The last time I wrote I was hopeful I could being the anti-migraine diet. Unfortunately, I just wasn't healthy enough, and it all fell apart...again. I feel like I'm starting to sound like a broken record - that is, "I'll start the diet again on Monday." But that simply is just not the case. The fact is I've been sick, really sick. At the end of March, I had an appointment with an endocrinologist as I had long suspected I may have an issue with my thyroid. My biggest and most troublesome symptoms being weight gain and hair loss. I've literally gained more than 30 lbs in a year, and my hair falls out in huge clumps - it's awful! I've had my thyroid tested multiple times and sometimes it comes back normal and other times the lab results indicate I have an under active thyroid. It's so confusing!
In addition to seeing an endocrinologist, I also traveled to Michigan to the Michigan Head Pain and Neurological Institute where I saw my neurologist and pain psychologist. Both were terribly concerned with my health and mental state, and a couple days later, I was admitted to the Head Pain unit at a local hospital. I've now been here for 10 days, and man I'm I sick of the food. This is actually my second time here. The first time I was hospitalized was in November of 2011 when I spent close to three weeks in the Head Pain unit with no avail. This time things are going better and I'm remaining hopeful yet skeptical at the same time. The head pain clinic is one of the best in the country, and I still have had a migraine everyday since I've been here. It's almost like, if they can't help me, who can? But I'm going to try to not think that way, especially, since I've been having a couple of good days in a row. Things have been up and down since I've been here, but I'm hoping I've finally turned a corner. It took a whole lot of medication to get me here and a couple of nerve blocks, but I think my migraine has finally broken, almost at least.
Tomorrow, I'm being discharged and all I hope and pray for is that I'll be functional enough to give this diet a chance. The hospital has very few vegan options, but I've done my best though I know I've had several slip-ups. I wasn't able to keep up the anti-migraine diet I discussed in my last post so I went back to being vegan. When I first arrived in the hospital, Easter weekend with my family had just passed and amazingly I remained vegan the entire weekend. I couldn't believe it! I was raised on animal products! The only cheating I did was during the fish fry - honestly, there was nothing else to eat and I love fresh fried fish. Other than that, I did great, until I got to the hospital that is...I tried to eat vegetarian as much as possible, but a did order chicken and bacon a couple of times. The thing was though I actually found the meat revolting, and after eating it once, I didn't even want it anymore. Even the cheese was kind of disgusting That really surprised me! Therefore, most of the time, I ordered as mostly vegan as I could with an occasional animal ingredient here and there. Regardless, vegan or not, the food, well, it's hospital food, and I'm sick of it! I cannot wait to go home tomorrow and get back to a 100% vegan diet. Hopefully, all of this will have been worth it so that I can be functional enough to give the anti-migraine diet another try. I know I can do it, and I know it will provide me with invaluable information about my migraines and my food triggers.
