Very useful information. | Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Pain

I Learned a Few Things about Myself and My Migraines | Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Pain | David Buchholz

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	• Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Pain David Buchholz Workman Publishing Company, 2002 - 272 pages average customer review:based on 219 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

headache relief

This book was recommended to me by a neurologist. After adding magnesiusm to my diet, I have dramatically decreased the frequency of my headaches.

Very useful information.

When I first read this book, I was overwhelmed by the proposed plan to eliminate so many things from my life. The dietary restrictions alone were obscene! But I have struggled with headaches for years and they had become such a big problem that I was afraid to take on new responsibilities. This was certainly a red flag that I needed help. I tried to eliminate caffeine first which was a big problem for me. After a big headache came on after the first day, I chickened out and went back to my regular tea-consuming routine. I thought the book was masochistic and I was ready to abandon the 1-2-3 step plan. But then I thought about something else the book said which was that women who are on hormonal contraception should eliminate that to see if it has an effect. So I did, and now I am virtually headache free. I feel so foolish because for many years I just assumed that I needed birth control to "tame" my headaches by giving me a consistent flow of hormones, rather than letting my body go wild and fluctuate each month. So to make a long story short, this book was VERY helpful to me, but I didn't end up needing to do the full program because with one step, I was able to get my headaches under control, at least for now (I don't want to jinx myself!)

This book also had many helpful anecdotes, many of which I could relate to. Every individual's body is different and the author's description of the threshold for migraine is a useful framework for understanding how headaches work and how other external factors contribute. I think there is something for everyone in this book and it is certainly priced affordably enough to give it a shot. Any migraine sufferer knows that at times you will try ANYTHING to get better. This plan, while daunting at first, could change your life.

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I Learned a Few Things about Myself and My Migraines

Just a little about ME and MY migraines. By providing this, I hope to be able to share my experience with other ladies suffering the same pain. I had hoped that others would mention the types of migraines they suffered, but I didn't see many such reviews.

I am a woman in my mid 30s and suffer two types of migraine. The first happened when I was about 20 years old - at the Right Temple. The next happened about 6 years later - behind my Left Eye.

Like most of you, I have tried numerous drugs too. I also tried chiropractic adjustments, but they were not the answer.

Before the diet, I only took Zomig to abort the migraines. Since being on the diet, I have better managed my Zomig intake (only taking it once during the two months because I didn't want to give up another weekend). I still had my usual 2 to 3 migraines a month, but many of them I just tried to sleep off (which is never easy) and lose 1 or 2 days.

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I followed the diet to the letter for two-and-a-half months. I learned that it was NOT the food that I ate that caused MY migraines, but it seems to be my hormones. I noticed I am extremely sensitive to smells about 3 or 4 days before the start of my period and I usually get a Right Temple migraine about 7 to 10 days before my period.

I haven't quite figured out what brings on the Left Eye migraines. My thoughts always return to the weather. I try not to go to bed with wet hair, as I think this contributes to it too. I do notice a pattern of them as my period ends. I also notice I get another Right Temple migraine as my period is ending.

I journaled my diet for the entire time. I kept track of any sensations I felt in my head as well as stressors and my menses.

I truly believe that any foods that may cause problems (FOR ME) are only triggers COMBINED with other triggers such as odors (perfume, cigrette smoke, Clorox wipes, etc.), stress, and hormones.

I learned to read food labels quite well and, what I will take from this is that I will avoid MSG and MSG causing agents whenever possible. I will watch my nitrite/nitrate intake (not that I was ever a big consumer of it) as well as some of the other fruits/vegetables on the list. Again, I have never been a big consumer of anything - everything in moderation. However, maybe bananas are not the greatest for me. (My husband is Type 1 Diabetic so we do not usually have them around). I will also try not to buy processed foods as much as possible.

I will stay off caffeine until I have my first child, but I really do not think it has an effect on ME. I was only a 1 or 2 caffeinated beverage consumer a day anyway. I think I might go to decaffeinated rather than caffeinated because I just do not think I need it.

After I have a child, I think I will go back on a preventative because I remember having very good success with amytriptyline when I first started having them. For obvious reasons, I do not want to start on drugs only to have to come off them when I get pregnant.

For now, I am beginning to come off the diet. I will resume my Zomig when I know I cannot be pregnant, but I think I will pay more attention to the sensations in my head and not leap to take one for fear of a migraine. I think I did this too many times when I could have dealt with the pain.

What I really liked about the book was that the author made me aware of food labels and that he listed the medications. I really learned a lot about my own body too.

What I didn't like was eating the same foods (my choice). I made the best of what I could eat and I would do it again because it was worth it to find out, once and for all, if food was my problem.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I absolutely hate it when you mention you have migraines and you are told you should avoid citrus, chocolate, red wine, and aged cheese. We all know this! We learned it day 1 of Migraine 101. Oh well. :-)

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PS. Is anyone else as frustrated with migraines as I am in that you constantly second guess yourself - Am I having a migraine? Am I not? Should I take my medicine? Should I wait? I think the not knowing is just as bad as the disease itself.

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Wish I had this information 20 years ago

This book makes sense out of an illness that seems to have no rhyme or reason. I suspect I am the typical migraine sufferer who has "tried everything." Despite my treatment by dozens of very well-trained physicians, I have never been able to prevent my migraines from coming (always once a month with my period) or to manage them when they do (too often I end up in the ER with a $2,000 bill since my migraines are a "pre-existing" condition not covered by Blue Cross).

This book clearly outlines the way migraine triggers accumulate, the rebound effects of most every drug I've ever used, and the importance of getting everything that could be causing or perpetuating migraines out of your system before trying preventive medications. After reading "Heal Your Headache," I realize how non-systematic my treatment approaches have been. I was elimiating some foods I knew about (e.g. red wine) but not others (e.g. peanut butter), and taking preventive medicines while also using rebound-causing triptans -- no wonder nothing was working!

I am only 4 weeks into my approach of eliminating all triggers and rebound-causing drugs, but already I notice a difference in the frequency and severity of my headaches. I am hopeful that I may finally be on the right track. I wish I had the information in this book when I had my first migraine as a freshman in college. My husband is a physician, and he agrees that we have learned more from this easy-to-read book than we have learned from our own research and numerous physician visits over many years.

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This Book Helped Me Greatly & I Passed It On!

If you think you are the only one who feels crazy telling your friends about your "headaches" (which is what they hear) and food associated with them, you're not! This book not only confims that, but helps you understand why you get them (even if you are like me and thought you already knew everything there was to know)and who in your family you probably inherited this little gift from! After years of listening to my dad say he doesn't get migraines, just "terrible sinus headaches that never go away with decongestants", I finally sent him this book. He is finally almost migraine free...he in turn gave it to a neighbor! Best money I have ever spent!

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Based on the breakthrough understanding that virtually all headaches are forms of migraine--because migraine is not a specific type of headache, but the built-in mechanism that causes headaches of all kinds, along with neck stiffness, sinus congestion, dizziness, and other problems--Dr. Buchholz's Heal Your Headache puts headache sufferers back in control of their lives with a simple, transforming program: Step 1: Avoid the "Quick Fix." Too often painkillers only make matters worse because of the crippling complication known as rebound. Step 2: Reduce Your Triggers. The crux of the program: a migraine diet that eliminates the foods that push headache sufferers over the top. Step 3: Raise Your Threshold. When diet and other lifestyle changes aren't enough, preventive medication can help stay the course.

That's it: in three steps turn your headache problems around.

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