It is now 24 hours after last night's onset, and as of an hour ago, I feel fine. Earlier today, in the late morning, I had a very hard time reading --- somehow, my eyes just didn't focus on the print very well.
Since the pain was only a soreness, I didn't take anything for it. Sleep is my favorite drug :-)...
I have thought hard about what was different; what may have triggered it? Meals were as usual. I had just finished my period. I had even kept my usual sleep schedule on this trip (Halifax is 2 hours ahead of Chicago). I have been under much more stress at various times over the past 20 years than I am under now (last year, I was worried about getting journal papers published. A few years ago, I wrote and defended my dissertation and looked for a post-doc...). My biggest stress is to keep finding continued funding to do my research --- but that has been true for 4 years now.
So why a migraine now?
What I did notice was that I was hypersensitive to smells of secondhand-smoke yesterday morning, and breakfast did not taste quite as good as the morning before...
Finally, having observed my problems with reading today, my awareness of light after the aura subsided, and the general soreness in my head, I am pretty sure that I have had similar --- but MUCH, MUCH milder --- episodes over the past couple of years. In retrospect, I now recognize that there were days when I felt "out of sorts" and had difficulty reading printed material in very much the same way as I felt today.
If I'm lucky, it will be another 20 years before this happens again... Even so, I'll keep reading this page --- I bet there are a lot more suffering people out there than the medical world has previously realized.
-- Terry gaasterland@cs.uchicago.edu
It seems like I take more meds than my grandmother. I am frustrated, and the new meds haven't kicked in yet. In fact looking at this monitor gives me a head ache. Again thanks for the time and effort that has gone into helping.
The migraine sufferer in our family was helped by totally eliminating MSG (monosodium glutamate) and aspartame (Nutrasweet) from her diet. (Harder than it sounds--the amount of MSG in the U.S. food supply has doubled every decade since 1950.) We hope our story will help others.
Our daughter (now 13) began complaining of a headache at age 6, which became a non-stop, 7-year migraine. Two years ago, we began removing MSG from her diet. Positive results spurred us on and we started researching hidden sources of MSG. On a STRICT no-MSG diet, she only has a headache after accidental contact (mostly with soaps).
Our daughter experienced headache, dizziness, flushing, tightness in the chest, facial pressure, tingling in the neck and arms, nausea, depression, mental confusion, abdominal cramping, and diarrhea. MSG can mimic the symptoms of almost anything (including migraine) from depression to arthritis, from asthma to heart attack, from skin rash to bed wetting. The more MSG you consume, the sicker you get. (see http://www.tiac.net/users/mgold/msg/msg.html --very informative!!!)
Please e-mail us if you would like more info: morrison@bbs.marshallnet.com Herešs the list of ingredients we avoid that always (CAPS) or often contain MSG.
621 Amino Acid(s) Anything Enriched Anything Enzyme Modified Anything Extract Anything Fermented ANYTHING MODIFIED Anything Protein Fortified ANYTHING STARCH--MODIFIED Anything Ultra-pasteurized Anything Vitamin Enriched Artificial Flavoring Artificial Flavors AUTOLYZED YEAST AUTOLYZED YEAST EXTRACT Barley Malt Bouillon Broth Brown Rice Syrup CALCIUM CASEINATE Carrageenan Citric Acid Corn Syrup Dried Milk Powder Enriched Anything Enzymes Fermented Anything Flavor(s) Flavoring(s) Flour Fungal Protease [creates MSG] GELATIN GLUTAMATE GLUTAMIC ACID HYDROLYZED ANYTHING HYDROLYZED COLLAGEN HYDROLYZED CORN PROTEIN HYDROLYZED OAT PROTEIN HYDROLYZED PLANT PROTEIN HYDROLYZED PROTEIN HYDROLYZED SOY PROTEIN HYDROLYZED VEGETABLE PROTEIN HYDROLYZED WHEAT PROTEIN KOMBU KOMBU EXTRACT Lipolyzed Butter Fat Low-fat Milk Malt Extract Malt Flavoring Malted Barley Malted Barley Flour Maltodextrin Milk Powder Milk Solids MODIFIED ANYTHING MODIFIED ANYTHING STARCH MODIFIED CORN STARCH MODIFIED FOOD STARCH MODIFIED POTATO STARCH MODIFIED SOY STARCH MODIFIED WHEAT STARCH MONOPOTASSIUM GLUTAMATE MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE Most things Low fat or no fat MSG Natural Anything Flavoring Natural Beef Flavoring Natural Chicken Flavoring Natural Flavor(s) Natural Flavoring(s) Natural Pork Flavoring Pectin PLANT PROTEIN EXTRACT POTASSIUM GLUTAMATE Powdered Milk Protease [creates MSG] Protease Enzyme(s) [creates MSG] Protein Reduced-fat Milk Rice Syrup Seasoning(s) Skim Milk Smoke Flavoring SODIUM CASEINATE Soy Protein Soy Protein Concentrate Soy Protein Isolate Soy Sauce Soy Sauce Extract SPICE EXTRACT Spices Stock TEXTURED PROTEIN Torula Yeast Vegetable Gum VEGETABLE POWDER Whey Protein Whey Protein Concentrate Whey Protein Isolate Xanthan Gum (Vegetable Gum) YEAST EXTRACT YEAST FOOD YEAST NUTRIENTS
