Migraines

I found several things that helped alleviate my migraines:
History – determining what my triggers where: hormonal, weather and diet.
Hormonal – well not much you can do about being a healthy women but I tried using IUD birth control to help regulate my menstrual cycle and it back fired. BC could decrease, have no effect or increase the frequency of migraines. I did research and the type of IUD (meridian) was shown to have a decreasing effect on migraines, but the opposite held true for me – so I stopped. I found that my natural cycle is pretty regular so it’s best that I don’t take anything that changes my estrogen levels.
I went to a Headache specialist, and we tried to control them by medication. I had become an addict to OTC – Excedrin for migraines, and Advil – these caused me to “rebound headaches” lasting for 10 straight days so that’s why I sought out professional help. Immetrix always caused nausea and made me drowsy but generally helped, but I found it difficult to work under this medication type. I found that Maxalt works the best for me. I take them ASAP when I feel a migraine coming on – one day b/f menstrual cycle, and when a weather front comes in. It controls it, and now I only have to take about 2-3/month. I wasn’t totally convinced that medication was the only way to alleviate them so I looked at other resources.
I went to Wellness Source - Chiropractors, Dr. Jim Lopez in Chicago, and there is also a Glenview location. He has made all the difference. He provided not only chiropractor care, with adjustments to my neck, back to help correct my posture, turned vertebral, and upper neck pain, but he influence me to change my diet, and we did prevent core & back strengthen exercises. I was able to lose about 25 lbs, and have gotten into the best shape of my life in over 20 years – I swim, bike, run – as I will be doing my first triatholyn at the end of this month. I also love to kickbox and do weight training – none of this was possible when I was suffering form 10-15 migraines a month, so I am so happy of the life changing effect that I made. I now feel like I’m more in control of the pain, instead of the pain in control of me!
Hope that you find my comments helpful and if you would like to become MPF friends, I’m open to request.

I had debilitating migraines a few years ago. They'd be so bad I couldn't get out of bed, would last 24-30 hours, and I had them once or more per week. I had to withdraw from college for a semester while I was trying to get it under control.

My neurologist couldn't figure it out for a while, but finally gave me a long list of foods that were high in nitrites in hopes it might help. No exaggeration, everything I ate was on that list. Frozen meals, prepackaged foods, processed meats and cheeses, red wine, chocolate, all of it. As soon as I cut those out (which was hard seeing as it was my entire diet), the migraines vanished.

I now avoid frozen dinners entirely and rarely have things like processed prepared food or lunchmeats. Red wine will do it almost every time. I get migraines very infrequently now, maybe only once or twice a year (and they usually occur due to a combination of stress, lack of sleep, and eating these types of foods).

I wish I had the list but it's long gone; I'll try to find something similar for you.

Are you on any birth control hormones? I struggle with migraines as well and have tried many things as well. I have found that being on a low dose of hormone limits the amount of migraines I get, which enables me to function better. Are yours debilitating? I know once I have one, I have to be in bed for the rest of the day and can't function, which can be hard with three kids.

Lol I love the things that people have said about topamax because thatss exactly how I was when I was on it. Im surprised I ever remembered my own name. :P

My advice is to find a doctor who is concerned about figuring out what causes your migraines. some doctors do not want to deal with that and will just go thru a long list of medications but that will just put your body on a horrible rollar coaster of side effects and withdrawals, always with the possibility of a medication "workig" but only for a couple months. It will be worthwhile to work with a neurologist/chiropractor/nutritionist/allergy doctor or whoever it is to help you find the most natural way possible to solve your migraine. Also, if you dont like the answers you are being given, GET A SECOND OPINION. I was seriously one of the quirkiest most energetic kids ever but I suffered from migraines. When the medication prescribed didntt solve my migraines the nuerologist told my parents that I was lying about my migraines and he encouraged them to put me on antidepressants even tho I have an ABNORMAL MRI!!!!
Find a doctor who you trust and who trusts you and who isntt just going to throw a bunch of drugs at you and hope for.the best
There IS a cause to your migraines and though it might takr.time, you can find the solution.

Until then, I encourage the things.that have been mentioned. Eat as clean and organically as possible. Avoid anything with a long shelf life, get massages often and WRITE DOWN everything about your day whenever you get a migraine. Everything you ate, everything you touched, the fabric of the clothes you wear, any detail you can think of and maybe aftet a couple weeks/months you and your doctors will be able to find the common link amoung all the horrible migraines.
Good luck.

I have had migraines since I was a child and have discovered that my biggest triggers are (in order) food, weather, and sleep regularity.

I regard to food, aged proteins are big no-no for me. These include hard cheeses, the longer they are aged, meaning more fragrant and more delicious they are the worse the are for me; lunch meats of really any sort; bacon or really any other processed meat. Other semi no-no's include chinese spices (not the msg, more like anything soy based) and excessive amounts of beer (I think its the yeast).

Two interesting facts about migraine triggers are food triggers tend to be a delayed reaction and triggers tend to work on a thresh hold, kind of like an allergy attack. If I eat cheese pizza, I will more than likely get a migraine but anywhere from 2-5 days after eating. So, MFP's food diary has been a great tool to look back and see what might be triggering attacks.

I think about the treshhold as things I can control and things I can't. For me, there is little I can do about the weather but a lot I can do about food. So, if I'm really careful about what I eat, when we get low pressure systems moving through, I can usually avoid an attack or at least minimize my incapacitation.

If your having them for several days on end, that makes me think there is something in your diet that you regularly ingest that is constantly putting you above the threshold and triggering continuous attacks.

Best of luck. I hope you can find some relief.

cut out artificial sweeteners. worked for me.

I've suffered from migraines since I was 11 years old and had a really horrible year when I was 14-almost had to drop out of high school for that year. What made the difference for me then was regular exercise and sleep pattern, as well as managing stress better.

I still struggled with migraines as I got older and it was only in the recent 2 years that I finally got a grip on it-when I made the decision to eat clean. I just made sure that everything I ate was wholesome and natural, not processed. If I wanted something that I could buy but was processed, I would make it at home instead with whole ingredients. I've had only 2 migraines that I can remember since then!

One of the biggest triggers I've noticed is oil-that meant deep fried foods, greasy sauces, and anything with a copious amount of oil would just set it off and put me out of commission for up to 3 days.