CoQ10 (CoenzymeQ10) and Migraine

CoQ10 (CoenzymeQ10) and Migraine

So, dear fellow migraineurs, there's another nutrient that can help us: CoQ10.

You've heard of it being used to lower blood pressure and as an aide to cardio vascular health in general, but did you know it can help prevent migraines?

The migraine trust website (www.migrainetrust.org) cited a study done on migraine sufferers. According to the trust: "The study showed the effect of CoQ10 began after the first month and was most effective after three months. The frequency of migraine attacks was reduced by 50% in the active group by month four as compared to a reduction by 14.4% in the placebo group."

Other organizations have done similar studies with positive results.

The Life Extension Foundation website had this to say: 

"Migraine headaches are a debilitating, all-too-common affliction. Because mitochondrial dysfunction may play a role in migraines by limiting oxygen metabolism, researchers recently explored the use of CoQ10 in preventing these headaches. Published in the February 2005 issue of Neurology, the research describes a placebo-controlled trial of 42 patients in Switzerland.2 Patients who had suffered migraines for a year or more, with two to eight attacks per month, were randomly assigned to receive either 100 mg of CoQ10 or placebo, three times daily. At the end of the three-month trial, the CoQ10-treated group had lower attack frequency and fewer headache days and days with nausea than did the placebo group. The mean number of monthly migraine attacks dropped from 4.4 to 3.2 in the CoQ10 group, compared to a negligible decrease from 4.4 to 4.3 in the placebo group.2 In this study, supplemental CoQ10 reduced migraine frequency by 27%."

The recommended dose for migraine prevention is 100 mg, 3 times a day.

As my readers know by now, I'm very sensitive, so I started with 60 mg, once a day at breakfast.

However, it wasn't until I added another 60 mg at suppertime that I started to see a difference.

The severity of attacks diminished dramatically.

I'm about to increase my dose to 60 mg, 3 times a day.

One thing to watch for is that CoQ10 does have a blood pressure lowering effect. So if you are on blood pressure medication or have naturally low blood pressure (as I do), then it would definitely be wise to consult your doctor before trying this supplement.

Not everyone reacts the same, but since CoQ10 is considered safe, it might be worth a try if your doctor agrees that it would be safe for you.

Hope this helps!

Coping Strategies for Migraine

So, how do you cope when you do get a migraine?

Though my migraines have GREATLY improved in the last year or two, I do still get them sometimes, so here are a few coping strategies I've learned about and used over the years:

- Hot and Cold treatment: Thoroughly wet a towel with cold water and wrap it around your head and soak your feet in hot water at the same time.
Theory behind it: When you get a migraine, the arteries in the head swell, so cold helps to take the swelling down. At the same time, we want to get the blood flowing elsewhere, so having your feet in hot water draws the blood down there.
Quick, simple and cheap, but unfortunately the relief only lasts as long as you are soaking. This could help until your medication of choice kicks in.

- Cold compresses: Soak 2 facecloths in cold water and put an ice pack in a plastic container. Lie in bed with one of the facecloths on your forehead (and whichever temple is pounding) while the other facecloth is cooling. Switch them back and forth.
This can provide relief for hours or until your medication kicks in.
I've used this method when I got rebound headaches and didn't want to take medication again.

- Reflexology points: Learn the reflexology points for your head on your hands and feet.
This works nicely when you're not home and need some temporary relief.
There's nice demonstration of how to work on the feet at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYvoWq9XodQ
You can do this yourself or have someone do it for you.

- Medications:
Anacin: I used to find Anacin worked well for less severe migraines. It's made of ASA (aspirin) and caffeine. ASA, of course is a pain killer and blood thinner and caffeine directly contracts swollen arteries. (A cup of coffee works too!) Unfortunately, I seem to be allergic to ASA now, and the neurologist said that I should avoid caffeine because though it does relieve a migraine attack, studies show that avoiding it altogether worked better for migraineurs.

Acetaminophen (Paracetamol): Brand name Tylenol. Acetaminophen is an anti-inflammatory, so it can help with mild or moderate migraines. You can also find it blended with caffeine, which makes it a lot more effective. (See Anacin above). Sometimes, Acetaminophen is all I need, so I try it first because if it doesn't I can still take my stronger meds.

Tryptophans (Imitrex, Sumatriptan, etc):  These are prescription drugs that directly shrink expanded arteries. Sumatriptan works for me. It's expensive and I don't have a drug plan, so I only use it if I have to. When I do take it, I still have to lie down and let it take effect. It makes me very sleepy, so I usually take it, lie down and wake up in an hour or two feeling OK. One caution: because it constricts all the arteries in the body (not just the head), we have to be careful about overexertion after taking the medication. There is apparently a slight danger of heart attack. I've never had a problem, but then I don't go running up stairs or anything after I've taken it!

- Cupping: If you are fortunate enough to have a cupping set and someone to apply the suction cups, you can do a cupping of your lower back. I find this helps since it tends to draw the blood from the head to lower down in the body. (See Hot and Cold treatment above).

These are just some of the tricks that work for me. I hope they help you too!
Please let me know your tricks and tips and I can add them here if I think they might help others.

Bite plates and Migraine

Another piece of the puzzle for me was getting fitted with a bite plate.

This problem went undetected for some time since I don't grind my teeth.

I do, however, clench my jaws when I sleep. I don't think I would have made the connection between that fact and my migraines, except that I kept meeting people who said: "Oh, I used to get migraines, but then I got a bite plate and they got better."

That made me pay more attention, and sure enough I would often wake up with my jaw clenched and pain radiating up and down from my jaw. That was enough to trigger a migraine.

I went to my dentist and told him about the problem. He made a mold of my teeth and had  a bite plate made for me.

Et Voilà! No more pain radiating from my jaw. 

It's not cheap, about $400.00, but for me it was worth it. That was a couple of years ago now, and as I say it was just one piece of the puzzle, but it helped.

Another related puzzle piece is TMJ (jaw joint) tension. Because I tend to clench my teeth, my jaw muscles tense up even with the bite plate. The solution is simple. A Chinese practitioner taught me an easy massage for the jaw that really relieves the tension. This is important because the trigeminal nerves run through the TMJ joints (one on either side). The reason this is important is because of what the trigeminal nerve controls. Right after I do my little massage, I feel my sinuses open up and my neck lose some of its stiffness. What I don't feel, but is silently affected is "The control of the blood flow to the anterior 2/3 of the brain via the dura mater" as one source said. It's not hard to see how that could affect migraines.

To illustrate:

If one looks at the nervous system and compares it using an analogy to electrical wiring in a house, it is easier to understand these complex mechanisms. When you blow a fuse or circuit breaker it is usually the overloaded circuit that blows i.e. you plug in the toaster and the microwave at the same time and you blow a fuse. Everything on that circuit no longer works correctly. If you unplug either the toaster or the microwave all other symptoms function normally. So it is with the trigeminal nerve; it is the largest fuse to our brain carrying over 50% of the total input to our brain when it blows we get migraines, tension headaches, TMJ pain, ear aches, stuffy ears, and more.

(Source: ihateheadaches.org)

The simple TMJ massage:

Use the middle finger of each hand to rub the TMJ joint side to side. The motion should be relatively fast but gentle. Rub for 10-15 seconds. And to prevent the  'reset' mechanism, it's good to then open your mouth as wide as possible slowly twice or three times.

That's it! 

Repeat the massage whenever you feel like your jaw is tense, including any time you wake up through the night.

 

A natural product some friends of mine have used for Migraine: RegeniFREE® - Univera Canada

I recently had lunch with some friends who reported having a marked decrease in their migraines using this supplement:

RegeniFREE® - Univera Canada

It's actually a formula for osteoarthritis that was developed for people who can't take shellfish-based joint formulas. It's anti-inflammatory agents apparently also worked on migraines.
I haven't tried this yet personally, but I think I will. My migraines are much better on the whole, but I do have osteoarthritis in my hip, so I'd like to try this.
Hope this helps!

Lymphatic flow and Migraine

So far on my migraine blog, we’ve seen the importance of getting enough magnesium, having our hormones in balance (for the direct migraine triggering effect and the indirect hormone-enzyme connection), eating cherries, making sure we’re not creating a leaky gut environment, proper liver function and the vital step of finding the right medical practitioner.

Now, I’d like to share what I’ve learned about the importance of having a properly functioning lymphatic system.

You don’t hear much about the lymphatic system in the regular medical media with regard to migraine. It’s a well-known system whereby fluids circulate in our bodies between our cells, carrying nutrients and well, water, to and from every part of our body. It’s also known that this lymphatic system can get clogged up and that that’s a bad thing. The lymph nodes are part of this system.

So, why don’t we hear more about it? And what can we do to make sure things are circulating as they should? How does this impact on our migraines?

Our other circulatory system, the blood system, we know about. Blood is pumped through arteries and veins by our heart, and we’ve all heard a lot about heart health and its importance.

So, what about the lymphatic system? Does it have a pump?

Not really. The lymphatic fluids are kept moving through our tissues and cells by the pumping action of our muscles when we walk or perform some kinds of exercise. Simple, isn’t it?

The importance of keeping the lymphatic fluids flowing cannot be overemphasized. A clogged lymphatic system has been linked to many conditions, even cancer.

The link to migraine is maybe more indirect. A properly functioning lymphatic system clears out waste products, including excess hormones (see the Hormones and Migraines post) and toxins, but also other normal waste products. So, it makes sense that a badly functioning lymphatic system can set the stage for migraine by allowing these things to build up.

My naturopathic doctor addressed this early on and has helped me to get the lymph flowing.

How do we ensure our lymphatic system is functioning right?

As mentioned earlier, walking is an excellent way to get things flowing through the pumping action of our muscles. Other forms of exercise are ok too, but my naturopath recommends walking. It works for me: you don’t need any special equipment or even too much time. Even 15 minutes a day helps.

Another thing that we can do is dry skin brushing. This is something I do just about every day. Dry skin brushing is done either with a special brush or with an ordinary dry loofah sponge. You start with your head and then your extremities, gently brushing in small circles, working your way towards the heart. The lymphatic system is just under the skin, so this brushing motion stimulates the fluids to move in the right direction through one way valves.

As with other health concerns, a diet high in fiber is recommended to keep the lymphatic system functioning well. A study in the American Journal of Epidemiology indicated that a diet high in fiber was associated with a lower risk of NHL (non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) - http://aje.oxfordjournals.org/content/164/12/1222.abstract

See also Dr Oz's recommendations (actually his father-in-law's) at: http://blog.doctoroz.com/dr-oz-blog/my-father-in-laws-best-advice. These include some food and supplement recommendations.

Some practitioners recommend massage to drain lymphatic fluid. This can be done by a professional massage therapist. I found this interesting video showing how to do a self-massage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QA-wi0d7-Ro. Have fun!

Also, there are homeopathic drops that a naturopath can prescribe to specifically promote lymphatic drainage. Unda 243 works well for me.

So, this is another piece of the migraine puzzle. It’s a relatively simple thing to fix if we keep working at it and it’s another good reason to get outside for a nice walk!

Enjoy!

Here’s a link about exercise: http://www.livestrong.com/article/336607-exercises-for-the-lymphatic-system/

Liver Function and Migraine

So far in this blog, we’ve looked at how the estrogen/progesterone balance affects migraines, why magnesium is essential, how leaky gut can lay the groundwork for migraine, how cherries can help us and why we need to find a good medical practitioner to help us pinpoint the causes of our migraines.

I’d like to repeat that I’m not a medical expert or practitioner of any kind, I’ve just suffered from terrible migraines pretty well my whole adult life until recently and I’d like to pass on some interesting stuff that’s really helped me.

Now, I’d like to address another fundamental piece of the migraine puzzle: liver function.

The liver is a wonderful organ designed to clean up and detoxify our bodies, among its other roles.

As we are all aware, our modern world is full of toxins and our poor old livers sometimes have a hard time keeping up. Poor liver function can lead to a variety of diseases including gout, rheumatoid arthritis, eczema, PMS and of course migraine headaches. The liver is apparently overwhelmed in migraine sufferers.

It’s not just the actual chemical toxins in our food and environment that the liver has to deal with, although those do put a heavy load on it, but these toxins can include hormones and other substances that our own bodies produce and the liver can’t deal with fast enough.

Add to that the proteins, fats and other nutrients that are allowed to enter the blood stream (through a leaky gut, for example – see separate post on this topic) that the body sees as dangerous foreign substances that must be eliminated in the liver, and you can see why the liver gets overwhelmed.

In some people this allergic reaction can trigger vascular changes (changes in the blood vessels).

Why does a sluggish liver cause migraines? “The connection between the liver and migraine headaches was established when scientists discovered that the vascular changes associated with migraine are linked with altered serotonin metabolism. Since the metabolism of serotonin takes place in the liver, some researchers now believe that by improving liver function, the frequency and severity of migraine headaches may be reduced, thereby normalizing serotonin metabolism and restoring vascular health.”, according to Found Health: http://www.foundhealth.com/migraine-headache/causes

Our livers aren’t diseased; they’re just not able to work fast enough. So, it makes sense to:

1. Avoid chemicals as much as possible. Even the neurologist I consulted about my migraines advised me to do this.

If someone were suffering back pain from carrying too big a load, the first thing you’d do is take as much as possible of the load off his back before you’d start treating his back pain and strengthening his back muscles. It’s the same with our overworked liver; we first have to reduce the level of toxins it has to eliminate as much as we can.
So, we should eat as cleanly as possible, as organic as we can and avoid all other chemicals in our environment.
Also, we all know that alcohol is hard on the liver, so avoiding it when we're trying to take the load off our livers makes sense.

2. Do something to support liver function.
The most helpful thing for me is a homeopathic remedy from my naturopath. It's called Unda 243 (see below)
Also,there are natural foods that can support liver function.

Foods that contain sulfur help remove toxins from the liver, so garlic, onions, egg yolks, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collard greens, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, coconut, avocadoes, watermelon, parsley, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and bananas can be our allies in the war on migraines (except, of course, any food that is a migraine trigger for you). http://www.livestrong.com/article/315458-foods-that-support-liver-function/#ixzz24697AsNu

Also fresh lemon juice, apples, green tea and others listed here: http://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/liver-cleanse-foods/

Some of these guidelines coincide with the Liver-healthy shopping guide from the Canadian Liver Foundation here: http://www.liver.ca/files/PDF/LIVERight__Liver-Healthy_Shopping_Guide_-_rvsd_Feb_2012.pdf

There are also some supplements that are known to help:

Milk thistle has long been used to help liver function and can be found online (for example at www.lef.org ) or at most health food stores.

Milk thistle, green tea and other liver support supplements can be a little aggressive though, so use with caution, especially at first. I personally run into trouble if I use them. I recently started drinking weak green tea, thinking it would help me get my liver back on track, but I 'crashed' and had a migraine again for a few days.

The medicine I’m using to support my liver was prescribed by my naturopath. It’s a homeopathic product called UNDA 243.  It’s working great! I’ve been eating a very clean diet, avoiding migraines triggers and allergens as much as possible for years. Now though, with the Unda 243, I’ve been trying little bits of foods that normally would trigger at least a liver reaction if not a migraine (I had a bit of gouda cheese yesterday) and I’ve had very little reaction. I just take a few extra doses of the Unda and I feel ok.

I still have to be careful not to overdo it though. If I have a meal with several triggers and maybe a small glass of white wine, I don’t get a migraine the next day, but I get an ‘overloaded liver’  reaction (foggy negative head, bloating, nausea, generally feeling unwell…).

So, if I’m careful and take things slowly, I’m confident that I’ll be able to get back to more normal eating some day. There’s light at the end of the tunnel!

I’m finding that it’s well worth the effort to put into practice all of the things I’m outlining in this blog and I sincerely hope it’s a help to you too.

Finding a Good Medical Practitioner

So far, we’ve seen that to get relief for my migraines, I’ve had to make sure I’m getting enough magnesium, that I’m dealing with possible leaky gut problems and balancing my hormones both because of the direct migraine trigger effect and the indirect hormone/enzyme connection. I also eat lots of cherries for their beneficial effects (See previous blog entries on each of these subjects).

Now comes, in my opinion, the clincher: finding a good medical practitioner.

I’ve spent years and hundreds of dollars trying to find someone who could really find a solution to my migraine problem. Until recently, none of them were able to help me get rid of them. All of the practitioners were sincere and most of them helped in some way, but in the end I still got excruciating head pain.

I’ve run into people over the years who’ve told me: “I used to get migraines and then my doctor injected something into the back of my neck and I’ve been fine ever since.”

With others, it was a certain prescription or a chiropractic manipulation or a certain food they had to avoid…  I’m really happy that for those people, the solution was simple and they were able to get on with their life.

I’ve tried most if not all of these things and none of them worked for me. I went for loads of chiropractic sessions; they really helped my back, hip and neck, but I still got migraines.

I went for countless acupuncture treatments, some of which provided some help, others made me worse (again, maybe no fault of the practitioners, just didn’t work for me), I still got migraines.

I went for a week-long colonic irrigation treatment; I got very clean bowels, but still lots of migraines.

I’ve had scopes (upper and lower!), an MRI, X-rays, blood tests, urine tests, and I have a drawer full of supplements that I’ve tried. But I still got migraines.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-medical establishment. I’ve really appreciated both the over-the-counter and the prescription medications that have alleviated the pain all these years. I can readily appreciate why some people committed suicide in the days before our modern migraine meds. The pain is so debilitating and it seems so hopeless, that I can see why people gave up.

I even went to a couple of naturopaths who helped in their own way, but I still got migraines.

As you can imagine, I was despairing that I would ever find a doctor who could cure my migraines. I had spent so much time and money, that I almost thought migraines were inevitable for me.

Then this April, I was so desperate (I had started to keep a migraine diary again, and I was having severe migraines at least 15 days a month, even though I was very strict about my diet, sleep habits, stress reduction etc.) that I decided to try another local naturopath who was having a lot of success treating some friends of mine.

I’m so glad I did. His name is Dr. Kumar Biswas and he’s really very good. He had me fill out an extensive health questionnaire and then did some Vega testing to see what might be causing my symptoms. I really don’t know how this testing works, but it does work for me and others. (See http://www.getwellhere.com/pdf/vega-testing.pdf for an explanation of Vega testing. You’ll also find negative press about it online, everyone has to make their own choices).

Dr. Biswas prescribed some homeopathic pellets and drops and some acidophilus for me to take, as well as some other lymphatic cleansing measures (more on that in a separate entry). All of that, combined with my ‘anti-leaky gut’ diet,  bio-identical hormone therapy and regular magnesium (see separate posts), has made a BIG difference in my life.

Unfortunately, Dr Biswas is gone now, he has moved to BC, but I learned a lot from him and his treatment.

There's also a good naturopath named Teresa Donavan at Root Cause Health and Wellness clinic, also in Antigonish. Her number is: 902 735 3995. Among her other treatments, she provides 'cold' laser using equipment and training from Dr Fred Khan at Bioflex laser in Toronto.

Hormones, Enzymes and Migraines

That there is a connection between hormones and migraine is well known. That’s why more women than men get migraines and why we women are more prone to them at certain times of the month.

What isn’t as commonly known is why it is the way it is and what we can do about it.

From my reading, I’ve found that there are at least 2 reasons hormonal imbalance causes migraines. One is a relatively direct link, the other has to do with enzymes and food triggers.

The first is that basically estrogen tends to cause a dilation of the arteries and that progesterone has the effect of constricting the arteries. Too much estrogen and our arteries are over dilated which triggers a migraine. This typically happens in the luteal phase (the second half of the menstrual cycle after ovulation has occurred) and can be responsible for migraines at the time of ovulation as well as PMS migraines.

When everything is working as it should, a good strong egg is released at ovulation, a corpus luteum (which is “a yellow glandular mass in the ovary formed by an ovarian follicle that has matured and discharged its ovum”, according to http://www.biology-online.org/) is formed, a good quantity of progesterone is produced, and we go about our merry way.

But, things being out of whack the way they are, some of us produce the estrogen ok, but fail to produce enough progesterone to counterbalance it. This condition is known as estrogen dominance. The other symptoms of estrogen dominance are outlined in the following link:

http://www.johnleemd.com/store/estrogen_dom.html

At other times, it’s possible to suffer a migraine from the sudden drop in estrogen after ovulation and before our period. (See notes below for references).

The good news is that we don’t have to just suffer through those excruciating hormonal headaches anymore. You’ve probably heard of bio-identical hormones for menopause. Well, they can also work for perimenopause (the time leading up to menopause, when our hormonal situation is especially tricky) and for PMS.

There are excellent books on this subject which I’ve read and consulted many times. I really recommend you read them to understand the ins and outs of hormonal balance. If you can, buy them, because you’ll probably end up consulting them more than once (you’ll find links to them in the sidebar). But if money is tight, you can borrow them from the library.

The tricks are 1) Finding a good doctor who’ll prescribe them, 2) Finding a good compounding pharmacist, and 3) Figuring out with him or her, what dosage is right for you.

As far as finding a doctor, the compounding pharmacies can tell you who the doctors are who prescribe bio-identical hormones. The one I’ve seen is Dr Scott Mawdsley, a gynecologist on Baker Drive in Dartmouth, NS.

As for figuring out dosages, in my experience, this takes a bit of tweaking, but here’s where the compounding pharmacist can really help. There are 2 excellent ones in Halifax:

Your Pharmacist, 366 Lacewood Drive, Halifax and

The Quinpool Wellness Centre, Medicine Shoppe, 6407 Quinpool road, Halifax. www.quinpoolwellness.com (they provide hormone saliva testing for a fee)

There’s also one in New Glasgow: The Medicine Shoppe on East River Road, New Glasgow.

I’m hereby launching a challenge to any medical technology guys out there, to develop a home testing gismo such as those used by diabetics for testing their blood sugar. During perimenopause in particular, hormone levels can fluctuate wildly, so in my opinion a one-time test provides only a snapshot in time. It’s like a family photo. The very next minute after you’ve taken the baby’s smiling picture, he can have a screaming fit and still ruin your cheerful disposition!

I go to ‘Your Pharmacist’ on Lacewood Drive in Halifax for my prescriptions. The pharmacist has been SO helpful, going above and beyond the call of duty to help me recognize symptoms and get me on track.

Something to consider if a person does go for bio-identical hormone treatment: If we’re very sensitive to a lot of food triggers, we even have to be careful which ‘carrier cream’ the pharmacist uses to mix with our progesterone. My pharmacist now mixes mine with Aveeno body lotion (which is hypoallergenic) and it’s well tolerated.

With a little progesterone cream in the second half of my cycle (I’m using 20mg at bedtime and another 10 mg in the morning), those hormonal headaches are much reduced.

Just a note about wild yam creams or gels: Unless it has been added to them, they don’t contain any actual progesterone. From what I understand, they contain diosgenin, which apparently acts as an estrogen antagonist. So it might have an effect by displacing excess estrogen and thereby reducing estrogen dominance. Many women have found them helpful. I’ve used them, and they have helped, but I still seem to do better with actual bio-identical progesterone. Everyone’s different.

The second connection between hormones and migraines, is something that I had never heard about, in all my years of reading everything I could about migraines, until very recently. We know that some migraines in some people are triggered by certain foods like chocolate, nuts, wine, cheese, etc. What these foods all have in common is that they contain one of two amino acids: tyramine or PEA (phenlyethylamin). The following link outlines some of the many migraine food triggers: http://superiorsites3.com/NNS02DietMigraineHeadaches.htm)

The reason these foods trigger migraines is that some of us don’t produce the enzymes needed to help in their digestion. These enzymes are called MAO-A and MAO-B. What do these enzymes have to do with hormones?

 MAO production is influenced by hormones. Progesterone aids MAO production while estrogen hinders it. Not enough Progesterone = not enough MAO and too much estrogen = not enough MAO.

So it gets us coming and going!

(See: http://www.novusresearch.com/research/maobrain.html)

I was astounded when I read that. So there is some hope that, in time, proper hormonal balance could lead to less sensitivity to migraine food triggers.

There is, unfortunately, also a genetic factor to MAO production, but maybe that can be mitigated.

The third factor in MAO production is copper. Not enough copper = not enough MAO. Of course, the best copper-rich foods are nuts, chocolate, beans etc. (http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/high-copper-foods.php), which are the very foods that trigger migraines in some people. So, it’s a vicious circle.
Caution: several sources caution that overdosing on copper can be dangerous, so it's best to have our copper levels tested before starting any supplements.

I’m hoping more research will be done in this field. The initial findings are encouraging.

The bottom line is that we really need to have our hormones in balance to overcome our migraine problems. We need to have sufficient progesterone and not too much estrogen.

Hope this helps!

Notes :

The Hormone Survival Guide for Perimenopause, by Nisha Jackson, pp. 134-136 discusses hormone-related headaches and migraines. She discusses how estrogen and progesterone can induce headaches and  the difficulty of discerning whether it’s too little estrogen or too little progesterone that is causing the problem. She advocates having these levels tested 5 to 7 days before your period.

Dr Jackson also gives a list of symptoms to help identify the effects of high and low estrogen (page21) and the effects of high and low progesterone (page24).

Her website is: http://ask-nish.com/

Dr John Lee’s Hormone Balance Made Simple, by John R. Lee, M.D. and Virginia Hopkins is another informative book by the pioneer of bio-identicals. As its title implies, it’s an easy-to-use guide. His website is: http://www.johnleemd.com/index.html. You can read the first chapter of his book and download his handy symptom tracker chart.

Ageless, by Suzanne Somers, pp. 35-40 gives lists of symptoms associated with estrogen and progesterone deficiency or dominance. Her book is full of interesting information and interviews with leading edge doctors.
Her main webpage has loads of info: http://www.suzannesomers.com/
You can also check out this page for specific info on the various hormones: http://foreverhealth.com/category/hormones/

The Quinpool Wellness Centre’s website is: http://www.quinpoolwellness.com/

Your Pharmacist’s yellow pages ad is: http://www.yellowpages.ca/bus/Nova-Scotia/Halifax/Your-Pharmacist/7331614.html

Magnesium is a Must

This is going to be a short post, because it’s so simple. Magnesium is a must.

It’s been found that 50-80% of people who suffer from migraines are magnesium deficient.

There’s debate about why that is so, but the effects of this deficiency are well-known.

Migraineurs who are treated with at least 400 mg of magnesium a day see a significant improvement.

“Magnesium works on the symptoms of migraines by relaxing blood vessels in the brain and inhibits the ability of calcium to constrict blood vessels.” According to the following ‘Life Extension Foundation’ report: http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2008/may2008_Magnesium-Widespread-Deficiency-With-Deadly-Consequences_01.htm?source=search&key=magnesium%20migraine

There are lots of different magnesium supplements. I take my magnesium regularly as magnesium chloride mixed in water. It’s a product called Magnesium Plus, available atSunflower Natural Foods here in Antigonish, Nova Scotia (See addresses and distributor in the notes below). It’s not expensive.

Of course, there are other magnesium supplements to choose from Natural Factors Magnesium Citrate is good too), but I find this one is easily absorbed and tolerated (I’m sensitive to so many supplements!)

I recently almost ran out of magnesium, so I was rationing it and my migraines started to come back a bit. Not severe, but I wasn’t doing as well for a couple of days. So, I guess I’ll keep on taking it!
Just a thought about calcium. Most of the articles I read warned against counting on a calcium-magnesium supplement if you are deficient in magnesium. Apparently, they can cancel each other out and you're no further ahead. If you are also deficient in calcium, they recommended taking your calcium-magnesium supplement separately from your magnesium supplement.

Magnesium has a lot of other benefits and really is considered an essential nutrient, but I’ll let you read more if you like by clicking on these links: (or just Google it!)

http://www.headache-adviser.com/magnesium-migraine.html

http://headacheandmigrainenews.com/migraine-and-magnesium-new-study/

http://www.ancient-minerals.com/magnesium-chloride/

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2008/may2008_Magnesium-Widespread-Deficiency-With-Deadly-Consequences_01.htm?source=search&key=magnesium%20migraine

Notes:

Sunflower Natural Foods, 194 Main St., Antigonish, NS, Canada. http://www.sunflowerhealth.ca/

The 'Original Magnesium Plus' is made in France, but is distributed by Ecotrend, Vancouver, BC. 1-800-665-7065
Instructions for using Magnesium Plus: You mix the packet in a mason jar with 250 ml of pure water and shake well. That’s your seed water which you keep in the fridge. From that seed water, you take 2 ml (be sure to shake the jar each time) and add it to a bottle with 500 ml of water In it. Then, you sip from that all morning. In the afternoon, you do the same thing again. So, you end up with 4 ml (or 400 mg) of magnesium a day. I find that I need a little more but I don’t want to drink too much water in the evening, so I just mix 1 ml of seed water in a little bit of water at bedtime.
Update October 23 2012: I found that I wasn't quite getting enough magnesium doing the above, so now I mix 2.5 ml in my water bottle twice a day (so 500ml), plus another 2.5 ml at bedtime, for a total of 750 ml of magnesium a day.
The doctors say to increase your intake of magnesium until it gives you diarrhea and then cut back a bit. So far so good for me!

Leaky Gut and Migraine

Leaky gut, or hyperpermeable gut, is something that can have a big effect on people who get migraines. It’s a condition that can cause or increase food sensitivities, according to some authorities.

What happens is that the gut, or intestines, get inflamed and the cells lining the intestinal walls get spaces between them that allow larger than normal particles to enter the bloodstream instead of being flushed out, literally.

When that happens, these large proteins, bacteria, toxins and parasites can enter the blood stream where they were never meant to be. Our immune system then detects them, sees them as foreign and attacks them, causing more inflammation and making us sensitive to the foods that the proteins came from.

So, how is that related to migraines? These ‘foreign’ proteins as well as bacteria and toxins overload the liver, whose job it is to filter such things out, and trigger a migraine.

It gets worse. When you get a migraine, you may reach for some ASA or Ibuprofen.  But get this: NSAIDS are  a major cause of leaky gut. This includes Aspirin, Anacin, Ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin, Nuprin), Naproxen (Aleve, Anaprox, Naprelan, Naprosyn),  and other medications. (See link below). And the cycle continues.

Tylenol (Acetaminophen) is OK though.

All those years, I was making myself worse by taking Anacin for my migraines. If only I had known.

The other causes of leaky gut are: alcohol, caffeine, too much sugar, food additives, overuse of antibiotics,  herbicide and pesticide residues and any food that a person is allergic to. 

The good news is that there are simple, natural things that I’ve been able to do to start healing my intestinal tract.

1.  I  avoid the above causes of leaky gut. It was quite an adjustment for me to cut out coffee again and to stop using Anacin! I also stopped eating wheat. I had already cut out the most common allergens: dairy, eggs , corn, beans (especially soy), and nuts, as well as all other known migraine triggers.

As you can imagine, my diet became quite limited. Lots of rice, rice milk, rice cakes, rice flour for thickening, rice soda bread for breakfast...

2.  I drink a lot of water; 1.5-2 L per day. I mix magnesium chloride in the water, because magnesium is a must for migraineurs (more on that in a separate post), but plain water is good too. Water is mostly what we’re made of, and trying to fix leaky gut without water is like trying to wash your muddy car with a damp sponge.

3.  I’m taking a probiotic, or good bacteria. Since I wasn’t able to tolerate regular acidophilus at first, my intrepid naturopath recommended Natrogen, a baby acidophilus. Even then, I had to start with just a smidgen, but then I was able to work up to reasonable amount, in order to get good bacteria back into my poor tired gut. I think most of us know about probiotics these days, but if not, please read the following Mayo Clinic article on probiotics and prebiotics: www.mayoclinic.com/health/probiotics/AN00389

4.  I include lots of fiber in my diet. Again, that’s something we’ve heard a lot about, so I probably don’t need to tell you any more.

5. Some practitioners recommend L-Glutamine because “Glutamine is a conditionally essential amino acid and the major fuel for the enterocytes (intestinal absorptive cells). Oral glutamine supplementation can stabilize intestinal permeability and mucosal integrity (Den Hond 1999).” According to Life Extension Foundation. (http://www.lef.org/ is a great source for health information. You can visit their website and enter any topic into their search field at the top of the page).

I tried L-Glutamine and it triggered a migraine for me, so I can’t vouch for it, but it sounds promising.

As you can see, these are very simple, natural steps, and they’ve worked for me.

The one that has made the biggest difference for me was cutting out the things that were irritating my bowel, especially aspirin, coffee and wheat. (I had already stopped eating eggs, milk products and a zillion other things).
Added benefit: I lost a lot of weight just from cutting out foods I was sensitive to!

How does a person survive without wheat? It ain’t easy, but it’s worth it to feel better. Fortunately, these days there are a lot of wheat free products out there. You’ll find all kinds of them in the natural foods aisle of the grocery store or at a natural foods store. But if, like me, you’re very sensitive because of the leaky gut vicious circle, among other things, you might have to make your own rice flour baked goods for a while.

Here’s good basic recipe for rice flour bread (has a texture like corn bread, not baguette!) that you can adapt as needed:

Rice soda bread

1 ½ cups brown rice flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/4  cup rice milk

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix the dry ingredients, then add the wet. Stir and pour into an oiled 8x8” pan.

Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.

Cool, cut into pieces and eat like corn bread.

It’s not fancy, but it’s good as emergency rations!

The recipe can be made into a sweet by adding chopped fresh fruit and any sweetener you personally like.

It can also be made savory by adding cooked garlic, vegetables and chicken or other meat, herbs and spices.

Some links to articles about leaky gut:

http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag95/july95_offshore.html?source=search&key=leaky%20gut

http://www.leakygut.co.uk/

Hope this helps!