I've got a headache! How many times have you had to say that? How many times have you heard a friend or family member say that?
Migraines are not your regular headache . Just about everyone has a headache from time to time. But a migraine is different and if you ever have one, you'll never forget. They differ from the “normal” headache; they are severe recurring headaches with an intense throbbing pain that is usually on one side of the head, although l/3 of the attacks can affect both sides. I've had them on both sides of my head and at some point the pain was so intense it was difficult to tell where it exactly was located--because it would cover my entire head. Sometimes attacks would last between 4 and 72 hours and would often cause me visual problems, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sensitivity to sound and light, and even tingling or numbness in my arms and face.
According to medical research, every 10 seconds someone in the United States goes to the emergency room with a headache or migraine. They rank in the top 20 of the world's most disabling medical illnesses.
I've suffered with migraines since I was in my teens. Back then--way back then--I was so young that I really didn't question their severity or the amount of them that I got. I didn't go to the doctor or really discuss the pain with anyone. If I had a migraine and someone asked me how I felt, I'd just say, “Oh, I have a little headache.” I rarely went on about how debilitating they were. For me , they were a normal part of my life. Amazingly, over 10% of the population, including children, suffer from Migraine--30 million people in the United States alone! About 18% of those suffers are American women and 6% affect men.
As I aged, however, I did begin to question why and how I got these monsters. They began affecting my life: with my children, my career and my life in general. So I started researching, reading more and more about migraines. At some point, I even began hearing about them on the evening news. I learned that there were things called “triggers” that could/would bring on these horrific headaches. Food, for me, quite often was one of the biggest triggers. Stress, of course was another. Well, I knew it would be easier to get rid of the laundry list of foods, than the stress in my life.
I began keeping a diary of foods and liquids I ingested and smells that brought the headaches on. I learned to read labels, carefully . But it wasn't until last year, that I discovered MANY more triggers. I was in a bookstore a looking for a book on food allergies (thinking, hey, maybe I can help alleviate some of my headaches) when I came across Heal Your Headache 1*2*3 Program, written by David Buchtoholz.
I read it cover to cover. I hauled it around with me for quite a while in case I was dining out, whatever I was going to eat, was NOT on that trigger list. I followed the program as closely as I could.
Now don't get me wrong, the program wasn't a quick or easy fix. But it did begin helping considerably. The most difficult was the giving up coffee thing. Oh man! So to compromise, I bought the ½ caffeinated kind. But if you're as sick and tired of these headaches, I was/am, then you'll at least pick up a copy up and read a few pages... What is it going to hurt? You're already hurting anyway, right?
Some of my triggers :
- Orange Juice
- Bananas
- Artificial Sweeteners of any kind. I eat nothing sugar free, as most sugar free products contain artificial sweeteners.
- Dextrose/Maltodextrin, which is in many frozen foods
- Perfumes of any kind
- Scented candles
- Toothpaste: (I use Tom's Farm) many have Saccharin or some artificial sweetener in it.
And those are just a few….
Great informative article!!!