Living with Migraines

After suffering through migraines for over half my life, I’ve decided that it’s time to really, really do something about them. It’s one thing to finally have medication - Maxalt - that (almost) always works, but it’s another thing to do everything that’s reasonably within my power to try and prevent them altogether. Because when the meds don’t work, it’s too late to do anything but get ready to suffer. My husband has heard me say time and time again that the only thing that would help would be to kill me or chop my head off when I’m deep in the grip of yet another episode of pain. I actually feel like someone who is dealing with chronic pain - in addition to the migraines that hit 2-5 times per month, I also have an almost ever-present nagging tension headache. This is not how I want to live the rest of my life, so something has to change. I’ve decided to make some changes in my diet first and see what happens. I have a list of foods that are OK, possibly OK if eaten in moderation, and not allowed at all. This is going to be a major chagne for me, because I am a picky eater, and what few foods I do eat on a regular basis are almost all in the “not allowed” or “only in moderation” categories. I eat very little fruit, but what fruit I do eat is mainly citrus - and that falls in the moderation category. I eat a lot of cheese and yogurt - cheese is a no-no, yogurt is to be limited. I’m going to have to learn to like other foods so that I don’t feel deprived. That’s a fear I have - after spending years and years learning to have a healthy relationship with food and trying to conquer an eating disorder, I now have to deal with ‘bad’ foods. So this will be my challenge to myself, to learn to see that by making the choice to not eat these foods, I am making a choice to improve the quality of my life. It’s not that I can’t eat these foods - it’s that I’m choosing not to. I need to explore some other lifestyle changes as well, to try and get rid of the stress that I seem to carry around with me all the time. But one thing at a time, and this week, my focus is working on my diet. I plan on using this journal to help me identify all sorts of migraine triggers, including those centered around stress and guilt.