Vemma diary: April

When was my last migraine again?

Sitting round the kitchen table one evening with my house mates Claire and John, I was reminded of how Vemma is working so well in helping to cure my migraine. The topic of migraine came up and Claire asked me when the last time I had one was. For a moment I couldn't remember and it was John who had to answer for me - last month whilst visiting my family. I was chuffed that I couldn't immediately remember and even more chuffed that I have been migraine free for the whole of April. Result. Thanks Vemma. (Click on Vemma link on the right hand panel for more details).

Vemma diary: March

Party time!

I had an interesting party at my place the other Saturday, and no, it had nothing to do with irate neighbours or bad dancing. I had left my bottle of Vemma - a liquid dietary supplement containing life-giving whole food phytonutrients and powerful antioxidants - in the fridge. I believe my daily shot of Vemma has been helping to lessen my number of migraines. So I'm sure you'll understand my shock and disappointment when someone decided to drink my Vemma - providing a nice mixer for their vodka perhaps. Now this had been followed by one friend who spent some time having a little dig at the ingredients, followed by another friend who couldn't understand why I would pay £56 a month for the stuff. Truth be known, I would pay £1000 a month if it guaranteed no more migraines. I didn't actually mind my friends' comments as I realise it is difficult for a person who has never suffered a migraine to understand the misery it causes. However, next time I have a party, somebody please remind me to take my bottle of Vemma out of the fridge!

Vemma diary: February

My worst ever migraine

10 years ago, when I was 22, I had my worst ever migraine. I was asleep when I had the aura - a 30 minute warning to take your medication and fast! It wasn't until the pounding headache started that I woke.

It was a Saturday morning and I was staying at my boyfriend's house. I took two Migraleve tablets, but by this point I was already throwing up and the tablets didn't stand of chance of staying down. Now this has happened to me before - whereby I would have to endure a migraine without any drugs. In my early teens before I even knew it was a migraine that I was experiencing I had no medication at all to take. It's tough. I can't sleep, the pillow feels like concrete and the sickness is relentless. And yet, some how I got through it. I would often imagine that the waves of pain on my forehead were waves crashing onto rocks - a beautiful scene in my mind. It was a form of meditation I guess. And yet on this Saturday morning, things were very different indeed. I could never have imagined a migraine could ever be this bad.

A scary sight

I was like a wild animal unable to communicate my thoughts. I paced up and down the bedroom for hours speaking gibberish. My words were back to front, inside out. I was delirious from the pain and the vomiting would not stop. This must have been a very scary sight for my boyfriend. He had seen me suffer from migraine attacks many times before, but never like this. He wanted to take me to the hospital, but I refused. How could I leave the room? It would have been too difficult, and besides I did not want anyone else to see me in this state. In the end my boyfriend collected medication from the hospital. I couldn't tell you what it was but one tablet went under my tongue and the other tablet took the rectal route. They did the trick and eventually I was able to sleep.

Going to work on Monday was strange. I felt like I had been through that nightmare and here I was back in the office, going about my duties as normal like nothing had happened. After that day, things seemed different. A shift had been made in my mind and my view of migraines had changed forever. The attack had scared me. Why had this migraine been particularly bad. I never want to go through that again, I thought, but it might and I have no idea of when that will be. Sitting here writing this, I am pleased to say that I haven't had to go through that again - touch wood, several times over.

Vemma diary: continuing in 2008

With a New Year, feelings of new hope, new beginnings, and a fresh, renewed outlook on things inevitably arise, and I am determined to keep positive and pro-active in my search for a migraine cure in 2008.

The dairy-free life
On my shopping list this week there is no regular milk, yogurt or margarine. Instead they have been replaced by Soya milk, Soya yogurt and Soya spread. And you know what – it tastes all right. As I have previously discussed (in week eleven), many people are sensitive and not allergic to diary and gluten. Therefore it has been recommended that migraine sufferers should try life without one or both, to see if it helps. I have considerably cut down on my dairy intake since the New Year and so far so good. Plus, with the Vemma and the decaf tea I have been drinking lots of (well I am English after all) I’m hoping my body responds well to all three.

A time to be thankful
There are certain times in my life when I am thankful that I did not get a migraine, like during my holiday in Vancouver last month. I did have a bad cold however. Yet, this just made me even more thankful that it was just a cold I was suffering from and not a migraine. The cruelness of migraines is that they can strike at any time and will often strike with little or no warning. It often feels unfair and it certainly always feels intrusive, and even though there is that initial feeling of shock, at the same time it comes as no surprise. It's the 'oh no not now' thought followed quickly by the thought: 'OK here we go again'. For instance, after my delight of not being ill with a migraine during my trip to Canada, a week or so later, a migraine did make a not so welcome visit on Christmas morning. I did feel that initial shock and yet at the same time I just thought this is so typical. I wanted to sulk, but how could I? It was Christmas day. So I got out of bed and got on with the festivities, which to be fair wasn't too difficult with presents waiting and my mum and dad looking after me. It's when you are at work or at an important meeting, that it is very hard.

Vemma diary: several weeks later

It’s been a while since my last post and in my world of migraines; it’s been quite an eventful and insightful couple of months…

Question time
Although I cannot deny its positive effect on my general well-being, I had been questioning whether Vemma was actually helping with my migraine and so I found myself reducing the dose from once a day to a couple of times a week. (This also had a lot to do with the fact that I didn't want to spend £50 a month if it wasn't working.) I guess I was hoping for a miracle and I was disappointed (but of course not entirely surprised), that Vemma hadn’t become my migraine cure. I was still getting migraines; I was averaging at one a month, and even though I know I am very lucky compared to other sufferers who have to endure many more than I do and certainly those that suffer from daily headaches, it was still too many. As a migraine sufferer, I go through good and bad patches. A bad patch is three in a week or several in a month. I thought great I am going through a good patch and I wasn’t entirely convinced it was due to Vemma. Well, I am rapidly changing my mind. Since lessening my intake of Vemma, the frequency of my migraines has increased. So it seems, or I hope it seems, that Vemma was doing a pretty good job at helping to reduce the number of attacks I suffer from. The outcome - I am now back to taking Vemma full-time!

The headache clinic
A few months ago I made an appointment to see a specialist at a headache clinic. Many years ago, my GP decided to refer me to a specialist to make sure there wasn't anything more sinister going on. There wasn't. This time, it was my decision to see a specialist as I was hungry for more information, especially about any new preventive measures that I hadn't tried. Leading up to the appointment I was optimistic even though in the back of my mind I knew I was probably getting my hopes up.

The appointment didn't go as well as I had hoped. I thought I would have plenty of time to ask lots of questions but I didn't and the appointment felt rushed. I was told that at the moment I have straightforward migraine which may develop into chronic headache given the right circumstances. I found out that treatment at the clinic is mostly focused on acute or responsive medications and I was given a prescription for Naratriptan to use as a rescue if required after taking Migraleve. However, I am more interested in finding a preventive that is not medication based so I asked if a dairy free diet would help and the doctor said there wasn't any proof that it would. He did, however, suggest taking either Magnesium or Vitamin B2 or the combination of them together is preferred. Co-enzyme Q10, Aspirin or even Butterbur would also be options. I will look into these. The appointment further confirmed the need to carry out my own research and there are still more avenues to explore...

A very strange migraine indeed
One day at work I experienced a very strange migraine – a mini migraine, which I am still baffled about.

I suffer from the classic migraine, and even though they can differ in severity, they always follow the same pattern. I will feel moody (usually nervous and anxious) a day or so before, although it is not always identified. I then get visual symptoms in one eye 30 minutes before a one sided headache on the opposite side to the aura, which is throbbing, accompanied with nausea and sickness, and sensitivity to light and sound. The following day I will feel washed out. With medication – I use Migraleve bought over the counter – the severity of the symptoms are lessened considerably.

On this particular day, as I sat working at my desk, a visual symptom much like a firework shot across my field of vision. I sometimes experience these randomly and sometimes they are a pre pre-warning to a migraine attack. However, this time, I started to feel unwell almost immediately, not so much so that I needed to take a couple of Migraleve tablets but I felt as if I had already taken the tablets and the symptoms were being controlled. I carried on my day as normal, grateful that it wasn't a full on attack and a little perturbed that after all these years as a migraine sufferer, a migraine can still strike taking a different shape and form.

Vemma diary: week eleven

Monday 13 August 2007

Since my last entry and two migraines later, I am still not sure if Vemma is helping to lesson the number of attacks I suffer from. However, what I am sure about is that it is helping with my general well being (for one, I have not caught a cold or the flu since starting on the programme when others around me have), and if Vemma with all its powerful nutritional and antioxidant properties is having such a positive effect on my health, then I am keen to carry on down the nutrition and diet route and see where it leads me.

Diet

Of course I already know that diet plays an important role when it comes to controlling migraine. My food triggers (and also the classic food triggers for migraine sufferers) certainly seem to be chocolate, cheese, red wine and citrus fruits, and I have avoided eating all of them for over 10 years. However I have sometimes wondered if I should be cutting out all dairy products. The other day I read an article about autism, in which it discusses the benefits of putting autistic children on a gluten- and dairy-free diet along with a number of supplements, minerals and vitamins to redress possible biochemical imbalances. The neurologist featured in the article, then went on to say how she advises her intractable migraine patients to have a trial of three weeks of a dairy-free diet, or three months of a gluten-free diet, as they will have fewer headaches because many people are sensitive (not allergic) to dairy and gluten. This is definitely an option to consider, but first I have an appointment with a headache specialist…

Vemma diary: week seven

Friday 13 July 2007

Well, I had a migraine. Not happy. Oh dear. Even though I feel disappointed, I’m still remaining optimistic that Vemma will have a positive effect on my migraine. In a way it already has. The days following my attack, my hair was not limp and lifeless, as noted in my previous post. In fact, considering I was over due for a cut and highlights, my hair was looking pretty good. And that my friend, is thanks to the Vemma.

So onwards and upwards, and my mission continues. I plan to make an appointment with a specialist at King’s College London headache clinic. I want to find out if there is any new research and any other avenues that I can explore. My GP, when I asked for a referral letter, seemed quite taken aback saying ‘they won’t tell you anything different from what I can tell you,’ as she tried to offer me more preventive drugs that I have tried and don’t want to try again. Sitting there in the throws of a migraine, I answered somewhat aggressively ‘well, King’s College London is world renowned for its research so I think they will have plenty of new things to tell me!’ Never cross a migraine sufferer ha ha.

Talk, talk, talk
Since starting my blog, I have been talking more and more about my migraine. This is because my blog is making me think more and more about my condition, as I search for new ways to combat it. It’s good to talk and it’s equally as good to write it down. Those years of bottling it all up are well and truly passed, and I feel so much better for it.