Here's the deal: I have migraines, lots and lots of migraines, and they suck. For as long as I can remember, I've been suffering from this terrible neurological disease. I can't even begin to relay how many important events I've missed in my life because of these horrific headaches. For example, I can recall spending one of my first dates with my boyfriend of almost nine years in the bathroom of the restaurant vomiting my brains out because of a migraine. However, about three years ago, things really took a turn for the worst, and before I knew what was happening to me, I was experiencing head pain everyday. Now, here I am today, three years later, and I'm still experiencing a migraine day in and day out.
Before I move on, I need to explain what exactly a migraine is in case you're one of the lucky few who have never experienced one. A migraine is not just a headache, in fact, it's quite the opposite. Your typical headache involves the constriction of the blood vessels on the outside the your head. This vasoconstriction is what causes that tightening and pain one refers to as a plain old headache Now, don't get me wrong, headaches of any sort suck, but with your typical headache you can pop a couple of aspirin and go on with your day. A migraine on the other hand is an entirely different story. It involves the dilation of the blood vessels within your brain itself. This dilation typically occurs on just one of the brain, but that doesn't mean the pain is only half as bad - it's horrific. The vasodilation increases blood flow to the brain causing it to swell and because of those wonderful skulls we all have to protect our most precious organ, the brain tissue has nowhere to go causing the intense throbbing pain associated with a migraine. The pain radiates deep within your head behind your eye. It literally feels like your brain is going to explode. All you can think about is shoving an ice pick through your eye or chopping half of your head off with an ax and I'm not kidding. If you experience migraines, you know exactly what I'm talking about! Not only is the pain unbearable and debilitating, but a migraine affects your entire body as well. There is increased sensitivity to light and sound in addition to nausea and vomiting, and if you're like me and experience migraines chronically, there are a host of other symptoms that I experience. So anyone out there that says migraine patients just need to take a few aspirins and suck it up, simply has no idea what he or she is talking about!
Experiencing one migraine in a lifetime is enough for anyone to have to endure, now imagine enduring that everyday for years. For patients like me, that's the reality. I've had to quit my job and school, hell, I'm barely even able to leave my apartment on most days. But don't misunderstand. I am not a hypochondriac, I'm not lazy nor do I feel sorry for myself. In fact, I'm the strongest person I know. I've had migraines for more than 20 years, and I have never gone to the ER in order to get drugs to find relief. Even as a child, I just sucked it up by going into a dark room and burying my head into a pillow. I never even went to a neurologist until my migraines became chronic, and for these past three years, I have been nothing less than proactive in getting rid of these damn migraines. I see a neurologist over 400 miles away because she's the best one I've found so far, I now have a specialist for every 10 inches of my body because I experience so many different symptoms from the migraines or side effects from medication, I have had at least one doctor's appointment a week for the past year. I've tried everything. I've been on medication, after medication, after medication. One of the medications I'm on now is so dangerous that I have to stop taking it every six months and have a CT scan, echo-cardiogram and X-ray done just to make sure it hasn't damaged any of my internal organs. I've seen naturalists to chiropractors. I've had surgery on my head and neck more than six times. I've tried biofeedback therapy and meditation and acupuncture I was hospitalized for over two weeks in a hospital with a specialized head pain unit. I get Botox injections every three months. You name it, I've tried it, and nothing has worked. It's outrageous, and I'm at my wits end!
The one and only thing I haven't tried yet is a radical diet change, and it's something I've been thinking about for a long time, I just didn't even know where to start. Then one night a few months ago, I Googled "vegan diet for migraine." I was surprised with the abundance of positive results many a people had with a strict vegan diet in terms of reducing their migraines and it got me thinking, maybe this would work? Then the very next morning, I was on my way to a doctor's appointment when I spotted a huge banner in the metro that read, "Want to join one of our research studies testing whether changes to your diet can improve or reduce pain? Learn more about our migraine headache studies at..." I couldn't believe it! After that experience, I'm not sure I believe in coincidence anymore. That very same day, I gave the study a call and was scheduled for an in-person interview. After the interview, I was immediately invited to participate in the study, which includes two parts. One part of the study looks at the effects of a strict low-fat vegan migraine elimination diet (That's a mouthful!) on head pain, whereas the other part of the study includes taking a pill of essential fatty acids or a placebo. Both parts each last 16 weeks with a four week break in between each part. During my first evaluation earlier this month, I was randomly selected to participate in the vegan diet first. I was thrilled as I did not want to wait another 20 weeks to start this diet! After talking to the lead physician of the study and doing my own research, I truly believe this diet is going to be the treatment I've been searching so desperately for. Food is going to be my new medicine, and I cannot wait to begin this journey. Goodbye migraines, hello chickpeas!
