MHAM Blog Challenge, Day 21: Eat, Pray, Love (my choice)

Share your favorite Migraine trigger-free recipe.

I've noticed that sodium tends to be a big trigger for me, so I try to look for recipes that use spice alternatives to salt and seasonings. Here's a couple that I like:

Roasted Honey Chicken

Salt-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies (yum!)

Salt-Free All-Purpose Seasoning

I also love a good mozzarella / tomato salad with balsamic or olive oil dressing, but you have to take it easy on the mozz.

Of course, not everything can be trigger-free, but for me, lowering my salt and sodium intake is a good place to start.

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June, Migraine and Headache Awareness Month, is dedicated to Unmasking the Mystery of Chronic Headache Disorders. The Migraine and Headache Awareness Month Blog Challenge is issued by FightingHeadacheDisorders.com.

MHAM Blog Challenge Day 3: The Hunger Games

What healthy habits have you adopted to put the odds of better M & H Disorders management in your favor?

I’ve made a few diet and lifestyle changes over the past couple years to help in my battle against chronic headaches. I’ve noticed a few things that have seemed to help:

• Less Sodium. I’ve definitely cut back on my chip and fast food portions, which has meant giving up some of my favorites (Jalepeno Cheddar kettle chips), but the pros easily outweigh the cons.
• More Fruits and Veggies. I’m not much of a fruit or veggie eater, so eating healthier and getting my necessary daily servings has been difficult. Fortunately, there are alternatives like Naked smoothies that make consuming all the nutrition I need a little easier.
• No Smoking. This is a big one, for a multitude of reasons. I don’t think I really need to explain why.
• Less Stress. While I can’t always control the amount of stress in my life, I can control how I let it affect me and how to relax and handle situations. I’ve been working more on letting stressful situations slide off my shoulders, and breathing deeply to get through.

These are just a few of the things I’ve tried. What lifestyle changes have you made in order to combat pain?

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June, Migraine and Headache Awareness Month, is dedicated to Unmasking the Mystery of Chronic Headache Disorders. The Migraine and Headache Awareness Month Blog Challenge is issued by FightingHeadacheDisorders.com.

Headache Diaries

Since I'm going back to the drawing board, I'm realizing I need to keep a consistent headache diary to help me figure out what the heck is going on.

Knowing I have a tendency to forget to take my diary with me when it's in notebook form, I first looked at apps for my phone.

I lost interest pretty quickly, but the one I did actually look into (Headache Diary Lite) kind of sucks. When inputting the info for a new headache, it asks for specifics like time, type, duration and severity, which is great. But then it asks what the root cause was, and gives options like alcohol, allergies, menstruation, etc., to choose from. Isn't the point of a headache diary to track pretty much everything you do in a day to figure out what might be causing them? If I already knew what the root cause was, I wouldn't be needing a diary in the first place!

So, I'm sticking with old school pen and paper diaries, and so far being much more diligent about it than I have in the past. So far, each entry goes a little something like this:

• What all did I eat today (preferably in order)?
• Did I wear my splint (mouthguard) last night?
• How many hours of sleep did I get?
• How many ounces of water did I drink today?
• Did I work today? For how long?
• Did I get a headache / migraine? When, how severe was it, and what did I take?
• What other things did I do out of the ordinary today?

The headaches I generally wake up with haven't been the same these past few days, so I haven't noticed any patterns yet, but I'm sure I will soon.

The other great thing about keeping a list of everything I've eaten is that I'm now very aware of all the crap I put in my body everyday, and can start motivating myself a little easier to eat better. It's making shedding that pesky winter weight much easier!

Do you keep a headache diary? What kinds of things do you include in your entries?

Booze Again?

Kind of. Not entirely.

I've been experimenting a little bit when it comes to drinking. I know there must be some pattern that triggers my migraines related to alcohol, but I haven't quite figured it out yet.

In the past, I've been able to drink and drink with no problem at all. Not even a hangover in the morning. Then, over the past couple years, I started to develop an issue where I'd feel a migraine coming within an hour of the first sip, and I'd wake up in my death bed the next morning. And this was more than just a simple "hangover" - I would be in severe pain, extra dehydrated, and vehemently ill for the majority of a day.

So I quit drinking. Period.

And it hasn't been awesome.

I'm not saying I want to go out and get plastered every weekend again - I got that out of my system my first year at a university (also likely why my liver seems to be fighting back at me now). But I'd like to be able to go out with friends and get a drink once in a while without the fear of a migraine ruining a pleasant evening.

I recently got back from vacation in Key West (which was a blast), and there was a lot of alcohol consumption going on around me. Key West is less about the beach and more about the bar life, and my parents, brother, and boyfriend were able to nurse beers throughout most of the week without an issue, so I thought, "Why not? Let's give it a shot."

I hydrated as best I could throughout each day, and ordered maybe one or two drinks throughout dinner and the evening. The first night I tried this went swimmingly: I ordered a mojito with our Cuban dinner, and then another one at a bar we stopped at, drinking waters in between. No noticeable issues - not even the next morning!

The next night, we went on a pub crawl where we were given a ticket at each of the 5 bars we visited. This ticket allowed us one free specialty drink, beer, mixed drink, etc. The speciality drinks, because they were recommended to the crawl patrons, were expected orders and watered down. We had eaten before we got to the crawl, and I was careful to only sip on the drinks (generally didn't finish them), and watered myself between each one.

No good, no good at all. I left the night early with a migraine, and felt funky (but not actually sick) most of the night. That was the last time I tried drinking on the trip.

Last night, back in chilly MN, my boyfriend and I went out with a friend to do some catching up. I'd been drinking water and juice throughout most of the day, so I thought I'd give it another shot. We ordered an appetizer and I ordered a glass of white zin to go with. I noticed my alcohol tolerance has gone done over the past couple years (I was super buzzed for a bit), and a slight wine headache, but no actual migraine that required treating.

So a pattern that seems to be worth following so far:

• Eat before and while drinking
• Drink lots of water before, during, and after
• Sip slowly, not too much all at once
• Don't drink (even if it's small amounts) two days in a row?
• I never drink on a day I've already taken Imitrex - it doesn't even sound pleasant

These seem like really basic things that everyone should follow, regardless of issues with alcohol or not, but they are extra important for people with migraines triggered by alcohol. I'm not sure this is foolproof (likely not), but I'm going to keep giving it a shot (especially considering St. Patty's Day is right around the corner).

What kind of things do you do to prevent alcohol-related migraines?

Nipping It in the Bud

After waking up this morning with yet another nasty headache, I think it's time to finally do something proactive. Waking up to take pain relievers every other morning is scary to me, and I'm not exactly sure what it's doing to things like my liver, kidneys, stomach, and heart. Granted, many of these headaches could be "rebound" headaches, and one of the best things I could do (though sickening and painful) would be to cut those a.m. pain relievers out. But I think there's more to it than just that.

It's Girl Scout Cookie Season, and I ate about half a box of Tagalongs yesterday, several of which were eaten right before bed. This isn't the first time I've woken up with a nasty headache or full-on migraine after eating too many naughty foods the day before. I think there may be a correlation between sugar / chocolate consumption and a.m. headaches / migraines the next day, and I'm about to try something to see if that's true.

I'd like to conduct my own form of an experiment, where I cut sugars and chocolates by a certain time each day, and watch my consumption as a whole. This will not only help with a.m. headaches and migraines (hopefully), but will also aid my health and body as a whole.

I think I will start by cutting sugars and chocolates after 8:00pm, and only eat fruits and veggies if I feel the need for a snack. Then, I will log if there were any headaches each morning, how severe the possible headaches are, what and how much I take to fight these headaches (if anything), and what I did the night before. This won't be easy: I love late night cookie, chip, and ice cream binges. But I know it will be good for me in the long run, even if it doesn't seem to affect my headaches, and it could be the first step in weaning off the scary morning meds.

I'll be logging everything on this blog, as a helpful way for me to keep track (and you, if you're really all that interested). If, after some time, cutting sweets doesn't seem to be having much effect, we'll move on to something else.

I go on vacation at the end of this week through most of next week (Key West!), so I can't say I'll want to focus and experiment on my headaches and their triggers. So we'll take a break, and experimenting will start full swing when I get back. In the meantime, I will continue to watch my sugar intake, and see where we can go from there. Maybe a little va-cay is all I need to kick these headaches to the curb! :)

I'd be happy to hear any suggestions you may have about my upcoming experiment, so let me have 'em :)

Bad Habits

Wake up, feel a small headache, take some Excedrin. Eat a Little Debbie Fudge Round for breakfast. Then wonder why I have headaches...

I know a lot of my brain pain issues circle around my bad eating and medication habits, but they're such hard habits to break!

My Story, Part 2 (the uphill climb)

I think the cover of Heal Your Headache is what initially captured my attention, and David Buchholz seemed to know exactly what I was going through. The first I thing I learned was that I needed to cut caffeine and fix my diet (surprise!), and eventually, my headaches would become manageable.

After cutting my high caffeine intake cold-turkey and living through the worst (and only) withdrawal-related, three day migraine of my life, I took Buchholz's next suggestion. I went back to the doctor for preventative medications and received Topamax (later to become my worst enemy).

For a couple years, I did okay. Everything seemed to be going well enough. Then, when I transferred schools, things started acting up again. I restarted the battle with Excedrin, and saw my Imitrex counts rise again. Finally, after my first senior year, I saw a neurologist.

The neurologist helped with nothing. He put me on a higher dosage of Topamax and gave me cortisone shots (aka occipital nerve blockers) in the back of my skull and neck in an attempt to relieve the tension. Soon after, my periods became incredibly irregular, my hair started falling out, and the headaches seemed to be getting worse. Now what?? Ignoring what the neurologist recommended, I cut the Topamax and continued to see a chiropractor. I haven't seen the inside of a neurology clinic since.

It was said chiropractor who seemed to be doing me the most good. After transferring schools, it'd been a year or so before I settled down and realized I should start seeing a chiro again. Not only did she adjust my spine, she worked hard to ensure I was eating well and staying as stress-free as possible - key elements to staying happy and healthy.

For a while, I was feeling pretty good - despite my complaints of jaw pain. It was my mother who suggested I ask my dentist for ideas. At a routine cleaning, I told my dentist of my jaw issues, and he referred me to another local dentist who specialized in TMJ problems. I learned that not only was I grinding my teeth on a nightly basis, but my bite was also misaligned. This was causing my jaw to overwork itself, and jaw problems can lead to headaches. 

There's one more shorter chapter to this story. Click here to continue on to Part 3, or here to reread Part 1.