Chronic Migraines

[Debbi]

Anybody suffer from chronic migraines? My BF has had them for over 30 yrs and they seem to be getting even worse. He is getting them every other day now. He sees a neurologist and he has medication but sometimes it doesn't work and we have to go to the ER. They are talking about trying botox. Currently he takes Topomax daily for maintenance but when the headache comes he take relpax and percocet. He takes 1 of each and if it doesn't improve in 1 hr his doctor said to take another percocet. Usually that works but every other day is really concerning me.

If you suffer or know of anyone who has had chronic migraines - what has worked to control them for you?

Thanks

[momacat]

Originally Posted by Debbi

Anybody suffer from chronic migraines? My BF has had them for over 30 yrs and they seem to be getting even worse. He is getting them every other day now. He sees a neurologist and he has medication but sometimes it doesn't work and we have to go to the ER. They are talking about trying botox. Currently he takes Topomax daily for maintenance but when the headache comes he take relpax and percocet. He takes 1 of each and if it doesn't improve in 1 hr his doctor said to take another percocet. Usually that works but every other day is really concerning me.

If you suffer or know of anyone who has had chronic migraines - what has worked to control them for you?

Thanks

I know of someone with chronic migranes who has gotten some relief from botox.

[Low Carb Librarian]

I will be no help.. I have migraines a couple times a week. I am thinking of going in for some new medication. The only thing that worked for me was Cafergot (I may be spelling it wrong) but they stopped making it in pill form.

[Star73]

yes I have them or maybe I should say "had" them. I only get them a couple of times a month now or can even skip a few months! I was having several a week and sometimes daily before I gave up gluten. This went on for years. I also was on Topamax and it did help some, but didn't totally eradicate them. MSG is something else than cause migraines for me. It's in chinese food along with a lot of salad dressings and some frozen meals. I can tell if I've had it. I also retain fluid.

Food allergies or intolerance can cause migraines. He might try an elimination diet to see if it helps. Omitting gluten has really helped me..

[saltnpepper]

I agree with previous poster. I too have migraines, but cut the gluten and MSG, and I hardly ever get them.

Is your bf on a LC diet? I find it very helpful, because of no gluten.

Good luck.

[momacat]

Originally Posted by saltnpepper

I agree with previous poster. I too have migraines, but cut the gluten and MSG, and I hardly ever get them.

Is your bf on a LC diet? I find it very helpful, because of no gluten.

Good luck.

Some folks get migraines because of food allergies. However what foods might prompt a reaction on person does not necessarily prompt a reaction in another. Examples- I have a couple of friends whose triggers include chocolate and cheese and another whose trigger is white wine.

[janetsbreeze]

Cutting gluten from my diet has helped me tremendously with migraines, altough I get nowhere near as many as your BF.

[Debbi]

Thanks you guys! He eats fast food every single day of his life. This is his routine:
wakes, bathes, goes to either McDonald's or Chickfila and gets a Diet Coke and chicken nuggets. No lunch - dinner, he never wants to eat any food I cook. He wants either a Wendy's single or a turkey sandwich or grilled cheese or he will eat jambalaya or dirty rice from Whole Food. He often does not eat all the bread off the sandwiches but then he eats lots of honeybuns at least 3 per day. He drinks diet. RC cola at home - even goes to bed w/one. I have to force him to drink water. I think its the drinks and all the AS. I have talked him into going 1 week without any artificial sweetner or Coke - it has been since Tuesday and he is really miserable, but no headache yet.

I also think sinus and allergies are contributing to it as well. It is very difficult to get him to change he is very set in his ways. He is 62 yrs old and Bi-polar, Schizophrenic (not paranoid), but he is well medicated for that and doing really well. I know it is his diet but he is very resistant to change - he takes it as if I am trying to take something away from him. I am hoping this test w/the diet drinks will show him that it definitely could be what he is eating and drinking.

We go to a new doctor on the 21st so maybe he will have some ideas or maybe he can have some influence about his diet.

Thanks so much for all your responses!

[momacat]

Originally Posted by Debbi

Thanks you guys! He eats fast food every single day of his life. This is his routine:
wakes, bathes, goes to either McDonald's or Chickfila and gets a Diet Coke and chicken nuggets. No lunch - dinner, he never wants to eat any food I cook. He wants either a Wendy's single or a turkey sandwich or grilled cheese or he will eat jambalaya or dirty rice from Whole Food. He often does not eat all the bread off the sandwiches but then he eats lots of honeybuns at least 3 per day. He drinks diet. RC cola at home - even goes to bed w/one. I have to force him to drink water. I think its the drinks and all the AS. I have talked him into going 1 week without any artificial sweetner or Coke - it has been since Tuesday and he is really miserable, but no headache yet.

I also think sinus and allergies are contributing to it as well. It is very difficult to get him to change he is very set in his ways. He is 62 yrs old and Bi-polar, Schizophrenic (not paranoid), but he is well medicated for that and doing really well. I know it is his diet but he is very resistant to change - he takes it as if I am trying to take something away from him. I am hoping this test w/the diet drinks will show him that it definitely could be what he is eating and drinking.

We go to a new doctor on the 21st so maybe he will have some ideas or maybe he can have some influence about his diet. They are both now being seen by the same group of doctors one of which does botox treatments if called for. The first thing that these doctors did was to ween them off of a bunch of their medications...it appears that they were being overmedicated. I wonder if your husband might not be having the same problem.

Thanks so much for all your responses!

Has he been tested for food (and other types of) allergies? If not the doctor should probably have tests run for allergies. Two of my friends who have long term problems with migranes are also bipolar. They have both been on medicine for bipolar and migrane issues.

[Debbi]

Good idea about the allergy testing. He did have a migraine last night and now I am thinking maybe it is from the withdrawal from the caffeine in the diet cokes he gets outside of the house. I know that sweet n low does not affect him so I think today I will let him have 1 iced tea w/sweet n low and see how he does. Then I will force him to drink water. I also had a talk w/him last night about eating fruit instead of the honeybuns and I think he is agreeable with that - he loves strawberries & bananas & pineapple & oranges. You would think that by his age he would have all this figured out - I am hopefull about seeing the new doctor.

[DiamondDeb]

Debbi, I would also suggest he try eliminating grains/gluten. Even though it might not be the cause of his problems gluten can make migraines (and many other health issues) worse.

[Debbi]

Ended up in the ER this evening - after 3 days of vomitting and migraine pain. They gave him a shot of Demerol & Vistaril. I sure hope this works. Now he will have to take a cab tomorrow to get his car - clear across town. His doctor is worthless - he called them & they tell him to go to the ER of the hospital they work out of which is the furthest possible hospital & then he gets there and they won't give him anything unless he has someone to drive him home present. So at 4:30 I had to leave work and go to the ER. We just got home a little while ago and honestly he is only a little better. Then his doctor told him he could come by the office tomorrow for a botox injection. After all the meds he has been on the last few days and the sinus issues he is having I don't think that is a good idea - so no he will not be going. I am really fed up with all this. Hopefully the new doctor on Monday will be better than this one!

I am going to have a serious talk to him about getting rid of the gluten for a week to see what happens.

[DiamondDeb]

Oh no, Debbi! I am so sorry. I hope the meds work & he is feeling better soon. I hope he is willing to try going gluten free. If it does not help he can go back to his old way of eating. If it helps he may to want to.

[Star73]

Originally Posted by Debbi

Ended up in the ER this evening - after 3 days of vomitting and migraine pain. They gave him a shot of Demerol & Vistaril. I sure hope this works. Now he will have to take a cab tomorrow to get his car - clear across town. His doctor is worthless - he called them & they tell him to go to the ER of the hospital they work out of which is the furthest possible hospital & then he gets there and they won't give him anything unless he has someone to drive him home present. So at 4:30 I had to leave work and go to the ER. We just got home a little while ago and honestly he is only a little better. Then his doctor told him he could come by the office tomorrow for a botox injection. After all the meds he has been on the last few days and the sinus issues he is having I don't think that is a good idea - so no he will not be going. I am really fed up with all this. Hopefully the new doctor on Monday will be better than this one!

I am going to have a serious talk to him about getting rid of the gluten for a week to see what happens.

I'm so sorry he is having such a rough time. I sure hope he gets relief soon. Giving up gluten helped my migraines and also sinus problems I had for years. Also watch for MSG in products. It can trigger migraines. Dairy is something else to cut out, but you may not want to overwhelm him too much at first. Maybe mention these things to him and maybe he will do some googling

[Debbi]

I am going to wait til the new doctor's appointment on Monday & suggest to him in front of the Doctor that he go gluten free - maybe he will pay attention that way.

He is feeling better today and he bought sudafed for the sinus stuff & he says that is helping. He took a cab - 35.00 to get his car. Everything is quiet for now.

Thanks so much for the suggestions - I will update once we see the doctor.

[Star73]

The doctor may not have an opinion on him going gluten free and may just blow it off. Most of them do, unless you are seeing a naturopath. Most allopathic doctors just want to give out meds. I went years and years with IBS, migraines, and fatigue and was diagnosed with separate for all of these while gluten caused them. One doctor even laughed when I mentioned gluten

I'm just saying that mentioning this in front of the doctor might prove fruitless. Most doctors do realize that things such as red wine, chocolate and other things can trigger migraines, but most don't even consider gluten or dairy as problems. Such a shame.

[Janknitz]

Read the book Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis. He claims that most of his patients with migraines are "cured" of them by simply eliminating wheat. Bi Polar disease may also be worsened by not just the gluten in wheat, but the other compounds too.

It sounds like it will be hard given his fast food diet, but if you can get him to eliminate every bit of wheat for just two weeks there may be dramatic improvement. And if not, then he can go right back to the disasterous diet he usually eats, no harm, no foul. It doesn't cost a cent to try, so if you can talk him into it, why not?

[Debbi]

I did mention it to him again today and he seemed interested. I am going to have a talk w/him Saturday and convince him to go gluten free. It will be hard for him since all he eats is fast food and convenience foods. But I am going to give it my all to convince him to try. In fact Friday night we will start - we go out to eat and he always gets fried seafood or fried chicken - so we'll start with that - he can get meat and baked potato instead and then we will go to Barnes & noble and I will buy him the Wheat Belly book - he does love to read. I think if I can make him believe it is really his discovery & his idea he may actually do it.........You all are the best! Thanks!

[Star73]

Originally Posted by Debbi

I did mention it to him again today and he seemed interested. I am going to have a talk w/him Saturday and convince him to go gluten free. It will be hard for him since all he eats is fast food and convenience foods. But I am going to give it my all to convince him to try. In fact Friday night we will start - we go out to eat and he always gets fried seafood or fried chicken - so we'll start with that - he can get meat and baked potato instead and then we will go to Barnes & noble and I will buy him the Wheat Belly book - he does love to read. I think if I can make him believe it is really his discovery & his idea he may actually do it.........You all are the best! Thanks!

yay! That's great that he is receptive to hearing about this. There are some fast food places that you can trust with being gluten free. Wendy's and Dairy Queen come to mind. Jason's Deli is very great. They have G-Free bread for sandwiches and soups that are G-free.

[NineOhNine]

It's not unheard-of for schizophrenia to be influenced by diet. If you Google "Schizophrenia, gluten, and low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diets: a case report and review of the literature," you will find a clinical report of schizophrenia in remission due to dietary changes. It was published in the Nutrition and Metabolism journal.

[Debbi]

Thanks Star73 - that's what I told him tonight. Since the hospital he has stayed off the AS & has been taking the sudafed for his sinuses and so far (knocking on wood) he has not had a headache in 4 days & he was having them every other day at least.......tonight is a big deal because he has one every single friday - so we'll see. He is ready to go wheat/gluten free starting tomorrow. I told him we would go to Whole Foods and see what he might want to try for his treat at night. He'll be fine w/meat etc - it's the daily chicken nuggets from chick fila and the fast food that I am concerned about . I took a vacation day Monday so I could go to the doctor with him and we can go have lunch together(low carb/wheat & gluten free).

NinoOhNine - I will read that this weekend - thanks so much. I did tell him that people have said that eliminating wheat/gluten could cure his bipolar - he said it would be worth it if he didn't have to take 10 pills a day!

HaHa he is so funny he just said he was going to hurry up & go to bed so that he can make it through tonight with no headache.

[Star73]

awww bless his heart to have to worry about Friday nights! I wish we had a Whole Foods here. I'm sure they have tons of G-free options. We do have a health food store here that has frozen foods such as G-free bread, waffles, pizzas, chicken nuggets etc. They also have G-free pasta, canned soups, flour, etc. I'm doing LC so I can't have most of that stuff. LC helps on a G-Free diet. You do have to watch your condiments and such. Celiac.org and celiac.com have a great list of safe and non-safe foods and preservatives.

It can be overwhelming at first, so just warn him about that. Eating clean is best, meaning meats, veggies, and fruits, but the G-free foods that are specialty foods made by reputable companies are great. Udi's bread is pretty awesome toasted. I actually like it better for a grilled cheese sandwich than regular white bread

[Debbi]

Well, he made it through Friday night with no headache - that is a first! He is not so happy about Gluten free this morning though - I told him - baby steps! One meal at a time. This is going to take a lot of effort to get him on the right track, he is so set in his ways and his routines. Due to his bipolar/schizophrenia, I am always so reluctant to try to get him to change his routine because he needs that structure and any disruption could end badly. Need to make this look as seemless as possible. Today we will go to Whole Foods and let him pick out some foods. I have seen the Uddi's products there.

[Star73]

I'm soooo glad he had no headache last night! He can still have yummy foods that are G-free. I think he will be surprised at what all is out there

Even M&Ms (not the crispy kind) are G-Free, and Reeses peanut cups, tootsie rolls. Those are just some things he can snack on if he has a sweet tooth. Plain Lays chips are also G-free.

[Debbi]

Migraine - really bad last night brought on by sinus problems. He ended up taking the Relpax and then over the course of the night it took 3 Percocets. No upset stomach thank goodness. He is still sleeping (of course), so hoping it is gone. He has also been taking the sudafed but yesterday it really did not help. He went 4.5 days without a headache which is good for him, but he was really disapointed that he got one last night. He tried so hard to wait it out but he just couldn't - it went from a 2 to a 6 really fast - still he tried waiting it out but when it got to the 8 and he started getting naseous he had to take something other than the Relpax. I can't wait for this doctor appointment tomorrow - sure hope he has some suggestions. I really think he needs to get on the steroid dose pack, but don't want to start anything til he sees the new doc.

[janetsbreeze]

Any chance he got "glutened" by accident - maybe gluten hidden in something he ate?

[Star73]

Dairy and gluten can cause the sinuses to be stopped up. Migraines are vascular and are different than sinus headaches though. I'm not saying his headaches aren't bad, cause sinus headaches can be bad, but they are different than migraines.

[Debbi]

He doesn't eat any dairy at all. When I questioned him this morning about what he ate last night at the coffee shop for dinner (he was supposed to eat a burger without bun) he said he ate a roast beef po-boy (french bread), but ate only a small piece of the bread. He claims he had been fightling the headache all day prior to dinner. I am thinking that the french bread pushed it into the migraine??? Because before that apparently it was tolerable. He said that he could tell the difference between the sinus headache & migraine. Most of his migraine headaches start over his left eye the sinus headache had started more to the right side of his forehead and it wasn't until after dinner that he got the pain on the left side. So, we start over today....deep breath.....

[Janknitz]

Absolutely even a little taste of the bread was responsible. This has to be a COMPLETE ELIMINATION. Cheating will cost him a headache.

[Star73]

Originally Posted by Janknitz

Absolutely even a little taste of the bread was responsible. This has to be a COMPLETE ELIMINATION. Cheating will cost him a headache.

^this. You also have to watch eating out as some meats and french fries, etc are cross contaminated with gluten. Most restaurants have allergen information on their websites and menus. If the restaurant doesn't, then he just needs to not eat there.