I can’t get over the journey I have been on to slow this illness down some. It is fact that as I get older and my blood vessels shrink a little, my migraines will get worse, but if I can push that further off into the future, and enjoy as much time as I can, that is my goal. I do have migraines but I have lessened their severity and frequency over the past 5 years with education and shear gusto. I have learned that it is not just a pain in my head, that there are other organs that require attention and healing as well and that it’s a whole body heal, not just one organ. I do have pain everyday, but I’m not bed ridden in the daytime anymore in between trips back and forth to school to get my daughter. I have went from not being able to read, knit, walk or drive, fold clothes and put away dishes, and told to just accept it, to once again driving on the highway like a big girl, walking my dog, going to the park with my daughter, household duties, (that one I was willing to give up… lol), reading and knitting, not the intricate patterns that I used to do, but I am still trying and am hoping to start a few smaller patterns again this fall. I have taken back my life, and have learned to not just accept your fate, that fate can be changed.

I am able to open my curtains a little more so the light and fresh air can come in, which is better then everything being closed up like no one lives in my house anymore. I can watch TV with my family and watch a movie, HD is still a little sketchy sometimes, but I don’t have to watch with my sunglasses anymore. Best of all is, I’m no longer on such high doses of codeine, 800-600mg is now down to 150mg throughout the whole day, and I can cope better with natural remedies instead of feeling like I have to consider resorting to criminal acts to lessen the pain. When the pain comes during windy days, I can take more magnesium or High Potency Vit B (my fav… its like 100 energizer bunnies in a capsule, expresso can’t come near it), or omega 3 and hydrate with spring water instead taking more Atasol 30’s or more 100mg codeine tablets, and that is the best feeling of all.

This has been a great accomplishment to find other ways to decrease my vestibular migraine attacks. This is what I had wanted from the neurologist, and didn’t receive. I found a way, and I want others to know my findings and that there are options. I am very thankful for my family doctor, my holistic doctor, my naturotherapist and my acupuncturist. It was a team effort that has helped me to get to my minimum prescription pain medication dosage and to find natural remedies that are helpful and not more harmful to my body. Who knows after the next liver cleanse, I could reduce even more. Only time will tell.

There are options out there and sometimes it requires a lot more digging on the patient’s part. I am also grateful to my local bookstore, (love, love, love), and I’m sure I must have purchased enough books for them to put on another 1 or 2 workers, lol.

Throughout all of this reduction and getting back to a better quality of life, there has been many detoxes from the pain medication being reduced. I didn’t realize the reasons behind the extra pain when I would decrease the pain medication, I would have chalked it up to the migraines becoming worse and would have increased more meds which would have increased more gallbladder and liver attacks and deterioration, which would only ripple through to the stomach becoming sore from meds and the bowels not working due to more medications, which then causes more sickness and in turn more migraines. In order to be able to decrease the pain medications I needed the natural supplements that my body was missing or the detox would have been worse. The vitamins, minerals, bacteria, and healthy food choices gave my body the nourishment it needed to try to repair itself, and get through the detox period. Sometimes if you can just push through the pain just for a few days, and reboot your health with the natural remedies, you will realize the pain was from the detox of the pain medications, and after a few days to a week things brighten up again. Detoxing from pain medications without nourishing the body is just a waste of time you can’t do one without starting the other…it will be bound for failure.

With no one to tell other sufferers this, I completely understand how migrainers or any pain sufferer, resort to more medications. It just becomes this giant snowball that rolls out of control consuming peoples whole lives, families, friends, work, everything. When I was on stronger Western medications I found it pretty much unbearable to be around even a small group of people and my whole health deteriorated even emotionally. I was told to keep medicating, but that was not the answer. The answer is to look to what we are deficient in. By building up our vitamin intake to restore what our bodies are lacking can help immensely to allow our bodies to heal themselves. I’m not silly, I do know there are times when we need far more help then what a vitamin or mineral can do and I am in that category, but vitamins and minerals are the building blocks of our survival. By taking more prescription medication before dealing with the deficiencies will only cause more harm. This is where we need to call upon the best of both medicines. By working both therapies together we can increase health and decrease the strain that is on our health systems.

When I started to listen to what my body was craving for and filled the need, my recovery, or at least decrease in the severity and occurrence of migraines, increased threefold. Hydration, Vitamins and Minerals, Bacteria, Vegetables, Cleanses and the balance of nutrition, change in lifestyle and even to my environment, right down to the color of my curtains, made huge changes in the occurrence of my migraines.

I still have trouble with crowds, and a crowd can be just 4 sometimes, but it is better today and I can at least visit with my friends and family for a few hours. I know there is damage done to my brain because I don’t remember things like I used to especially words and sometimes in my peripheral vision I see pink hues like I’m in some psycedelic video. Interaction with those you love and those whose company you enjoy, is another health benefit. The happiness from stories, smiles, closeness and laughter helps to calm and relax every system in your body.

When I started these blogs, I thought it would take months to get to where we are at present date. I can’t say this is my whole Miracle Story because I’m still living and defying it everyday. I pray I never have to return to such high doses of pain medication and at the same time I enjoy my new life. I am much calmer and more relaxed, I can’t get angry or it brings on a migraine, so it keeps me from becoming worked up over a lot of things that in hindsight really does not matter.  What does matter is participating in your life, watching children grow, being patient and kind and when you slow down some, you do see the sweeter side to life. I see more smiles and giggles that I would have missed had I had been so wrapped up in other things. Now that I am…well I don’t want to say forced to slow down… but it is pretty much that, I see more, I hear more and I give longer hugs…cause I know what is important to me and that is to be here, healthy, be a part of my family for as long as I functionally can. Well that’s my sop story for today.

Take a few minutes or a couple hours today if you have the time or can make the time, then just stop. Be silent and listen to your environment. Listen for sounds you haven’t heard before because you are usually to busy to hear them, or stop and watch your child, grandchild, furry child (pet) play, or sit in the park and be still and just feel the difference in your brain and shoulders, back, stomachs and more as you relax. There is something to be said about stopping to smell the roses, and just breathe.

Enjoy your day.