Please perform a trepanning on me

[maggiesdaddy]

:sadtears:For the love of all things holy I can't take it anymore. :sadtears: I have had a migraine/cluster headache every day for two weeks and about 3 times the week before that. I can't take it anymore. I feel like I need to crawl in a dark hole and die. It is like someone has taking a spoon and carved out the area at the base of my skull as slowly as the could.

Does anyone have any idea of a nutrient deficiency that could cause this? :please


If not, is anyone up for a trepanning? Maybe evil spirits are causing this ... ;)

[MysticTree]

I find that bananas can trigger migraines and headaches generally. Are you eating many of those?

Have you given up caffeine or other addictive substance/s suddenly?

Detox is always a possible - though I'm not sure how I feel about the term detox really.

Pain killers can cause headaches - are you taking any or have you stopped taking any?

What's your hydration like?

What is your natural hunch as to the cause? If you have one.

[maggiesdaddy]

I actually HATE bananas but I was putting them in my smoothies however I have not eaten the in quite a while.

I used to drink soda, but not really since going raw (at first I would drink the occasional Blue Sky organic, but not anymore) and other than my anti depressant (which I have been on for years) I take no other "natural", prescription, or illegal/legal substance

I don't take any pain killers. I tried a few days ago to take some excedrin and later some Advil but neither worked so I haven't taken them since.

I think that my hydration is okay, I have not had much water today, but on average I drink well over a gallon a day.


My natural hunch is that there is something physically wrong. I have had migraines before, but never like this and never for so long. Here is why I think that it is physical ...


About 2-3 months ago I started seeing a chiropractor for some neck pain and a feeling like I needed to "pop" my neck. After quite a few visits it did not get better and the chiropractor wasn't doing anything new (like changing her approach) to help so I stopped going. Since then my neck (right up at the top of it) feels kinda like a tooth does when it is loose, kinda itchy tension CONSTANTLY. I feel like there is some pressure at the top of my neck and base of my skull.

Now with the migraines it hits me when I eat (hence the previous post about TMJ) but is starting to hit me randomly throughout the day. It comes out of no where and it feels like someone hit me with a baseball bat. It has also started when I lay down in bed for the night.


Also, I have a history of sleep issues (not falling asleep), but since going raw they have disappeared. For the past week or so I find myself waking in the middle of the night with pain like I need to pop my neck. I don't blame the mattress though because I have gotten new pillows and rotated the mattress and it didn't help.


Honestly, I am freaking out that it could be serious, but I know that it could be a jammed vertebrate (although the chiropractor should have picked up on that) or a pulled muscle. I just can't take the pain anymore. I am miserable.

[MysticTree]

I think your neck hunch is probably the correct one and the query about nutrients deficiency is a red herring. Can you see a cranial manipulation person perhaps or someone who can actually sort out your neck ... or both perhaps!

[maggiesdaddy]

I think that you are right and that I need to listen to my instincts. I called my doctor (wow I hate that man) and am waiting to here back from him. If he can't get me in I am honestly thinking about going to the hospital.

[maggiesdaddy]

I ended up going to prompt care as my crappy school doctor wouldn't see me for two weeks. Two weeks of migraines every day seems terrible so I went to prompt care.


He said that I need to get glasses and that he thinks that I "just" have genetic migraines. He game me some medicine for it and said that I may need to give myself injections for it.

I am going to go get glasses (although I don't know how I will pay for it short of selling myse... never mind ;) ) (that was a joke btw). As for the meds. I will take them for now so I can function, but I think that RAW can beat the migraines better than any meds if I try to eat the right foods!


And thanks MT. I knew that if no one else, you would be able to help me look at it more rationally! (Not that no others here could, I just thought that you would be the right person!)

[speltrong]

This is a long shot, but is there any chance that you are drinking diet sodas, or vitamin waters that contain aspartame? Removing aspartame from my diet removed all my migraine issues. And I'm not the type of person to jump on a bandwagon and villify particular chemicals, but I can tell you that aspartame definitely gave me wicked migraines (obviously it's not the same for everyone, or the crap probably wouldn't be in the markets).

[MysticTree]

Glad I could help. I know how hard it is to think when your head feels like it's going to explode and your neck feels like it might break as if made from glass.

I hope you get a good price for your ... nevermind ;)

[Arky]

A detailed food diary might be useful.

I don't necessarily mean your pain is food-related, per se, but rather than there might, perhaps, be an interaction with some foods you are eating and some underlying condition.

Maybe, maybe not, but it doesn't hurt to patiently observe. You may get lucky and notice a pattern, and if you don't notice anything, well no harm done.

This diary should also include other bodily symptoms. The point isn't to become a hypochondriac (though that's always an option, just as selling yourse.. is! ;) ). Again, a pattern might possibly emerge which you are currently unaware of and which a doctor would be unaware of if you're not aware of it in order to report it to him/her.

Good luck. Let me know how you get on.


P.S. do you offer a 'layaway' option? :D

[Mary Kay]

It sounds like some have given some good advice already.

I know of a couple migraine stories. I'll start with the bad one first, and finish with the good one:

Someone from my homeschool kept posting with requests to help her migraines. It ended up she had a brain tumor. Interestingly, even in the hospital, she still used her cell phone. Do you use a cell phone? Maybe stop, and see what happens. She's had surgery --didn't go the natural route --and I believe is better.

Second story: True, but reads more like a joke......I used to be the host/moderator of an infertility forum and my specialty was hormones. Sometimes there are definite hormonal issues with headaches, btw....but I digress --Other times, pregnancy - with your really wacked out hormones can trigger them. I was telling someone that I had several migraines during my pregnancy with twins and she said "I only ever had one migraine during my entire pregnancy." I said "Not too bad." Then she quipped, "Yeh, it started in January and ended in April." : )

Probably not a good time to be telling jokes, but I did put a few tidbits of my thoughts in there....

The worst migraine I ever had ended up to be viral meningitis. The meningitis also made it feel like not only the worst headache I ever had, but the worst flu on top of it.

Hugs, hope you can figure it out soon.

Mary Kay

[streetsurfer]

It could be bruxism causing your headaches and neck pain. I suffered it, but once I got fitted for a bite guard (NTI tss), I was able to stop seeing my chiro for neck pain. As well, the majority of the headaches went away. I still clench during the day under stress and that will lead to headaches. There are other causes for my headaches, like multiple food sensitivities, but getting the bite guard was one of the best things I'd done toward turning my health around. Over time through experimentation, I'd found some of the bruxism was related to my gut function.....to those food sensitivities and eating other harder to digest foods like meats.

Ask your spouse if she ever hears you grinding your teeth at night. Have your dentist check for abfraction-the chipping away of small bits of enamel at or just below the gumline. Often then, tooth sensitivity may show up at the gumline. v A simple A simple test to show yourself how it affects the muscles of the skull......clench your teeth while feeling at your temples with your fingertips. You'll feel the muscles there tighten as you bite down. Now place a pencil between your teeth to simulate a bite guard and bite down. The muscles will now not come into play as intensely. That slight opening of your jaw's hinge disengages those muscles for the most part. When you grind at night your neck muscles, as well as some of those that wrap the skull and face are constantly being fired through the night, never getting the rest they need to recover. This constant tension can lead to neck pain, headaches, tmj, ear problems, exhaustion/fatigue, depression, feeling hungover, etc.

If you're desperate, a drug store bite guard may be helpful for now, but I recommend the NTI appliance if you do suffer bruxism. If a store bought stops the headaches, neck pain, skull sensations, then I'd definetely see a dentist.

Some of my food sensitivities cause swelling in the base of the brain. You might want to be tested for them as well. (Elisa testing)

[Mary Kay]

Streetsurfer, Sounds like some good thoughts. MK

[streetsurfer]

Streetsurfer, Sounds like some good thoughts. MK

Thanks Mary Kay. I hope telling of my experience can help someone. I went about three years resisting my dentists urging to get the bite guard. He'd explained to me and even showed me pictures as proof of the abfraction, iirc-but I remained resistant due to finances, and doubt amongst a myriad of other health issues. I wish I'd have recognized and accepted it sooner....I'd have suffered much less.

[punpkin]

Well, I don't think I'm as informed as all the other posters about nutrition, but I did want to recommend googling "metaphysical causes of disease' and look up headaches. Sometimes, those things help a lot. Also, they say 'mouth closed, teeth open' meaning to help stop headaches caused by grinding your teeth from stress, try keeping your mouth shut and your teeth slightly touching or not touching at all.
Good Luck!

[MysticTree]

It could be bruxism causing your headaches and neck pain.

good call. I have a friend who sleeps with a bite guard in and she gets far fewer migraines now

[Arky]

Diet aside, just for a moment..


Have you tried (simply for the purposes of figuring this out) supplementing with magnesium (e.g. magnesium glycinate)?

I appreciate that from a dietary perspective, a raw food diet should be adequate in terms of magnesium intake, but there may be other factors at play that would affect bodily magnesium status.

There are, of course, many other possibilities, some of which have been offered above, but magnesium would be a very easy and cheap one to try and see what happens. If it makes no difference to the migraines, then that's one possibility eliminated and move onto the next one.

Good luck.

[maggiesdaddy]

Thanks! I will be sure to look into the magnesium! I hadn't thought of that.

[R'Mila]

I have been thinking about you and wondered on the status of your headaches. When I first read your post, I thought sinus headache/pressure, only because I was experiencing one at the same time. How are you feeling now?

[Arky]

Thanks! I will be sure to look into the magnesium! I hadn't thought of that.


Try to get the glycinate form of magnesium, if you can. Not the end of the world if you can't, it's just that the glycinate form is absorbed pretty well.

Just be sure to avoid magnesium oxide, and whatever form you end up taking, don't go crazy or you'll find it laxative!

[Mary Kay]

I think the idea of magnesium is a good call, however, I absolutely do not believe in taking any of the --ates of minerals any more. Only water soluble angstrom ionic minerals for me. I have on occasion gotten a headache, and drank like a glass! of magnesium along with two glasses of water and the combo of the two has worked on sev'l ---but not all - occasions.

Also, you can take an epsom salt bath to try out the magnesium thing....A REALLY hot empsom salt bath. As hot as you can stand it.

One guy says to soak in it until the water gets cold.

I would never have time for this, so my thoughts are to soak for quite a while, then take a cold shower to seal up those pores /kind of trap in the magnesium. I can't remember how much, but this will instantly improve your magnesium....

Mary Kay