Migraine battle won!

(Kiranjeet Bhabra) #21

Thank you for responding…was so stressed due to changing my meds from sertraline then to voldaxan then amritriptaline still no positive effects…

(Kiranjeet Bhabra) #22

I was on amitriptyline for only 4days had severe chest pain…heart spasms and fatigue…had to stop em and im on seroquel and pronolol day 1

(hottie turned hag) #23

I had the experience of migraines resolving after going keto as well.

I was a lifelong sufferer but not that often; after menopause, then weight gain they had become chronic and daily. Not exaggerating, I awoke in pain and went to bed in pain and took Excedrin all day which only dulled the pain.

Within a few weeks of dropping carbs (Aug 2017) and losing much weight (came off fast) they VANISHED and have not returned to this date! I did have ONE, and recently, after eating an entire 5oz bag of Mac’s BBQ pork rinds. I made a thread about it I was so amazed. This was the first and only in almost two years. Triggered by the pork rind gluttony. NO question.

My theory is the fluid retention due to heavy carb intake caused vasodilation and thence, the migraines.

#24

I can’t imagine suffering with 4+ day migraines. :flushed:

I’m so glad you’ve found significant relief (with so many added benefits from keto)!!! That is amazing.

#25

Hey you can be onto something there. I got one after overindulging on nuts and berries, duly noted! No more …

(mole person) #26

I had the same. Starting at around 45 years old my two-a-month migraines became one long migraine that lasted about a year. After that they lessened slightly and I’d get breaks but could still get full week+ long migraines and spent more time with a headache than without. This began my dependence on opioids as well.

Keto helped a ton, carnivore has wiped them out nearly completely. I’m down to one or two half days a month.

Water retention makes sense. I have other pain issues that seem to result from significant inflammation that I get from plant matter, but sugar alone does not cause this inflammation in me and so, for a while, I’d regularly treat myself with something that was virtually pure sugar and dairy thinking it didn’t hurt. But after a while I had to concede that I almost always woke the next day with a migraine and a badly hungover feeling.

I suspect that the “hangover” is essentially dehydration as your tissues suck up you available fluids.

(hottie turned hag) #27

@ketobulous I too had to abandon nuts (was eating too many walnuts and almonds) as along with pork rinds, I cannot stop eating them once I begin. Only solution was to not have them in the house.

@Ilana_Rose I am certain it was down to fluid retention.
Migraines, so poorly understood, are known to have a vasodilation component. No question I have excessive fluid retention when carb intake is high. The connection seems plain to me -in my case- as why else would my course follow so closely my weight gain/loss and fluid retention/loss.

Ditto my restless leg onset which also coincided with the weight gain and its resolution with the weight loss; I am certain fluid retention was the root cause.

(mole person) #28

I’m the same. Restless leg had become a big problem in the two years before I started keto and 100% resolved but returns whenever I go off plan.

(hottie turned hag) #29

@Ilana_Rose Ha #twinning
We both had no weight issues until menopause, nor chronic migraine nor restless leg. All resolved with dropping carbs. I am sure we’re just two of many :two_women_holding_hands:

Oh also hot flashes; onset with weight gain/resolution with weight loss/carb elimination. There’s a thread here somewhere that links a great article of a study on the correlation between estrogen, vasomotor symptoms and GLUCOSE.

(mole person) #30

Yes! But, I have to also keep my protein under a tight rein or they come back with a vengeance. This wasn’t a problem when I was doing basic keto but I have to be careful to stay ketogenic on my carnivore diet or I’m back to stripping of my top five times a night while telling my husband “Don’t touch me, don’t touch me, don’t touch me!!!”. :unamused:

(Kirk Wolak) #31

Please take the 28 day carnivore challenge.

My migraines are driven by foods.

I just overdid bakers chocolate, and have a slight gout flair up.

It’s the non animal foods. I’m telling you.

(Anna ) #32

Another migraine sufferer here. I just joined here a few days ago and was wondering why there wasn’t a special section for migraines in the health section? I’d think many people with migraines would want to try the keto diet since keto was invented for epilepsy and epilepsy and migraines are very similar.

It is exactly 10 years this month since I started to get bad migraines. I have 10 years worth of data on my migraines, since I’ve kept a very detailed food diary all these years. I’m going keto now to hopefully get rid of my migraines, although they have gotten better, not as painful and I very rarely throw up anymore.

@ketobulous I joined the Stanton Protocol page a few years ago but she told me I didn’t have migraines and her protocol wouldn’t work for me. I think she is doing great things for people and I was very interested in her protocol but she has a particular theory on what causes migraines and how to fix that and I didn’t fit her symptom profile.

When I joined her page she told me to drink a glass of full fat A2 milk before bed, which I couldn’t do because dairy was a migraine trigger for me. Also, I didn’t have high blood glucose or low blood pressure. I am also salt sensitive, so I just couldn’t drink all those glasses of water with salt that she makes people do. I’m pretty sure I have migraines, even though I don’t fit her criteria.

As for meat. I don’t like meat. Keto has been hard for me since I just added eggs, cheese and avocados to my diet so that I can do keto. I have not eaten those foods in a while because they were migraine triggers for me but now I need them since I can’t do keto with meat alone since I don’t eat very much of it and the meat I do eat is not very fatty. I’m 2 months into it still having migraines plus a lot of gut issues now. I will be giving up dairy soon, I just don’t tolerate it and it bothers my sinuses as well. I think the eggs make me bloated.

I’ve been a carboholic all my life and a bit of a sugar addict and I do notice how horrible sugar makes me feel. My migraines very much feel like a bad hangover when I first would get up in the morning, before the pain would get really intense. And I also have been getting major hot flushes but I have been in perimenopause the last few years and now menapause. Before that I don’t remember having hot flushes. When I get a migraine I usually get very cold at first, and later I start sweating a lot. No restless legs here, I do get very painful nocturnal leg cramps. Mine are muscle spasms, that hurt very much and I usually have to get up and walk them off. I’ve tried all sort of supplements to get rid of them (magnesium, calcium, potassium, sodium, D3) and nothing has worked. I usually get the leg cramps just before, during and after a migraine.

As for berries and nuts. Yes, I’ve had to eliminate those many times, but I love them and would bring them back every 6 months or so to challenge and see if I could have them. The most frustrating thing about my migraines is that I don’t always get a migraine after a certain trigger food, so it’s never been really clear to me which foods are my biggest trigger foods. All the foods I had suspicions about I eliminated for up to 6 months and yet I’ve never had a migraine free month. I also get migraines from lack of sleep, dehydration, strong or chemical smells, chemicals in food or environment, sun glare, barometric pressure and elevation changes, etc.

Would love to be keto for at least 6 months to see if I have any improvement, maybe in time I will figure out some more foods I can eat, it’s very limited right now.

(Kirk Wolak) #33

Anna,
Wow… Your migraines are worse than mine. My go from severe headache (imagine brain swelling), to visual migraine (loss of ability to focus/read, loss of field of vision, and extreme light sensitivity). I literally get shut down and go to bed.

Now, I have never thrown up. But I have found that enemas give me near instant relief. I have my own enema rig, and will sometimes do a coffee enema with the epsom salts (I mix my own) into purified water by the gallon. Do 2-3 cups. Just an FYI. Getting relief from one can save me from 4hrs to 2 days! Or a repeat every day for 2-5 days.

I find that I can get a migraine AS LONG as what I ate is inside me.

Now, the only times I am migraine free is when I am PURE carnivore. No fibers, no plant matters.
No dairy.

I recommend getting IgE (Skin/Allergy) and IgG (Blood: inflammation response) tested.

Egg Whites are out for me. Most vegetables. Most seasonings. especially things like Powdered Onion or Powdered Garlic.

Keto is anti-inflammatory, so it should help. I believe the migraines are inflammation going into the brain. Or at least triggered as such. It is clearly related to what I eat.

If you can’t do meat… Can you consider FASTING? Start slow. I got to 16 then 18 hrs. Pretty soon I was at 24, now I do a lot of 48 hr (ADF: Alternate Day Fasting). And I try not to eat on Weekends. (But that is like 9 months of training. Don’t think about doing that if you are new to fasting).

I find fasting is the fastest way to clear things up.

As for not liking meat… I have also found that if the thought of a FATTY cut of meat doesn’t appeal to me. Then waiting ANOTHER 24 hours will usually fix THAT. If not, I will FAST until I would eat the meat raw off the bone just to get the nutrients. LOL. Perspectives matter.

Keep us posted on your progress. But If you have not read Plant Paradox, I recommend it. It points out the High Lectin foods that are inflammatory for many of us!

Good Luck!

(Anna ) #34

@CaptainKirk I usually do a 24 hr fast when I get a migraine because I feel noxious and my stomach hurts. I have not done multi day fasts because I’m under weight and can easily loose several lbs from just one migraine attack. I have no fat reserves. Not eating does help while having an attack. I have many different triggers and not all of them are food. I have not tried an enema, usually when I get a migraine attack I get diarrhea and that cleans me out pretty good.

I have read that going carnivore helps many with migraines more than going regular keto. I have increased my meat consumption just a bit but eating meat that has fat attached to it, that will never happen, I will never be that hungry. Fatty meat just disgusts me and I gag on it. I wouldn’t be able to chew it and swallow it. It has been this way for 51 years. I still gag on gristle when I find it in chicken breast or a bratwurst. I am eating 85% ground beef, bacon, salmon. Those are my fatty meats. I eat a lot of avocado now and eggs. I didn’t eat eggs for years because they were huge migraine triggers for me, and didn’t eat avocados because they are high in tyramine, so they should be avided by migraine sufferers. Surprisingly after I went keto, I stopped reacting to foods. It’s too early to tell, only been keto less than two months, but I eat eggs 4 times a week now, and so far so good. I eat avocado almost daily.

I still have not concluded my research on my migraines, but I’m close to figuring them out I think. And I think I know why plants bother so many. It’s actually not the plants at all, but the microbes that feed on the sugars, starches and fiber that live in our colon. Starving those suckers, by not providing anything for them to eat is why carnivore works. I’m experimenting with a slightly different method. I’ve decreased their food source but using supplements and probiotics, I am trying to crowed them out. I don’t know if it will work, but I’m willing to experiment on my self and give it a try. For me, a diet of only meat, would be a very miserable existence. Right now I’m eating about 50% animal 50% vegetable diet.

I was a vegetarian for 5 years and vegan for 2 years. I’m quite aware of all the ways plants can make us sick. Coincidentally, when I was vegan, I didn’t have any more migraines, I did have bad arthritis those two years. These diets didn’t cause my migraines, when I started to have really bad migraines 10 years ago I ate meat, not every day. Now I realize I’ve always had migraines, but they were short and mild and I used to think they were headaches. After a viral infection in 2009, my migraines got very strong, long and frequent. I haven’t been the same since. For the past 10 years while having bad migraines I have also had fatigue, brain fog and muscle pain. I probably have Fibromyalgia. I also have a pretty bad case of Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. When I have a migraine it’s really bad, the noise, light and smells, but when I don’t have an attack, I’m still quite sensitive and have to wear sunglasses all the time, can’t be around any strong smells or chemicals. Depression, anxiety, IBS and a chronic sinusitis. I wish migraines were my only concerns, but there is so much more going on with me.

(Kirk Wolak) #35

With THAT MANY Issues, I am sure 1-2 will get resolved. LOL (Forgive the bad humor, there)

Wow, yeah, fasting when underweight is not good. I literally air fried PURE Fat and ate the “burnt ends” that remained as a snack. I smoked strips of pure fat. I am going to freeze them and blend them into some homemade sausage. (I am trying to get the fat content higher, and control the ingredients). I am looking for a pepperoni replacement. Meaty/Fatty Edible Cold and thinly sliced.

But I never liked fat on meats. I loved my filet mignon! Still do. But it’s missing fat now. LOL.

Yeah, the diarrhea (which leads to relief) from the headache (as in a bad case of food poisoning triggers a massive migraine, spike in BP, the works). But I noticed once I purged I felt so much better.
Almost human/alive. That’s what gave me the idea to try the enema (It couldn’t hurt)!

Anyways, you probably already watch your deodorant and stuff like that. At this point, I can only offer moral support… You are working through it, KUDOS to you.

But ONE thing I would try is EFT (Tapping). Look it up on the internet. And as SILLY is it sounds, give a few tries… You might be amazed like so many others.

My story. I heard about it, NEVER tried it. Very Woo Woo… Then my chronic shoulder pain was stopping me from sleeping well. And EFT popped up on my radar. (I take hearing something 3 times from 3 different sources as a sign). So, I got it, and directed my energy at my shoulder issue…

I kid you not… An old memory from 5th grade, where we were FORCED to square dance, and with that arm I reached out to the girl I was partnered with, looked at me and said “Ewww, I don’t want him touching me!”, and I remember how hurt I was (I hid it the best I could), and that pain in my shoulder flared up at the acknowledgement of that pain and went away. It never bothered me again. I was astonished.

I came up with a theory based on reading OTHER people. That your body does not use words. It uses feelings (butterflies, hair standing up, etc) to communicate with you. Pain is just communication. The failure to acknowledge the pain, as opposed to feeling it, acknowledging it, and letting it go… Causes the body to feel “Okay, Idiot… You didn’t hear that… Let me turn it up!”

I became a better person that day, because I suddenly realized how much our words can impact others. I also started to acknowledge what my body was trying to tell me. It’s not always easy, without words, but I try.

Anyways, since that time, I have used it from time to time. And I have used it on/with others. It’s been hit or miss, depending on their participation. For PAIN, it’s really effective. I really helped my brother who had to wait 24hrs for pain meds (Pharmacy was out, and he rant out the night before), he was in a bad place. And EFT really cut his pain down to a manageable level.

It can/will bring out psychological scars that you may have forgotten about… Getting passed those, I believe is often the path… (And for the record, I have said this before to people, to have them literally OPEN UP right now about some HORRIBLE childhood/teen Trauma by someone they should have been able to trust… It’s scary… We are complex creatures…)

Good Luck and let me know if EFT helps you in anyways. PM me if you realize you need help constructing a specific message to tap to…

Kirk Out!

(Anna ) #36

@CaptainKirk Oh, I’ve tried tapping. Doesn’t work for me. I like to do breathing exercises and medication, holding breath etc., when I have migraine, that helps a little. Also Sodium Bicarbonate will get rid of my migraine, but only for 30-45 minutes.

I also have shoulder pain, sometimes very painful as if my shoulder was dislocated. Many people with migraines also have connective tissue disorders like EDS.

I’m into holistic medicine, so nothing is too woo woo for me.

(Genn) #37

Pre keto, my migraines were steadily becoming more frequent, from maybe one a year, to two, to one every few months. My migraines are mostly visual, I usually start with auras, which progresses to tunnel vision (so the goal is to catch it fast so I can still drive home) and mild nausea, and once my vision clears, headaches, which are mild as long as I’ve managed to choke down some excedrine migraine. Within a few hours I’m usually back to normal, although on one occasion after I woke up, my entire left arm went numb. I’ve had one migraine since starting keto, and it was within the first month. I’m not sure whether to chalk it up to diet, or moving out of my old apartment, which had a mouse infestation and a leaky roof (mold!). Perhaps it’s a combination of the two, who knows? I’ll still probably go into a mild panic every time I get a blind spot from a flash of bright light.

(Anna ) #38

I figured I’d give a little update. I’ve now been keto for 5 months going on 6. Still having migraines. Where before my migraines would come anywhere from 6 to 9 times a month on the average and would last anywhere from half a day and be mild to 3 days and severe, now on keto I get a migraine every 14-20 days like clockwork and they all last 3 whole days and they are pretty strong, some severe. I no longer get the mild and short migraines.

The only positives to this is that now I know I have a two week window of time where I will be migraine free, so I can schedule activities not worried that I’ll get a migraine and have to cancel, and I feel better between the migraines, where before even in between the migraines I didn’t feel that great. Also when I do get a migraine, my blood pressure doesn’t get as high as it used to. So there are some improvements even though my migraines keep on coming.

(Kirk Wolak) #39

It begs the question as to how this relates to your hormonal cycle?

Also, have you tried Carnivore yet (Meat only)? Since you know you get this issue, I would start it about 14-21 days before you believe you will get your next migraine.

The fact that you get “cleaned out” on your own is good, after that cleaning out diarrhea, does your migraine go down?

Does Excedrin Migraine help at all? (It takes about 30 minutes to kick in for me, but I can function after that). Unless I get the severe kind where I am light sensitive, then it helps w/the pain, I just have to stay in bed…

(Anna ) #40

@CaptainKirk I don’t have a cycle. I’ve been in menopause the last 3+ years. I was really hoping my migraines would end when I got to menopause.

I eat mostly meat and eggs now, no dairy, no nuts, no coffee. Once every two days I will have a cup of cauliflower. But I am now in the process of reducing my egg consumption. I didn’t eat eggs for years, thought they were migraine triggers and gave me upset stomach, but brought them back when I went keto and didn’t think they were causing problems anymore, since I eat two eggs daily, have no digestive issues and only have migraines every 14 to 20 days. If I see improvement I will have to stop eating eggs, and that will suck. Eggs and bacon for breakfast daily makes it so easy now, I only have to figure out what I’m eating for dinner.

I just found out last fall that I have kidney disease so in order to make my kidneys last until I die and slow the disease I had to stop taking Exedrin and Ibuprofen, which did work for me if the migraine was mild enough. All I can take now is Acetaminophen and it doesn’t work.

Diarrhea or throwing up never made my migraine better.