New here, and Dealing with constant pain

Hi everyone

My name is Melina. I joined this forum because I suffer constantly from headaches, they pretty much dictate my life. I've had to change my lifestyle and life completely because of them.

I am about to turn 25 and just quit an amazing job traveling, kayaking and teaching english at a private kayaking high school, because I didn't feel up to it too much of the time. Now I live in North Carolina where I work as a writer. I just moved there, and I am trying to adhere to a strict diet, breathe deeply all the time, get enough fresh air, sleep, and abstain completely from stress. My mother and her mother also suffer from terrible migraines.

What I am having coping with is that I have always been an active healthy run around tons of energy kind of girl, up for anything. Now I live in caution. I'm so frequently sick, I feel like my boyfriend, who I moved to NC to be with, will run out of patience with me. He has given me no sign of that, he is caring and wants me to be well, but I feel terrible because I have to lie low so much of the time. He is healthy as a horse, which I am very thankful for, but he cannot understand what it's like to live with the fear of being knocked down by a migraine. I would like to talk with other people who understand what it's like.

Post Edited By Moderator (tysmyboo) : 2/16/2010 11:53:01 PM (GMT-7)

Hi Melina,

First off, welcome to the forums. Second off, I have a couple ideas. You know hon, I'm only 29 and I used to get 14 to 20 migraines a month. I only get like 4 migraines every 3 months now. So I'm going to tell you what I did, maybe you can try it. It might help you. I kept a list of everything I ate and drank and I also listed when my migraine started. I found listing the time I ate or drank as well as the migraine started was better. Heres an example:
Date
6:00am Toast with butter, Eggs, Banana, Coffee, Orange Juice
12:00pm Turkey Sandwich with mayo, lettuce and tomato, milk
1:00pm Migraine starts, most pain located in forehead
-------
At the end of the week, I'd look at this list and see, oh a migraine started. I would then think well lets see if coffee gave me the migraine. And I'd have no coffee all week. If no migraine, I would resume coffee the week after and see if I got a migraine. If I did, then coffee is probably a trigger and should be avoided.

Another thing I did was ask my doctor to see a neurologist. A neurologist is also a great doctor to help you figure out why you get migraines and sometimes you can take things to prevent migraines, so you get less of them.

After I found what triggers my migraines, I got down to 8-10 migraines a month. That is still a lot of migraines. A friend told me something that helped her cousin, cutting her hair. I figured what the heck, its worth a shot. I cut my hair. I used to have really long and thick hair. I had my hair cut to the bottom of my bra strap (my hair was down to the bottom of my rear). I also had it layered. my migraines went down to 3 to 4 migraines a month. I have medical training too, so I knew some stuff on migraines. Silly things like, if its in the front of your head like behind your eyes or in your forehead its probably allergy related migraines. If its in the back of your neck it can be either stress or neck went out of alignment. ***NOTE**** If you think your neck is out of alignment DO NOT attempt to to fix your neck. It MUST be done by a professional chiropractor or a physician with the letters DO instead of MD.

When I got down to 3 to 4 migraines a month, I noticed it was all in my sinus area. I have bad allergies, so I had a hunch it was probably allergy related migraines. So I asked my doctor for Allerga, which is a prescription allergy medication. I now, only get a migraine every couple months. Not that bad.

This diet plan worked for me on top of Topamax. Don't let your migraines run your life.  Try this diet plan and stay away from processed foods. Ÿ   chocolate Ÿ   tea (including decaf tea) Ÿ   coffee Ÿ   Sanka and other decaffeinated coffees Ÿ   Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, and other cola sodas Ÿ   alcohol, beer, wine Ÿ   aged cheeses (like blue cheese or brie) Ÿ   cultured dairy products (like buttermilk, sour cream) Ÿ   peanut butter and nuts Ÿ   onions Ÿ   chicken livers Ÿ   citrus fruits (like oranges, limes, lemons, and grapefruits) Ÿ   bananas, plantain, avocados, raisins, dried fruits, red and purple plums, canned figs, herring, fava beans and pods (like lima, navy pea, lentils, pintos) olives, pickles, sauerkraut, canned soups, soy sauce, hot dogs, bacon, sausage (like bologna, salami, pepperoni, summer sausage), pizza, any foods containing large amounts of monosodium glutamate (msg) as in Chinese foods and Mexican foods Ÿ   mixed dishes (like macaroni and cheese, beef stroganoff, cheese blintzes, lasagna, and frozen TV dinners) Ÿ   avoid any pickled, preserved, or marinated foods   Please read all labels to check that none of these foods are hidden within certain products   Black beans and snow peas are OK to eat.   So is cream cheese, provolone, swiss, or American cheese.   Jellies and fruit preserves are OK, but if you notice headaches after eating them, then eliminate them.   Same with meats that you marinate in seasoning mixes.   Herbal tea is OK.