Terence L. Koger Blog: Is There A Cure for Migraine Headaches?

Have you ever had a migraine headache?

If so, you’re not alone; a staggering 1 in 7 people suffers from migraines, making migraine the third most common diagnosis in the world (1). Almost 25% of young women report at least one migraine in the past 3 months (2).

Anyone who’s had a migraine knows how debilitating they are. These headaches can entail throbbing pain, sensitivity to light and sound, and the inability to think clearly. An intense migraine can derail your work and social life, making even the friendliest interactions unbearable. As such, severe headaches are the fourth-highest reason for Emergency Room visits (3). And scarily, a 2010 study showed that 35% of migraineurs who went to the ER were given potentially addictive opioids (4).

Because the mind, body, and spirit co-experience health and illness, it is no surprise that those who suffer from migraines (called ‘migraineurs’) are more likely to be diagnosed with depression (5). Further, migraineurs have higher rates of diabetes, myocardial infarction, and even stroke (6).

What causes migraines?

According to WebMD, the causes of migraines remain elusive, but they are often attributed to faulty genetics. WebMD goes on to list migraine triggers that include stress, food additives like MSG (7), weather changes, caffeine, and having your period. Indeed, elimination diets, in which people avoid common food triggers, can be effective treatments for migraines.

In one study, 87% of migraineurs became headache-free after completing a 5-day elimination diet, removing oral contraceptives, wheat, tea and coffee, chocolate, milk, and corn (8). Studies have also shown that artificial sweeteners, such as aspartame (9) and sucralose (Splenda) (10), trigger migraines.

Similarly, nutrient deficiencies (11) and high levels of heavy metals (12) are linked to migraines. Notably, people who are deficient in magnesium (13) and Vitamin D (14) are more likely to suffer from migraines.

Is there anything you can do to prevent or treat migraines?

Migraines are most commonly treated with drugs. Usually, people suffering from migraines take pain relievers, including over-the-counter drugs Tylenol and ibuprofen (Advil/Motrin). Triptans, which are available as pills, patches, sprays, or injections, are another popular intervention strategy. Triptans bind to the serotonin receptor to constrict blood vessels in your brain (15). Some of the more extreme migraine drugs include opioids like codeine, steroids like prednisone, anticonvulsants, antidepressants, and beta blockers (16). All of these drugs come with a formidable portfolio of side effects, ranging from addiction to – paradoxically – migraines.

Beyond drugs, other medical interventions for migraines include injecting Botox (Onabotulinumtoxin A) into 31 places on your head and neck (17) and surgical removal brain tissue (18). Additionally, some migraineurs opt for deep brain stimulation, in which parts of your brain and vagus nerve are stimulated by electrical pulses, either by an external machine or by implanted electrodes (19).

Do the treatments sound worse than the disease?

If so, I’m glad to tell you that there are interventions with side effects that are actually side benefits!

Research shows that lifestyle changes can alleviate migraines. Specifically, people who remove headache triggers like gluten (20) and dairy (21), detox from heavy metals (22), incorporate mindfulness practices (23), and add in specific supplements can be freed from migraines. Several studies show that supplementing with magnesium decreases migraine frequency and severity (24, 25), even better than strong NSAIDs (26). Similarly, research shows that addressing B-vitamin deficiencies can cure migraines (27-29).

Dietary and lifestyle practices like this are the bedrock of a holistic clinical practice. As we now understand that depression is a symptom of chronic inflammation, not a chemical imbalance, it follows that lifestyle interventions are the highest yield treatments. To help more people than I could accommodate in my office, I digitized my comprehensive diet and meditation prescription, creating the Vital Mind Reset. No longer relying on prescription drugs, people instead take control of their health by changing the way they live. I continue to be amazed by the strength and recovery stories of people who have committed to this program.

One such incredible recovery story comes from Elizabeth. Elizabeth had one of the most severe cases of migraines that I had ever seen. Her life was substantially inhibited by full-body symptoms (some of her migraines mimicked strokes!) that lasted for months. Seeing some of the country’s top neurologists, Elizabeth tried an array of medications. Even multi-day IV treatments did not cure her migraines. Bedbound for two years, she missed large portions of her daughter’s first years of life. After a 57-day-long migraine, Elizabeth grew so frustrated she skeptically tried the Vital Mind Reset as her last resort.

Incredibly, Elizabeth resolved her symptoms completely and awakened to a new vitality in one month. Here’s what she did. Listen to my conversation with this radiant woman who said yes to her health reclamation.

Interview Transcript:

Dr. Kelly Brogan: Hi, everyone. So, I have the deep and distinct pleasure of speaking to Elizabeth today.

So, Elizabeth came to Vital Mind Reset through, I would say, a less common path. She certainly didn’t identify as a psychiatric patient, wasn’t struggling with mental illness, per se. But she had a 2-year history of what seemed like the most severe migraines I’ve ever heard about.

So, I want to talk about what you were in the middle of, Elizabeth, when you began Vital Mind.

Elizabeth Alford: So, I came to your course out of desperation (like I think maybe most people do). And I felt like the tagline of my story was that I was told by the top neurologists that “there are 2,500 types of migraines, you could search for the next 80 years to try to figure out what this is, but you’ll probably never find any answer. So, we just need to treat the symptoms.”

Dr. Kelly: And how well was that going?

Elizabeth: Yeah, that was already not doing so well. That was like the plane crashed and burned. There were several layers of treatment. They tried different things. They thought it was sleep apnea. “Maybe she can’t breathe… maybe we should put her on… try this new… let’s try IV treatments.”

And my migraines were presenting as very serious. They weren’t just presenting as the common migraines—they were abdominal migraines, brain migraines. And they mimic heart attacks, strokes where I would lose part of my body. A few times, they mimicked a seizure. It was an all-around migraine that just took hold of my body.

My doctor was like, “Give her migraine medicine,” then the game would become “How do we get this migraine to end?”

And so, last year, I had a migraine that lasted 89 days. That was my longest, last year.

And then, two days later, when they got that to break—and they got it to break with three days of IV treatment, constant, continual, every 6-hour IV treatment—I began the next migraine. It wasn’t even two days later. And that one lasted 57 days.

The neurologist said, “You can have a migraine for years. There are people who are trapped in migraines for decades, for the rest of their lives.”

And I was questioning everything I have ever heard when I found you out of desperation. I knew that it was within me to fix this, but I didn’t know what it was. And I was so dampened. My awareness was so dampened by just scrambling to treat these symptoms that I couldn’t even think.

So, luckily, for me, I had three really good doctors who were like, “Treat her, her brain will come back alive, and she’ll help us figure this out.” And you became a part of that picture.

Dr. Kelly: So, despite this spark of hope that somehow defied the circumstances and all the information you were being given, you were in a really contracted space. Your life have really gotten really small, it sounds like. Your relationship suffered.

Elizabeth: Well, that space was my bed, yes. That space was my bed or my house. And on the days that I could come down—and even with all the lights off and the curtains blinded, it was too much to come down and [smell] downstairs.

So, my life grew smaller and smaller. It was a small space, yes. It got darker.

And people began to comment to my husband, “We’re afraid she’s clinically depressed” or “Maybe she’s turned into an addict, and we don’t know.” But thankfully—and I have this very, very amazing husband—he said, “No, she’s not. She’s having a migraine. We’re going to fix this. I’m going to do this.”

I have to give him credit. He did the leg work. I was not even able to advocate for myself.

Dr. Kelly: So, tell us about this transition because it was, by my estimates, very rapid, how things began to turn a corner despite how really sick you were. So tell us about that.

Elizabeth: Yeah! So, I found out about Vital Mind Reset in November or October. I bought the course, and then I saw some of your requirements, and I said, “Well, no. I’m not going to do that. She’s crazy!” It took a couple more months of desperation before I said, “Well, it can’t get worse than this.” And then, I began.

It was on the heels of that 57-day migraine—three days of IV treatment, and it didn’t break. It didn’t break. I said, “Okay, I’m really going to commit and I’m really going to do what you told me to do.”

I saw my doctor earlier this week. He came in the room and he said, “Tell me what has happened.” He’s holding his head. He said, “I have watched you for the last two months in dumbfounded awe. I don’t believe what I’m seeing. What is it?”

It was fast! It was one weekend, but I totally committed. You told me just don’t cheat… and so I didn’t.

I totally committed. Everything was organic, non-GMO, grass-fed, wild-caught.

I did the coffee! Argh, I went off of caffeine even though my doctor said, “That’s not a good idea. You need the caffeine to break the migraines. Don’t do it.” I committed.

A weekend, I got hit with the detox flu, but I kept going. You said, “You can get through this.” And then, two weeks in, I was out of bed—and I was not only out of bed, I was sitting on my front yard.

And I had conversations again. I was able to tell my husband what I’ve been thinking for the last two years, but the migraine was too painful for me to even get the words out.

And it felt like I came out of a coma.

My baby girl is 2 ½. And when I really went into the dark of the chronic migraines, she was nursing. And so now, she’s toddling around.

I mean, it’s not that I don’t remember—I do. I remember everything I did those years. But it was a deeply painful, intense fog… migraines.

Dr. Kelly: Right! Which was likely a combination of the driving forces behind the migraine, which potentially could just be referred to with a broad stroke as inflammation, and also, the medications that are necessarily piled on to try to chase the situation.

So, you’ve really come out of a complex web of limitations. And what is so incredible for me to watch is that you always say—in the group, you always say— “If I can do this, anyone can do this!” And meanwhile, a chef has been born.

So, you were intimidated initially by the requirements, but you have this. And you’ve really run with it.

So, how has the food element now that you’re well passed the months? How is it sustaining? It sounds like you’ve really identified with a very new kind of lifestyle, a new kind of you.

Elizabeth: You told me during the devastating time, “I feel the phoenix is rising. I feel the phoenix is rising. Just hold on!”

Oh, and she did. She did!

I finally found out that I’m the person I wanted to be when I grew up. This is it! I took hold of her. She’s here. She’s right here.

I have always been a little bit of a foodie. My husband is a foodie. But now, my kitchen is clean because I only have five ingredients. And that is a very beautiful thing.

Now, I spend money on grass-fed […] My husband has just become this great cook. We’re in the kitchen together.

It’s salt, pepper, whatever fat, olive oil and ghee. And that’s it!

We make this fantastic food. My children call this cauliflower that’s been roasted “popcorn cauliflower.”

“Mommy, can we please have cauliflower tonight?”

“Mommy, please make brussels sprouts.”

“Please, can I have brussels sprouts?”

They’re tossed in bacon fat and roasted.

When I started eating the fats like you told me to, and the proteins, my head started to heal. And things began to fall into place. I came to a point to where things fell into place.

I started by trying the avocadoes. That was the wrong fat for me. But as I went through those 28 days, after I hit the 2-week mark, I began to know what was calling my name. I began to know what to go for.

I would say, “No, it has to be fish. It has to be white fish.”

My husband will say, “Well, what kind?”

“I don’t know the names of fish. I’m not by the ocean, I don’t know. It needs to be white fish.”

How did I even know that? I don’t really know.

I have become a foodie. I’m known for pressure cooking. And I’m known for always thinking I can do things in a short amount of time. And so, I roast things or I pressure cook them in three minutes.

And of course, that, for the meat and the veggies, that just locks in the nutrients. Instead of everything steaming off and smelling up your house, it locks in the nutrients.

And then you get to eat it. It goes into my body.

I was very terrified about giving up pasta and bread. I was very terrified about giving up Half & Half. I was most terrified about giving up coffee.

And then… I did.

And I gag a little bit when I smell coffee.

Dr. Kelly: Wow!

Elizabeth: I look at pasta and I go, “Ewww… that is not what I want.”

I don’t even know what it is that doesn’t want it, but I don’t want it.

Dr. Kelly: Isn’t that incredible? You’re such a clear example of—

I have a very, I don’t know what, almost paternalistic energy where I like to tell people what to do, right? But it’s really in service of you finding your own voice. And then, you get clear enough to feel what that is which is exactly what you’re describing, because I don’t know ultimately how you’re meant to navigate your diet and your life. But you do! It’s just that all these noise around needed to be quieted.

And so, the most beautiful element of all these perhaps isn’t your radical healing story that defies all of the tenets of conventional medicine, but it’s that you have described having really coming to contact with this sense of your purpose, what it is that you’re here to do. That is the unexpected gift.

Would you say that’s true?

Elizabeth: Yeah! I mean, in a way, I’ve been born. This is it!

And I’ve always identified myself as “I was made to be an accountant.” And now I’m thinking, “Wait! I was made to be more than that.”

I found this life. And I got my life back. And now, a big part of this to me was drowning out the voices that constantly told me my life should be spent in servitude, it should be about “dying to self”—that’s a buzz word we hear a lot in evangelical circles, religious circles—“die to self,” “yield your rights.”

What I learned to value was that inner voice that said, “No, I’m valuable. It’s me. My treasure is where my heart is literally. Right here, this is my treasure.”

I learned to listen to her, and I found out she was really smart. She didn’t really need the opinion of 14 doctors. She needed to just be unclouded—not inflamed, not swollen.

Dr. Kelly: Yes, yes.

Elizabeth: Yeah.

Dr. Kelly: So beautiful! You were such a tremendous inspiration. For me to hear about what you went through for two years is almost impossible to believe in looking at you. You’re so radiant and in command of yourself.

And to give others the hope that this can be theirs as well also takes a lot of courage. So I just want to thank you for from the bottom of heart for speaking to me, for keeping that little spark alive because, man, was it worth it?

Elizabeth: I was your biggest skeptic. If I can do it, anybody can do it.

I’m a conventional person. I am not into this crunchy stuff. I did not think that you were going to be able to deliver on your promises, but I was out of options. I was desperate enough.

If I can do this, anybody can do this. It works! And it works so much more than I expected. I mean, this is 10 times what I thought it can be. It’s so much more powerful than even you or the course presents itself. It’s so much more powerful.

I wish that I could go back and tell the last year Elizabeth that that was the possibility. But here I am…

Dr. Kelly: You felt it, right? On some level, you felt it coming or you wouldn’t have hung on the way you did.

Elizabeth: Yeah!

Dr. Kelly: So, I’m so grateful that you did. I’m so grateful you had the courage to move out of your comfort zone. It’s just the deepest pleasure of my life to team up with women like you. So thank you, Elizabeth.

Elizabeth: Thank you so much. Thank you.

References:

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Terence L. Koger Blog

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Is There A Cure for Migraine Headaches?

Have you ever had a migraine headache?

What causes migraines?

Is there anything you can do to prevent or treat migraines?

Do the treatments sound worse than the disease?

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