How I Cured my Migraine
A few posts back when I mentioned that I somehow got rid of my migraine, (up to some extent), I got a lot of emails asking me how I did it. I was planning to share this story anyway, was just trying to find sufficient time to write this one up, as it is going to be pretty long one. Anyway, here it is – how I fought migraine as a small child or how I tried countless ways and failed and kept searching new ways to somehow get rid of it and failed every time but as the popular answer to migraine is, – do what works for you – and that I guess, is the ultimate answer to migraine.
When I got my first migraine attack I was in nursery school, I did not know that it was migraine. Whenever I used to go to school after a long break, say the summer holidays which are almost 2 months long and the first day of school after such a break brought with it some headache. But the magnitude of that attack was not much and hence I used to forget about it. Besides if you get a headache once or twice a year, it is not really an issue. But in time, the frequency of these strange headaches only got more intense.
In later years I started to get a lot of these headaches. Even those small breaks like the weekend would make my Mondays horrible. And the headaches did not go away that easily anymore. When I used to come home in the afternoon with my headache I would miss my afternoon tuition classes and I could not even take lunch properly. The headache brought with itself a feeling of being sick. And in the evening I used to get sick and after a few waves of vomiting the pain of the headache would go away. With studies and exams at hand I just could not afford to have these headaches anymore, so I decided to visit a doctor.
While this is the most recommended way to go about solving any health problem, is to visit a doctor, but it did not working for me to start with. The first doctor that I visited said I had hypertension and he gave me some strong meds related to that. I did not feel good at all after having those medicines and went to visit another doctor after a week or two. He told me I had gastro-intestinal disorder, could even had ulcers in my stomach. I think he related my being-sick condition to having gas or something. But after having his medicine I indeed felt that my stomach was developing some gas related problems. At that stage I decided that going to another doctor will bring some more bad news, so I tried not to visit any more doctors or take any more medicine. But a few recurring attacks of migraine brought me back to my senses and I knew that something has to be done about it.
I visited another doctor and he told me that this is nothing to worry about; there is nothing dangerous about it. This condition is called “Migraine” and many have it. So, this was the first time I knew what I was having, it did not make me feel any better. I have heard of migraine before, never thought I had it though. But now it was clear, the recurring headaches followed by being sick and doing vomiting. The doctor also told me that I have to avoid the migraine triggers, it can be anything and it depends on the individual having it. For example – strong sunlight, loud noise, bright light, pollution, stress etc. I guess the major reasons of my migraine are sunlight and lack of enough drinking water. The doctor also gave me two medicines, one to stop the headache and another to stop the vomiting. He told that there is nothing that he can do to cure the condition but the medicine will ease the pain.
This was the first time in my life that I waited for the next attack to come. I wanted to try my new medicine badly, and somehow that lack of being afraid and actually waiting eagerly for the migraine was the reason that for the next month of so, I did not had a single migraine attack. But one day I got that sick headache of migraine. I took my medicine and in an hours time my migraine had gone. Though unfortunately it returned in a few weeks time and I took the medicine again and it was cured yet again.
Fast forward another year and I had consumed plenty of medicine already. Several strips of the same medicine had already gone into me but there is no improvement in my condition. The migraine always returned. Also, now the medicine did not had that same magic effect anymore. Even after consuming the medicine I used to vomit and the headache remained, perhaps got a bit less painful. I was getting used to those medicine and I realized it that I had to stop using those medicine now. I tried using the other methods that the doctor has suggested, like avoid sunlight. When there was a migraine attack, I used to darken my room by switching all the lights off and pulling the curtains… made the room more peaceful and tried to get some sleep. The medicine and the peace did helped but I still had studies, I was in high school and I can’t afford to keep away from the sunlight when I had to take tuition etc.
Later, this condition only started to deteriorate further. Also, I had a feeling that perhaps there was something wrong in my head. Perhaps this was no regular migraine as the intensity and the frequency of the migraine attacks only increased with time. So I decided to visit a hospital. I tried the best hospital in the country – CMC Vellore. The hospital doctors asked a few questions and were suggesting a scan of my head; I asked them to do the MRI. It is a bit costly but that is the best they could do, so I opted for it. The results came in the next few days. The doctor at the hospital told me that there was nothing wrong in my head, no brain tumor that they were dreading. Here I thought privately that I was expecting a brain tumor that can be operated and cured, much better to live with the alternative – Migraine.
But migraine it was and I got a few new medicines too. But now I had made a resolution that I won’t take the medicine and I will go through the pain and the vomit but no medicine. And I took the following few steps to minimize the migraine attack frequency.
1) Avoid sunlight – This was not strictly possible, but I tried my best to avoid as much sunlight as possible.
2) Avoid medicine – I had consumed plenty of that headache and anti-vomiting medicine combination and I wanted to give it a stop.
3) Drink plenty of water – Keeping myself hydrated helped me a lot. It was one of those reasons that kept my migraine away.
4) Avoid fast food – Fast food or any fried food was acting like a migraine trigger. My doctor has told me to identify the triggers and avoid it and I have identified it.
5) Time table – Proper timing for sleeping and waking up or even proper lunch, breakfast and dinner timings helps a lot. Apart from that I tried to eat something during the meals and never allowed to my stomach to go empty.
6) Exercise – This was a phase when I was also gaining weight and not having sufficient exercise. So I worked on it and it too helped.
All this helped in combination to keep the headache away but it was still coming and specially during the summer. My migraine goes worse during the summer, I got recurring migraine for days at end. On some evil weeks I used to get up to 4 times a week. Things were going totally out of control, I was trying all that I can but nothing really was keeping my migraines away. I have tried everything at this stage from rest to reflexology, but nothing worked. So I tried something else.
I went to the other town, this was about a year or so back and met a homeopathy doctor. My grandfather used to regard that doctor very highly so I gave it a try. He gave me some medicine, those small sugar balls dipped in some magic homeopathy liquid. I took the medicine, went back home and started taking it. I did not had a single migraine attack for the three months or some which the medicine lasted. I knew it had worked but it was also important to complete the dose of the medicine. So I went to the homeopathy doctor yet again and took medicine for another three months. Ofcourse the first three months I had avoided all the sunlight etc. But this time while I was going to the other town which is some 120kms on the highway, the road was blocked. So I had to drive in the village roads and that 120 kms became 200 kms of very difficult driving and the sun was totally blazing. But when I got home I was very tired but the feeling of tiredness was not added with that sick headache. And yes that was when I knew perfectly well that I was absolutely normal now just like anyone else. Tired, but not with headache, tired like the next person. But even then I completed the dose, went yet again and took another month world of medicine and since then I did not had any headache.
Yes, it is over a year now, well past a year and still no headache. I had occasional headaches though, but nothing like what I used to have. Absolutely no sick feeling or the urge to vomit. Overall, it is been good and the homeopathy did worked for me. So, if you are looking for a solution for your migraine, I would suggest you to explore all the options you got. Something that has worked for me might not work for you. It is therefore important for you to check all your options and make sure you have tried your best in fighting your migraine.