Satisfied

Today was not a perfect day, but I'm so satisfied with it. I woke up with my symptoms being irritability (not terrible but there) and sensitivity to noise. Is this an aura? Have to find out about that.

Sent the kids off to school and went walking. Gosh, it was really raining but I better get used to it. As Winter is 1/4 of the way here, it's always warmer when it rains. And here, it rains a lot. So I have a plan, I bought an obnoxius looking rain slicker and a dorky hat but it will work. Even so, today my pant legs got wet. But the fresh air felt good on my face. When I am feeling this way I don't do well when it's stuffy and always want cold air on my face, so it was perfect.

My pain didn't get any worse so I went to the grocery store. It's dangerous to go when I'm not perfect because sometimes I'll get worse. But at the same time, I can't wait around because I'll never go. Besides, I was waiting for payday and we were out of so many things. As soon as the money hit the account I was walking down the grocery aisles.

I could have saved the shopping for the hubs, but I've decided to go on a massive elimination diet. It is so worth any sacrifice to even 1/2 my pain days and try to avoid I.V. treatment. Don't get me wrong, it's helpful but not easy. It's not the needle or the I.V. itself, it's how the drugs make you feel. Besides, pain @ the level it takes to get me there is no picnic. So, I wanted to get some things to help me feel like I have something to eat. I even found some cookies that have just a trace of soy which is one of my biggo offenders. (don't ask me how I'll avoid this in Thailand....)

Got home from the grocery store and felt great. Think it took me a little too long to eat lunch though. Although I did have an unripe banana and Koala rice bar for a snack @ 11:30. Had to make my Vietnamese rice paper rolls for lunch though. Maybe I'll post the recipe if anyone comments or e-mails and is interested. Pretty dang tastey and quite different from things we normally eat here....us caucasin americans.

I felt a bit more pressure after lunch and the pain went to a 2. But the weird thing was how much my thinking shut down. I just thought it did when it got to a 3 or a 4 but I think it's one of the symptoms in general. I just took it easy the rest of the day, used tiger balm a couple of times, iced once, stayed in a dark room but did watch television. Just kicked back.

It is so totally rare that when I start off like this that I stay @ this level. Makes me wonder if it was just decreasing the sugar, wheat, yeast, etc. that I was sort of withdrawling from. It's not just a piece of cake going off those things. Anyway, I am SO SATISFIED. I have been waiting for a day like this for at least a year. Maybe longer. Sometimes my pain will just stay @ a 3 all day, but this is even an improvement on that.

I am determined to follow through on this elimination plan and I won't even call it a diet. More of a life change. I've done it before but added stuff back. And it was hard to tell what was bothering me. Within a couple of months I'll know if it helps and then I will KEEP DOING IT. It's worth the sacrifice to be different because I'm different anyway....

Oh, and it must be emphasized that I didn't take any medicine today. I sure hope I can get to @ least Monday before I need frovatriptan because the goal is that I only treat 2 migraines/headaches a week.

Lots of Things to Think About

So far, so good today. I began reading "50 Ways to Control Migraines" by Ceabert J. Griffith, N.D., P.A.-C.

Packed w/ some very informative stuff. It gave me so much to think about and discover about my condition. In a super strange way it's kind of exciting. I'm totally willing to do and/or change things myself that will help and alleviate some of the frequency.

Interesting Info #1
I've put myself on an elimination diet before and discovered a couple of triggers and I already knew one. But there were numerous more that I had questions about. After reading part of this book, many, many foods I had questions about contain "amines, a group of vasoactive, nitrogen-based protein components. These substances cause the blood vessels to narrow and then expand, touching off a headache. The following amines have been implicated:
*Dopamine: in legumes, such as peanuts, peas, broad beans, and soy.

*Tyramine: in aged foods, such as cheese, yogurt, buttermilk, sourdough, and overripe bananas. Red wine, beer, dried or pickled meat, salami, nuts, figs, raisins, avacados, and fish also contain high amounts of tyramine (onions).

*Histamine: in cold water fish, such as salmon and tuna.

*Phenylethylamine in chocolate.

*Octopamine and synephrine in citrus fruits.

*Trytamine: in tomatoes and pineapples." (p.23)

(foods highlighted in green I had already suspected and foods highlighted in orange I had questioned but wasn't sure.)

The interesting thing I noticed in this list, is that last night about 1/2 hour after I ate dinner, my headache hit. I had mentioned before that my menstrual cycle was not over. That, I believe, was factor #1. The other interesting thing though that I noticed on this list, was 2 things I had for dinner. Factor #2 was buttermilk and pecans (nuts). I made buttermilk waffles for dinner and left the syrup off because refined sugar is another suspicious food for me. So to be safe, I left it off and used homemade strawberry freezer jam instead.

One of the things the book said is sometimes it is a combination of triggers. Like, maybe something won't bother you but put it in combination with a couple other factors, specifically menstruation, and it will. I believe that's why there were so many foods I wasn't sure about. It could be the reason why sometimes a food will bother me and other times it won't.

Very interesting...

One thing's for sure, with the way this month has been I am totally in that place again of being afraid to eat. Back are the times where I look in the fridge and close the door because I am scared that what I put in my mouth will hurt me. It's frustrating. Because I do not have an eating disorder. I have a headache disorder that is exascerbated by my eating.

It takes a lot of dilligence to go on an elimination diet, and I had already sort of started. But now, I'm willing to slice off all of these offenders even if they don't trigger me, all because I want to feel better so desparately bad. It's hard, but I'm willing to forego temporary pleasure in the palate for even a few extra days a month that are pain free.

Interesting Info. #2
A couple of other things I noted were that sometimes if you get a headache in an airplane you can take supplemental oxygen and that will help. I am definitely going to ask about that. Once, when I flew to New Zealand, I spent the whole first full day (not when I got there but the full day after I had slept) with a headache. I had to stay in bed w/ the lights off and my head hurting. Sure, maybe it sounds like jet lag but I think it was more than that.

I am going to go to Thailand in about 9 weeks. I've been really concerned about "losing" a day w/ headache due just to the travel itself. I am going to ask my P.A. about the oxygen specifically for this purpose. It is sooo worth a try.

Interesting Info. #3
Migraines w/ aura vs. Migraines w/out aura

I always thought that my migraines did not have an aura. This book explained four phases of a migraine: Prodrome, Aura, Headache and Postdrome.

Found on page 50, prodrome includes fatigue, irritability and food cravings. I have really been noticing that lately I've been craving salt. Other times I will crave chocolate and for decades, I used to crave bread products. Also, yawning is included. Sometimes I will not be tired, but just yawn and yawn, and not be able to stop. Like every couple of minutes. It's quite strange. I've always sort of wondered about this and thought it odd. People will say, "Are you tired?" and I would say, "No!"

Aura includes "vision disturbances; numbness or weakness on one side of the body; slurred speach; sensitivity to light and sound." (also on p. 50) What I need to ask my doctor about is this: sometimes when I'm looking at something, my eyes will shift back and forth very fast. Now, this is something that has happened to me off and on for so long that I can't remember when it started. It doesn't seem like a flashing light to me, but my eyes definitely dart and for a split second, I can't see. It's just a split second and doesn't endanger me in any way or impair me. It's about as fast as a blink of an eye. Also, and I told my doctor this, (actually many doctors!) that sometimes I will be irritable and sensitive to sound and later, maybe within a half hour or hour or so, a migraine will start. There have been a few times when I haven't been having lots of headaches that I take abortive medications for, that I will take a maxalt, imitrex or frovatriptan (abortive medicine) at this stage. Miracle of miracles, the irritability disappears as well as the noise sensitivity and the headache will never come.

I am wondering if I should pay attention to these symptoms better, especially during my cycle, and take my medications then instead of waiting for the pain. This wouldn't always work, sometimes the pain comes first. Or, maybe I'm so used to the "aura" that I miss it.

These are wonderful questions I have for my doctor now.