Kelli's Migraine Daily

Does Aspartame trigger my migraines?

I have stopped consuming artificial sweeteners and any type of "diet" labeled food with fake sweeteners.  This was based upon a bunch of reading I had been doing about the chemicals in the sweeteners and how they fool the body into thinking you're consuming sugar and DO effect your insulin levels.  In that case, I'll take the extra calories and just have real sugar... I'd rather do that than put the chemicals in there.  But, I wasn't really sure if those artificial sweeteners had any effect on my migraines.  I feel pretty sure that they do now.

I've been off them for quite a long time (maybe a year now).  I am trying to stop drinking any type of sugar soda because I'm wanting to lose weight, and I know those are just empty, useless calories.  So, I thought I'd start doing a regular lemonade mix (the sugar kind - Country Time) or a cranberry juice, and mix it with a diet 7-up and that will be my "weaning" off the pop for the next couple weeks.  I had just had the lemonade for a few weeks and was enjoying it.  I've had a good 5 days or so with only mild head pain.  Yesterday, I made my first mixture of 1/2 lemonade and 1/2 diet 7-up and drank it with my standard lunch sandwich... and within 30 minutes, I had a raging migraine and had to take medicine, get my ice and lay down.  I couldn't believe it.  It was that fast... and the only thing I did differently was put that diet 7-up in my drink.  Yes... it could have been a coincidence... but I have other items (raw onions, msg, chewing gum) that do the same thing... so it seemed pretty obvious that it must be the diet soda. 

By the evening, I was feeling a bit better and went to dinner with my parents.  I had an ice tea and put regular sugar in it... and a baked potato and some mixed veggies... and by the time I came home, I felt great.  So, I think there is something to this artificial sweetener claim that's out there.  I know that aspartame eventually turns to formaldehyde in our systems.  I think you'd have to be consuming a lot of it for this to be anything hugely toxic or damaging... but still... the idea of purposefully putting a chemical like that in my body is pretty yucky.

So, I will experiment with this again on a day when I know I don't have anywhere I need to be... and see if the same thing happens.  If anybody else has had similar experiences... please feel free to comment.  (I apologize for requiring the sign up/registration - it's only because if I don't, the spammers go crazy and post porn links, etc.)

No more migraines,
Kelli  :)

Are my migraines my own fault?

Sometimes I feel like I just must be doing something wrong in life to not be able to figure out how to control my migraines.  This past month, I've had some form of a headache, (not always a full blown migraine, but bad enough to need to use ice and medication), on all but 3 days.  So, needless to say, I am frustrated.   I usually wake up with them... and that's never the most promising way to start a day.

The good news is that in the last couple months, I managed to stage and sell my house in Kansas, housesit for my parents for a month, buy a new house, pack all my stuff, and move back to Omaha, where my parents are, and where I grew up.  So, I got a lot done before this past month when the headaches set in.  So, I have to be grateful for that.

My concern, and reason for some of my self-blame, is that I am not living the healthiest life.  I just wonder if these headaches are my fault... or even halfway my fault.  I work a lot... and spend WAY more time on the computer than I should. My work and life just so revolve around being online that it's hard to get away from the computer screen.  I also don't eat as healthy as I should or sleep on as strict a schedule as I should.  I write this blog about things to do to help migraines... and am finding that I don't follow so much of the advice I've posted here.  I need to make some changes.

So, I am making these pledges to myself:

1. I have ordered a Neti Pot and am going to do a nasal rinse no less than once a day to help with some mild allergies I am pretty certain I am experiencing. These are the items I ordered:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0011FPZLW
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001G7QMYE

2. I have made several months worth of acupuncture appointments with an experienced practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine.  I am trying this, as opposed to the chiropractor I went to before, because this particular person comes highly recommended and has helped other migraineurs with their pain.

3. I am going to be more conscious of the way I am work and sleep.  I have a bad habit of getting involved in a project and just staying up as late as I need to in order to finish it.  I could just as easily stop, go to sleep and resume in the morning, but I don't.  I think this is partially because I'm fearful that I will wake up with a migraine and not be able to work as well as I was working the night before.  I need to just let go of that fear and stick to a schedule no matter what.  This will be a hard one for me... but I'm setting a goal that I go to bed no later than 12am and wake up at 8am every day.  A solid 8 hours... headache or no.

4. I also need to make some changes to the food I consume... and this is BY FAR the hardest thing for me.  I clearly have addictions to foods that have nothing to do with hunger or nutrition.  I've have quite a few issues in this area that I've thought about carefully...

    a. When I have a headache, and am not nauseous, I will eat to try and make myself feel better.  I sometimes feel like maybe my body is lacking something... or it's hunger that's triggering it.  I think there have maybe been 10 out of 1,000 times that this is the case.  In general, eating does NOT make me feel better, or make the migraine go away.

    b. When I've had a bad migraine, or have been feeling sick for days, I reward myself with food when the pain finally goes away.  I have this feeling that I deserve something "good" because I've been suffering.  This is only hurting me in the long run... because my "reward" foods are generally not healthy choices.

    c. The last animal based product I've held on to is cheese.  I eat a vegetarian diet, but have not committed to a vegan lifestyle (there is a difference philosophically as well as in diet) because of my LOVE of cheese.  There is really nothing good about it except some protein, and when I really think about where the cheese comes from (I don't drink milk), it makes me feel sick to my stomach.  I'm not crazy about eating anything that comes from animals, and my eating cheese is very contrary to my emotional and philosophical belief about animals and food.  I've held on to it because of my love of pizza, mexican, italian, etc. I am going to work very hard to cut down on my cheese gradually to the point where I don't miss it anymore.  I believe I would be both happier and healthier the closer to a vegan lifestyle I am living.  I'm certain of it actually. It's my unreasonable food addicted brain that keeps me from my goals.  I'm also not sure that cheese is not contributing to my migrianes in some way.  I don't know for sure, but I'll never know if I don't stop eating it.

5.  And lastly, I will begin a reasonable exercise daily routine that I can commit to and stick to long term.  I sit SO much of the day, and this is not good for the body or mind.  I have a perfect exercise room in my new home... and have a wonderful neighborhood to walk in with my dogs.  Over the next weeks, I will set up my exercise environment in the house and commit to moving every day.

I'm sure this reads more like a journal post... but maybe adding my "pledges" to myself publicly will help me make them real.

No more migraines,
Kelli  :)