Tori Knightwood

A little sweet, a little spice...

Tag: migraine

Author on Keto Final Update

April 25, 2020 / / 1 Comment

Well, it’s been almost 3 months since I began the strict low-carb/high-fat diet called Keto. I tried such a drastic measure (drastic to me, a self-professed potato chip addict and proud of it!) in the hopes that it would reduce my migraines. Keto has worked for some migraine warriors and has been touted by some headache specialists, so I tried it having done research and having given it a lot of thought – months of thought, actually.

Author on Keto

 

Bottom line: Keto didn’t work for me.

For the past year, my pattern has been to have about 4 migraine days per month for 3 months and then 10-12 in the 4th month.  That means that last April, August, and December were hell. This new pattern is after years of acupuncture got me down from an average of 11 migraine days per month, every month. The new pattern was an improvement, but those bad months were really bad.

I had 4 migraines in January, 5 migraines in February (I started Keto on February 1st), 4 migraines in March, and 7 migraines so far in April. When you consider that in April I should’ve had 12 migraines, sure, Keto made a difference. (Then again, April isn’t over yet.) And you can argue that having my normal amount in February and March was because I was still adjusting to Keto and wasn’t fat-adapted yet.

However, I’m okay with 4 a month. I’m not okay with 12 a month. So, still having more migraines in April than 4 (or even 5 or 6), isn’t worth how restrictive (and expensive) the diet is. Maybe I would’ve had a better result over time. That’s something I’ll have to live with.

My plan now is to try to stay low carb, just not as low carb as Keto. I’ve been easing my way back into carbs, increasing the number of carbs slowly and introducing one new food every few days. I like the idea of reducing my sugar intake and staying away from the starchy side dishes. I didn’t miss them, which was a surprise.

But I have to say, low carb is harder than Keto to maintain. On Keto, I knew all the things I couldn’t eat so I just didn’t eat them. Now, I can have some, but I’m supposed to watch the amount, and sometimes a whole serving of something is too much. And how do you eat just 9 potato chips?! I also don’t feel as good as I did during Keto, but it’s subtle and totally anecdotal and requires me to rely on my not-so-sharp memory. Did I really have fewer gas pains on Keto? *shrug* Did I really have better motivation on Keto or is quarantine just getting to me more this week? *shrug*

So, I’m definitely questioning whether I made the right decision to stop Keto. But it can be expensive to buy special ingredients to make Keto-friendly foods. Almond flour and coconut flour are much more expensive than wheat flour. Shirataki noodles are much more expensive than pasta and rice. And cost is more of a consideration right now than it was when I started Keto in February. Our world hadn’t yet turned upside down back then.

When we’re allowed to go about our lives outside the home again, I plan to go to a neurologist. In the meantime, I’ll do the best I can, as I always have. If Keto worked for you, I’m so happy for you and would love to hear from you. If something else has worked for you, I’d love to hear about it. Otherwise, let’s just fill the comments with love and support. We all need more of that right now.

<3 <3 <3

Author on Keto Update

March 19, 2020 / / 1 Comment
Author on Keto image

Time to update you on my Keto progress. It’s been almost 2 months. Even though I’m not doing this to lose weight, and I’m actually trying to maintain my weight, I’ve lost 6 pounds – I’m almost down to my college weight. My stomach feels flatter than it has in a decade, except right after I eat a big meal.

As to my migraines, the short answer is that I don’t know yet. I learned after the first month that I’d need to be fat-adapted before I could know for sure. Once my body is running almost exclusively on fat, my brain should be protected enough to have a positive effect on my migraines. I think I’m now fat-adapted, but now I’m in the wrong part of my cycle to have migraines. I’m feeling pretty good, in general. I’m mostly not hungry between meals, and when I am, I happily munch on lightly salted roasted almonds.

As to food, I’m doing okay. I adapted a fat bomb recipe to make almond balls that I love. Even without any sweetener, they feel like a treat. Last week I discovered a Keto bread recipe that’s super easy and can replace things like toast and French toast (pic below with this jam). I make a fathead pizza crust that works well (pic below). I loved this recipe for almond flour crepes that allowed me to celebrate Mardi Gras with my family (pic below). Otherwise, I’m eating lots of fish, green vegetables, avocado, and eggs. Mr. K is working from home right now like everyone else, so he’s been making yummy dinners that I can eat and that fill me up just fine without the starchy side dishes he and the boys eat. I have enough variety to satisfy me. (Also pictured, a yummy keto-friendly chicken chile verde I made in the Instant Pot before all of Mr. K’s travel was canceled.)

And I’ve found lots of support. Shout out to the Authors on Keto / Low-Carb / Paleo Facebook group!

How are you doing on whatever diet/dietary restrictions you’re on? Is quarantine affecting your eating choices?

Author on Keto

February 3, 2020 / / 1 Comment
Author on Keto Header

Following up on our discussion about migraines, I’ve decided to give the ketogenic diet (aka keto) a try. This isn’t the kind of thing where you just eat a ton of fat and don’t eat any vegetables. Many leafy and cruciferous veggies are low enough in carbs to be acceptable. And there are acceptable fats (butter, olive oil, coconut oil) and unacceptable fats (canola and veggie oils). I’ve done my research and learned why this diet works and especially why it can work for migraine warriors.

I started on February 1st, to make it easy to keep track of. I expect it to be hard and I’m keeping an open mind.

After only a couple of days of keto, I can say that it sure is hard, but not in the ways I expected. I thought it would be hard to ignore the potato chips in my cupboard that seem to call out to me regularly. I thought it would be hard to ignore my favorite cravings. But so far, that isn’t the case. What’s been hard is figuring out what to eat, especially for lunch. In theory, I know what to eat. But how does that work out on a daily basis when I’m actually trying to live my life? And trying not to disrupt my kids.

I usually eat plenty of protein, and I don’t believe fat is the enemy. But I love beans, lentils, and pasta. And I eat tortilla chips with just about everything. It’s always been about the crunch for me. I need lots of texture. And too many veggies – too much fiber – upsets my stomach.

The migraine version of the diet is a bit more restrictive, at least at first, which makes it even harder to figure out what to eat. So, sure I can eat eggs and avocados and sardines. I have no problem with any of that. But what do I eat them with, or on, if not crackers or chips?

I’m managing; it just takes a lot more thought than I’m used to. Yesterday, I ate eggs fried in butter for the first time in decades, with a dollop of plain yogurt to catch the runny yolk. Today, I made a salad of cabbage, celery, and mushrooms to go with the sardines (I’d thought ahead enough to buy sardines, but not to get real salad veggies). And I’ve collected plenty of keto recipes to try out this week – including a keto version of tortilla chips made from just cheese and cumin.

I’ll post an occasional update on my progress here. Have you tried keto? What’s been your experience?

A Peek Into My Life…

July 7, 2019 / / 12 Comments
Peek into my migraine life

I am a migraine warrior

Unfortunately, migraine is a huge part of my life, and has been for about 20 years. I thought they started in my late twenties, and never knew what triggered  the beginning.

But I’ve been doing some research lately, and it’s possible I’ve always had them, but that they looked different when I was a kid. I missed a fair amount of school when I was a pre-teen – not enough to cause problems for me academically or to cause problems for my parents with school administration – because of headaches and stomachaches. The pediatrician told my mom it was “school-itis”. It was true that I didn’t like school then, so maybe he was right.

June was Migraine Awareness Month and I learned a lot from it. I was even able to teach my dad, also a Migraine Warrior, some new information (for instance about kids – if he’d known about that when I was a kid, he probably would’ve taken me to a neurologist when I was 11). (Also, shh, I’m not allowed to talk about my parents online.)

Anyway, I’ve been lucky. I don’t have Chronic Migraine, which involves 15 or more headache days per month. At my worst, I averaged 11 per month. That means I have what’s called Episodic Migraine. I’m also lucky because I’ve never ended up in the ER because of a migraine. I’ve rarely missed a work day. I rarely need to take a break from my life. I’ve become really good at pushing on and forcing the symptoms away until I’m alone or at least done with whatever most important thing needed doing that day. I don’t know why I’m able to do that. Or when. Because sometimes I can’t.

Sometimes I can’t focus on my current writing project. Sometimes I can’t handle people talking at a normal volume. Sometimes I have to skip Taekwondo.

I tried going to a neurologist about 6 years ago. He’d been recommended by my GP, who I liked at the time. We tried a couple of different drugs aimed at preventing migraines, but they didn’t work and had awful side effects. Life-endangering side effects. The last drug exacerbated my Reynaud’s Disease. When I told the neurologist, he explained that exacerbating Reynaud’s was a known side effect of this particular drug and that he didn’t know I had Reynaud’s. It came up in our first appointment.

While still on that last drug, I decided to try acupuncture. I’d been researching it and found a local place that practices what’s called Community Acupuncture. This means they see more than one patient per hour, which allows them to lower the cost per session, which is really awesome when you don’t have insurance or your insurance won’t cover preventive therapies. My research told me that acupuncture has been proven in actual scientific studies to reduce chronic pain.

My neurologist’s reaction? “Call me when you’re ready to try the next drug.”

I haven’t called him again.

acupuncture for migraine

I’ve been doing acupuncture since 2014. It took a while to figure out the points that worked best for me, for there to be a significant decrease in severity and frequency. But we got them down to about 2 headaches per month. It was amazing. I felt like I’d been given my life back.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last. Life circumstances got in the way. My job responsibilities and hours changed, and I was no longer able to travel to my acupuncturist even once a month (they’re 40 minutes away from home and an hour away from work). By the time my hours changed again and I could again commit to once a month, I was back up to about 8 migraines per month. Not as bad as before, but still demoralizing and draining. My acupuncturist changed around that same time, too, and the new one was too gentle. It took me a few months to get up the courage to tell them what had proven to work best for me.

And now I go as often as I can make the time. So far this summer, I’m going about every 10 days. Because of my age and changing hormones (always my biggest trigger), I have good hormone months and bad hormone months, which means there’s a wide range for my migraine frequency. I get between 2 and 7 migraines per month now. I hope that will improve by the end of the summer.

Sure, 5 years ago I thought I’d go for a few months and be cured, based on others I spoke to. However, my body doesn’t work that way. My body needs to be regularly reminded how to heal itself, needs to regularly have my chi pathways reopened.

Are you a Migraine Warrior? What has worked best for you? Tell me about your experience in the comments.

ETA

I’ve had an amazing response to this post through the comments below and emails from readers. I’m sorry that so many of us suffer from this terrible and misunderstood disease.

In case you’d like more information or more support, please check out these links:

Chronic Migraine Awareness, Inc.
CHAMP (Coalition for Headache and Migraine Patients)

And we can sign the Declaration of Rights for People with Headache Diseases from CHAMP.

Bisous and big hugs to all the Migraine Warriors out there!

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