a midsummer update

I realize I need to update this blog more. Here are some things:

I had one hardcore migraine while I was in Egypt. Triggered after drinking some wine the night before. I threw up lots of Gatorade, and slept until I felt better. She passed within 10 hours. I ate once that day.

I had one last night but hit the pillow just in time. I fell asleep with half a sleeping pill in me and a cold wash rag on my head. I had strange dreams but woke up feeling much better. This one triggered by my cycle(it's the minefield week--when all potential triggers are glowing neon and in my way, and more things than not spark the dull pain).

I've been trying a new meal plan where I eat 5 small meals a day. I like it so far. Tomorrow I leave for Florida for a week and I'm looking forward to getting some decent seafood.

I don't really drink anymore. I had some gin and tonics in Egypt(and that awful wine) but I am too petrified by the prospect of a hangover(which always always turns into a ridiculous migraine battle). The buzz isn't worth the aftermath. Because of this I'm learning to be quite careful with my intake and that makes me happy. There was a time in my life when I didn't understand limits with alcohol--I drank to get drunk, to feel it the next day. It's so much better to be responsible.

I am still taking B-Complex vitamins as well as magnesium and butterber. I'm hydrated like whoa. Even when I drink a coffee, I have water right along with it. I will have a soda now and then, but very rarely. The kicking of that lifelong habit is still such a victory for me.

I've noticed with age that my sweettooth has diminished greatly. The sweets I want are fruits, if anything. Now if only jelly beans ceased existing. Quite a few of my migraines this year have been triggered by eating too many jelly beans. Oh my delicious kryptonite.

I've been off antidepressants completely for one month. I'm very happy to report that my number of migraines has stayed very very low since then. I was worried that my head might bloom into a war zone once I stopped taking them. I believe that not working in an office has changed the game, headache-wise. It's so nice to have the freedom to treat the pain before it becomes unmanageable.

update

The new diet is quickly becoming simply "my intake." The newness is fading. It is now a normal morning function--set up the blender, dump in my fruit, juice and flax seeds...fill my pill sorter with my daily intake. Some stats:

Supplements:

2 butterbur/day
2 magnesium/day
2 calcium & vitamin d/day
1 B Complex vitamin

Daily smoothie
blueberries, strawberries, orange-pineapple juice, flax seeds, cherries
(ingredients rotate depending on what I'm in the mood for)

I keep breakfast simple. Smoothie, Special K with Berries, 1 cup. Or an egg beater omelette with salsa on the weekend. I cook a lot more these days. I think it's simply par for the course when you are trying to weed out over processed foods and things like msg, corn syrup. I haven't had chinese take out since this whole thing started...at least 2 months now. I no longer miss it.

Grocery shopping continues to be quite the adventure--I read the labels of everything. No matter how much I might crave/want it, if it has too many ingredients and/or ingredients I can't pronounce, then I put it back. The one thing breaking this rule is caffeine. I vow to one day put down the soda.

I've been sleeping like a champ. If I'm having trouble, I take a melatonin and that does the trick.

I haven't had a bad migraine in about 2 weeks.

Every day I ride at least 10 miles on the bike trainer. Spin class at least once a week. Today I rode into work. As the weather warms up I'm excited for my mileage to increase as well. The hills were very easy today. Felt great.

All this to say I've found some things that work for me in terms of pain management and relief. It is not perfect, and I'm not "cured," by my goodness life has gotten so much better. Easier. I can commit to things and show up as opposed to having to cancel due to pain. I feel great about these changes and this is just the beginning.

supplement this

Part of bulking up my anti-migraine arsenal involves supplements--vitamins/minerals I take daily to keep my levels correct. Individuals with migraines are more succeptible to B vitamin deficiencies as well as a magnesium deficiency. I've added both to my daily intake. I invested 99 cents in one of these bad boys:


Nossir, they're not just for grandparents anymore.

However, even with this handy sorter, I can forget to refill each day, so I keep the bottles of vitamins in my bathroom medicine cabinet where I'm bound to run into them while reaching for the toothpaste. The more visual reminders I can have, the better. Instead of filling for the week on Sunday, I usually fill it day by day, first thing in the morning. Don't ask me why. Sometimes I like to take the long way around.

What's in my caddy:

Super B-complex vitamin - vitamin B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, B12. Health benefits are linked to the immune and nervous system, and they also support energy growth in cells. B vitamin supplements definitely give me more energy, and they cut through that daily low headache I tend to get. It also makes your pee super-yellow.

Biotin - though I have stopped taking this since I started the Super B--Biotin is another name for B7, so I'm already getting some of that. Promotes healthy skin, nail and hair growth.

Magnesium - Now, magnesium is the supplement I just started taking, and I'm already finding that I need to tweak how I go about it. Research shows that magnesium levels affect serotonin and NMDA receptors in the brain--both are involved with migraines in some fashion. Here's some numbers:

It is responsible for over 300 essential metabolic reactions in the body. It is required for synthesizing proteins in the mitochondria, the metabolic powerhouses of your cells, and for generating energy in most of the body’s basic cellular reactions. It is necessary for several steps in the synthesis of DNA and RNA. Magnesium is also present in a number of other important enzymes. As important as it is intracellularly, 60% of the body’s magnesium is present in bone, and 27% in muscle. -(migrainesurvival.com)

And I just found out that it's best to take this with calcium, so there's another supplement to add to my trusty caddy. Magnesium is also found in certain foods such as spinach, kiwi, brown rice, raisins, beet greens, tomato paste. Another thing magnesium does? Helps with constipation. In other words, the mag helps ya poop. This is another reason to wean myself off caffeine as well--caffeine decreases the amount of magnesium absorbed in the digestive track. Another fun little fact: if you drink a lot of coffee, you probably have a magnesium deficiency for this very reason. How to fix that? Eat more foods rich in magnesium. This is a part of my diet I am certainly struggling with, as soda and coffee provide me with some warped sense of comfort left over from my younger years. I'm slowly cutting away at my intake--key word being slowly, as I'm quite afraid of caffeine withdrawal headaches(I get enough of them...I really don't need to add another type to the bin).

A few things I am preparing to add to my daily intake:

Butterbur - Butterbur is a herb that, according to some researchers, may cut short the duration and intensity of migraine attacks. Info:

Migraine incidence decrease ranged from 37% - 62% among analysis participants, with approximately no side effects. The only offshoot stated was slight gastrointestinal upset, and that was in a little part of both the herb and placebo groups. - articlesolve.com, "Migraine Busting Butterber"

More thoughts on this after I start taking it.

Feverfew - Feverfew has been used traditionally to treat headaches. It's a member of the sunflower family(this random fact tickled me for some reason). Also:

Another study found that people who took a carbon dioxide extract of feverfew had fewer average number of migraine attacks per month compared to people who took placebo. A 3-month study with 49 people found that a combination of feverfew, magnesium, and vitamin B2 led to a 50% decrease in migraine attacks.

Source: http://www.umm.edu/altmed/articles/feverfew-000243.htm#ixzz2Ku8XXfP9

Up next, more on my diet/food intake. What I'm taking out, what I'm adding, and what(if anything) I've learned so far.