Fighting against a migraine

I've been a migraine sufferer for many years, since before knowing that I had a thyroid condition. For me migraines can be debilitating, and over the years they have got worse and worse - more recent ones have become two-day migraines with the following one to two days suffering with a 'migraine hangover'. That's the days after when you feel like one side of your face is slightly numb and still a little sore though there's no full blown migraine or headache, just a dull throb and general feeling of nausea and feeling out of sorts.

Over the years my GP and I have tried to identify the cause of my migraines by filling out a food and mood diary. No food triggers ever appeared. The usual suspects of Chocolate and Cheese didn't seem to be trigger foods for me. Stress was pretty much the only thing that we could think might be the root cause. But even then we were dubious. I was prescribed Pizotifen to take nightly to try and stop the migraines from even starting, and after a couple of months was advised to drop this down to just taking it when I felt the warning signs starting. I'd also had Maxalt Melts from time to time to attempt to stop the migraine as it started. They were pretty effective, but the last time I had any - a couple of years ago - I was in such pain that I had to take one before I'd even left the pharmacy at my local supermarket and still ended up with a full blown migraine.

Over the years I'd developed a coping strategy, putting it down to low blood sugar. I'd tried eating a full meal, but could never finish it and would end up eating my evening meal at whatever time I awoke - even at 2am. Because eating a full meal didn't work, and believing that I needed to raise my blood sugar, I then resorted to eating a packet of crisps, a chocolate bar and high sugar content sweets such as Strawberry Pencils and Strawberry Laces - we're talking 98% sugar! But although this would sometimes lessen the visual side of the migraine allowing me to get to the bedroom where I could then fall into a deep sleep in a cool, dark, quiet, room, it was becoming less and less effective as a 'cure'.

Last week, after discovering that I'm have a fast oxidiser protein metabolic type, I began to think about this issue. I hadn't had a migraine since February, but the last one had been treated with two large packets of crisps and a snickers duo - though once again that had only got me up to bed, not cleared it. Thinking of the food I'd been eating I realised that, although I'd know I was carb loading to treat the migraine, I hadn't been aware that carbs like this were unacceptable for my body type. With my new knowledge that this sort of food gives me a massive sugar rush followed by a very fast crash I started to think that maybe this was the wrong approach for me, and resolved to treat my next one with food more friendly to my body - protein and fat.

Last night, seemingly out of nowhere, I started to get the initial warning signs that a migraine was on it's way. Sticking to my resolution I decided to have a small portion of mixed nuts and a portion of low-fat Brie. Within an hour I was feeling normal, the migraine had been staved off and I there was no hint of a headache. I was thrilled with this, but slightly cautious that perhaps I had just postponed it.

This morning, when I awoke, I had a completely clear head. Not a sign of the headache or migraine that had been threatening the previous night. No sign of a 'migraine hangover'.

This is great news because, although I still can't identify the trigger, I now have an effective and non-chemical/non-medical way of fending off a migraine. It seems that adding more sugar to my system may well have just given a temporary relief in terms of the sugar rush but ultimately exacerbated the situation by providing me with a huge crash so soon after. From now on I'll be eating high-protein, high-fat, foods when I get that first tingle of migraine.