Northwest Cavegirls

Angie here. My friend Nancy has been a consistent contributor to the Northwest Cavegirls Facebook page for quite some time.  Nancy has been through quite a lot over the last year dealing with her migraines. Here is her story:

The migraine started fall 2010 and it is still with me, every single day. Thanks to the Paleo diet, muscle building exercise, herbs and blue light, I am much better. After eye surgery, 3 E.R. visits, acupuncture, a hospital admission, MRIs, CT scans, spinal tap, heart tests, blood tests galore, and months of taking drugs, I was still sitting in the dark crying from the pain and other symptoms. By the time I saw the specialist U.W. Headache Clinic last July, the migraine had started impeding my breathing and caused my left side to go somewhat numb and tingle. We thought I would die.

The neurologist at U.W. had a holistic approach and, as one of the many strategies, immediately put me on an Anti-Inflammatory Diet, which happened to contain a caveat that you should also eliminate everything from your diet that makes you sick in any way. I eliminated things I knew impacted how I felt and started paying closer attention. Away went sugar, dairy, wheat, baked goods and soon all grains, potatoes and legumes joined the banned items. Sound familiar?

The book which was recommended by the specialist, Heal Your Headache, The 1-2-3 Method to Take Control of Your Pain, by David Buchholtz, contains an extensive list of potential migraine triggers, which now I am afraid to consume. Tomatoes and onions are definite triggers, but.. Bananas? Raspberries? Chocolate? Nuts? At this point, I am wary of all foods and spices. However, I know that if I am NOT paleo, I will be very sick for days or maybe weeks.

The result of my accidental paleo diet? I now wear size 2 jeans and lost 35 pounds. I just finished my second round of the P90X workout and am now on my second week of the Insanity workout (not bad for a 51 year old mother of two). My migraine and its satellite symptoms are lessened enough to where I can mostly function.

I am still striving for a complete cure. I am working through the alternative N.A.E.T. allergy treatments. My family and I found great success curing our allergies with N.A.E.T. a decade ago. Even if it is the cure for my migraine, I will be a Cave Girl forever.