How I Got Rid of My Migraines!
My history with migraines dates back to the year 2000, when I was on 9th grade. I would get frequent migraines, couple of times a week. When I had an episode, I closed all the curtains, locked the door, and got under the covers with my eyes glued shut, in chilly Kathmandu weather (we didn’t have heat in our house in Nepal). Mom and dad never figured out I had such painful headaches because I was careful not to show my pain. This is exactly why I have developed high tolerance to pain.
It happened right in the middle of my final week in senior year of school. Amongst all my engineering projects, late night practice in Bogard Hall for team presentations, and final technical writing paper, I was fighting a horrible migraine – one loooong painful migraine. When I think back, I was definitely spending time thinking about good food. The last few months of my senior year, my dinners involved a whole lot of tacos and burritos from Taco Bell or a giant Oreo shake from Sonic. Thinking of what I used to eat, gives me chills …. Honestly, I had no time to think about food, and instead I focused on just satiating hunger with whatever was easiest, fastest, and cheapest. No wonder, I had gained over 15 lbs.
I was also very stubborn (my Texan friends called me hard-headed 😊); I wouldn’t take any pain medication, not even ibuprofen/Tylenol. I would ride every episode of migraine with just darkness and I still do when I get it, which seldom happens now. Only in the last few years, I started realizing that my migraines are almost gone. I would say their occurrence has reduced by 90%. I have gone from having migraine once every week to once every 4 months. I started paying attention to why my migraines disappeared – after all, I hadn’t deliberately done anything to get rid of them. Through experimentation in the last 4 years, I discovered several things that changed in my lifestyle could have contributed to reduction in migraines.
- Significant Reduction in Sugar Intake – As you know I used to have Sonic shakes during college years, which tells you how much sugar I was actually consuming. When I went <15 grams of sugar with Belly Fat Cure diet in early 2011, several things started to change including total eradication of my sugar cravings after 3 months. I believe this has something to do with reduced number of headaches. I notice when I travel or not pay attention to my sugar intake, I get a migraine.
- Cooking daily with spices – Starting to eat less sugar for me also meant cooking more at home. Given my Nepali heritage, I started using certain spices every day in my meals. I use garlic, onions, ginger, and turmeric as basis of my cooking. Researchers used 1/8th of a teaspoon of ginger versus a standard dose of the drug and they both worked equally for migraines. Ginger helps dilate blood vessels and, in many cases, works instantly if consumed in raw form or steeped in tea when you get migraines (it works within a few hours for me). Turmeric is another ingredient I would say has added to my overall reduction in headaches. Curcumin in turmeric is highly anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant. Studies have found curcumin more potent than ibuprofen.
- Increase in avocado consumption – Some people consider avocado to be trigger food for migraine because of tyramine, but the amount of tyramine in avocado is very low. In fact, my consumption of avocado has increased by none to one per day and if it was a trigger food for migraine, I would not have been relieved from migraines.
- 95% reduction in dairy consumption – I believe this is the biggest factor in reduction of my migraines. When I consume dairy, I usually get a migraine almost every time. Research shows Casein protein, which is a primary protein in milk, is a major trigger of migraines and other headaches. I have recommended this approach to many people and received feedback in all cases, eliminating dairy has made a significant reduction in migraines. Eliminating dairy has also helped me get rid of my sinus headaches.
- Started Eating Fish and Eggs – I was a complete vegetarian until 2012. I didn’t even eat eggs or fish, only dairy. I started eating eggs and fish after doctor told me I was Vitamin D and B12 deficient. As a vegetarian, it is tough to maintain B12 and D levels without additional supplement. I believe increasing intake of Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, which also helped me increase my HDL level, has helped me with headaches. I consume a lot of salmon.
- Discovery of Hypothyroidism – This is a personal observation that I want to share. I do not know whether there is a connection, but I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism around 2011, which is when all the changes in my diet and reduction in migraines started happening. I started taking levothyroxine in 2011.
I would be so glad if any of this information helped someone out there to get rid of their painful ride with migraines… This might surprise you, but I actually can predict my migraine 2 days in advance. I start to feel like I am under water and start to get nauseous.
As a migraine sufferer, I know how desperate you might be to get rid of them. I recommend you try “limited sugar and no dairy” for two weeks and see what that does for you. Additionally, in the longer term, pay attention to your Vitamin D3 numbers and see if you have optimal levels. Most people today are Vitamin D deficient since we spend very little time in the sun.
I hope you never get a migraine, but if do, try ginger tea or golden milk. Golden milk is made by heating up some turmeric in coconut milk with ginger, cinnamon, and black pepper.
If you try any of these and see positive results, let me know. Happy Getting Rid of Migraines!