migraines

Do you know what your triggers are?

If you are suffering from "low carb flu", it is supposed to go away after a few weeks. I am still waiting for mine to go away. I guess you don't want to have caffeine if you are nursing, but caffeine helps. I hope you feel better soon.

For me it is dehydration or not enough caffeine. And, just not eating enough

I get migraines occasionally and still don't know what triggers them. I eat the same foods a lot so I know it's not any food I eat.

It is allergy season, so maybe allergies are triggering them? Also, a gnarly sinus headache will feel very similar to a migraine. Also, watch out for any sort food/drink with sulfites (dried fruits, wine, hot dogs, bacon).

I get migraines too, and I was getting a lot of them when I cut refined/added sugar out of my diet. It took about a month before I was back to my normal baseline.

Do you clench your jaw or grind your teeth at night? Sometimes that can trigger migraines. I know it does for me and several of my massage clients.

Have you had blood work done (beyond just the basics)? I had been suffering from migraines and when I had blood work done, it showed I was significantly deficient in vitamin D. My MD suggested that this *could* be related, and that more research was being done currently about the link. She told me to take a vitamin D supplement either way because even if I didn't have migraines, I was too low. After a few weeks of starting the vitamin d, I noticed I no longer had migraines. Could just be coincidence but it might be worth checking out.

Two of my migraine triggers are bright focused light and glare. If my curtains are open all the way, I'm fine. But if they're closed and just a sliver of light is shining in, I'll be sick almost immediately. I wear sunglasses outside, and try to avoid glare at all costs. I also try to avoid having my picture taken with flash.

If you clench talk to your dentist too. They can fit you for a mouth guard that will protest your teeth and keep you from grinding. You can also massage your jaw. You'd be surprised how many people have knots in the massetter and pterygoid muscles.

My mouth guard is brilliant - only for the front teeth (it has a gentle adhesive activated by warm tap water) - so my back teeth don't touch. ( I broke two full set mouth guards by grinding.) It has changed my life.

There can be lots of different reasons for this sort of thing, depending on the person. However...you need to get a new doctor, first.

Anytime a doctor hears you have headaches and says 'stress' is the reason? That usually a good sign you have a doctor who is not paying attention to what you say, or - more importantly - thinking about what could be happening. In my experience, they will tend to miss problems developing because they are so sure you have minor issues that they won't even think about other possibilities until they get bad.


So, a few things.
1. Have you been talking to your ob/gyn about your headaches? Because women who have migraines seem more prone to them during pregnancy, with some common triggers during pregnancy (http://www.whattoexpect.com/pregnancy/symptoms-and-solutions/migraines.aspx).
However, more importantly, having migraines during pregnancy is something that doctors usually want to monitor because in rare cases it can be a warning sign of trouble later (the article linked above discusses this). I don't say this to scare you, but it's important to know, you know?

Because that doctor dismissed your migraines as stress AND did it while you are pregnant? Get a new doctor, seriously. You need one who is paying attention and making sure you and baby are doing well.

2. Clenching teeth - can absolutely make a difference with that guard!
3. Other things I've seen (and had) that can cause migraines. lack of sleep, low blood sugar, certain foods (usually more than one, so can't just avoid one or two foods and it's all good), artificial dyes, artificial flavorings, artificial gums, artificial preservatives.
4. Some components of food, added or natural, that can cause migraines:
- sulfites. This site has a lot of information (http://holdthesulfites.com/ok-you-cant-eat-everything/ ). The list of foods with sulfites is what many sulfite allergic folks react to, so may have foods listed that have such low levels of sulfites that a non-allergic person would be fine, but it's a start, you know? However, one thing to know is that there are naturally occurring sulfites as well as added, so you can still get them while eating a very clean diet (like peanuts or grapes, for example).
- salicylates. Some folks are more sensitive to these in their foods, and can get migraines from them, too. This site has some information on that: http://salicylatesensitivity.com/about/food-guide/
- Celiac Disease. This disease is rarely screened for, but can not only cause difficulties with migraines (which many doctors are ignorant and unaware of) but also with pregnancy...and is actually more common than some diseases that ARE screened for during pregnancy (there are groups trying to get this added to the list of things to screen for in pregnancy, actually). If you are still eating gluten, it's just a blood test panel to screen for this. (This just mentions the prevalence of migraines in the celiac community - http://www.migrainemonologues.com/2012/11/study-connects-migraine-with-celiac.html )



Hope that you are able to find out what's going on with your migraines and start to feel better, hon! Take care