hypothalamus. Decision making could be affected as well. I think this is bit of a stretch, but just throwing it out there for you. I would investigate the piroplasm or protozoan route as I think they are responsible many many cases where the case can't be determined. I believe a no fat diet would be beneficial to you.

Thanks everyone. Doing much better today. The heat wave has broken and it's much nicer today. I think that helps.

I hate migraines too, mine have lessened with treatment and limited diet. If I feel a headache coming on I use liquid tumeric with a little water and it sometimes stops the headache. Not always though...then it is into a dark bedroom to sleep.

Glad you are feeling better.