Iodine shortened the duration and intensity of my last migraine

This post was drafted a few days ago.  I'm a little behind with everything and so will churn out a few in quick succession, to catch up, but they have to be in chronological order...

Please note:  when I refer to Salt Tonic, I'm only ever talking about quarter teaspoon of Sea Salt, taken with one full glass of water.  Total Sea Salt consumption in any one day should reach 1 full teaspoon only.  Also, when I refer to Iodine, I'm only ever talking about Sea Kelp tablets, which are 15mg each of Iodine. 

Please also note:  I am in the UK and here we are advised not to take Iodine with Thyroid medication.  I understand this is different to the advice given elsewhere in the world.  In my personal view, if you can resuscitate your Thyroid gland with the help of Iodine and Tyrosine, then you should try and do this, with your physician's knowledge and assistance.  Levothyroxine has been shown to result in Osteoporosis, even at correct doses!

I'm not certain yet, but I have a feeling that the underlying cause of my migraines was a result of Iodine Deficiency.  The chain reaction was possibly something like this: iodine deficiency, in turn led to adrenal insufficiency, in turn led to sodium deficiency, led to electrolyte compromise which resulted in periodic crises (e.g. migraine), triggered by low progesterone and sharp decline in  hormonal output by the ovaries.  

Been taking iodine now for about a week.

Yesterday I had my first anticipated 'oestrogen dominant' migraine, which makes it 11 days since my last.

Migraine

I call it a 'migraine' but really it didn't reach that level. There was no nausea, no diarrhoea and no ferocious stabbing from one side of my head.

It was much more of an all over headache, with some neck pain.

No Polyuria
Crucially, there was no polyuria, which tells me my Adrenals could handle it.  This is a measure of how much stronger they are, and as a result, how much my overall health has improved.  I put this improvement down to using the Salt Tonic.  

There was no real need for analgesics, maybe for half an hour I thought shall I or shan't I take some paracetamol, but I didn't have to in the end.  

Remember, I've resisted painkillers throughout my adrenal crisis because I learnt the hard way a few years ago that they only add to the strain on your system and fool you into thinking your have more strength than you actually do.

Salt Tonic has been my saviour in the adrenal crisis - not paracetamol!  

Peppermint to quell the blood flow to the head

I managed to control the blood flow to my head by using Vicks Vapo Rub cream applied to my top lip and inside my nostrils - not too far in!

It actually says on the tub "Do not insert into nostrils" but I didn't care, I needed a powerful Vasoconstrictor, and it did the trick.  My right nostril seems to be really involved in my migraines and so it was particularly comforting to have mint inside that opening of that passageway.  

I first noticed that mint had a calming effect on my headaches, when I inhaled orally the minty toothpaste whilst brushing my teeth. 

Also, I had a Mojito on a cruise about an hour after a bad migraine a couple of years back, and it put paid to that little sucker, both abdominally and nasally.   

I understand Peppermint Oil is also a VERY powerful Vasoconstrictor.  I might get some soon, because Vicks looks really weird if you have to meet people.

I reapplied the Vicks every 2 hours.

Usually Vicks applied in this way would feel pretty uncomfortable, so it proves just how altered my autonomic nervous response was.  

Unbelievably for me, I managed to function through the headache and even entertained thoughts of being migraine-free one day, soon, maybe by the end of this year?  

But you know, if that doesnt happen, and all my future headaches only reach the magnitude of this last one, I think I can live with that.  I think I can travel too.  

Fluid Intake

When I did take some fluid, it was 'Salt Tonic'.  Before I learned that my migraines were as a direct result of adrenal depletion and its interaction with Oestrogen dominance, I used to make the BIG MISTAKE of drinking too much plain water during a headache.  I now realise that this only makes an 'electrolyte crisis' worse, much worse, as this means you dissolve and separate further the vital ions that are trying to bump together and help you have normal cellular reactions.  Sodium was the missing link in how my body coped with these crises.  

Comorbidity of Sodium Deficiency Addressed
I'm realising now for the first time how a 'low salt diet' probably made my health a lot worse, because I was inadvertently missing out on the need for 'pure sodium', that's derived from the precious mineral that's essential to all life.   

Low sodium reading is part of Hypothyroidism and Adrenal Insufficiency and if referred to as: Hyponatremia.  It can present with various complications, such as disturbed heart rate and severe headache.  In my opinion, I should have been warned to keep up Sodium levels by my doctor when I presented with the low Cortisole reading that proved I was Adrenally Fatigued.  The fact that we're simply packed off home and told to 'take it easy' is just a load of tosh!  I'm beginning to wonder if my migraines were really just an awful warning to me to look further into the underlying cause of my lack of homeostasis?

We are constantly warned against "the harmful effects of salt", but what they never fully explain or make perfectly clear, is that 'SODIUM' and 'table salt' are totally different, biologically.  

Table Salt is actually (hate to say it) poisoning us, because its so chemically denatured due to its processing.  Its essentially rendered something far removed from anything our body needs, and is basically excreted without being utilised.  Plus it has masses of Aluminium, which is really bad for us and represents the accumulation of yet another heavy metal in our brains. 

In the UK, Table Salt doesn't even include Iodine, because its not mandatory here.  So, if you think you're getting Iodine that way, think again.  (I'm going to be doing a big post on Iodine soon, btw).   

While Sodium proper, which is in fact a distinct silvery-white (good) soft metal, is highly reactive, dissolves easily, and is found in abundance in the oceans.  

This PURE sodium is vital to all biology, especially in regulating blood volume, osmotic equilibrium and ph (see Wikipedia).  

Crucially for me, I've learnt that 'Pure (sea salt) Sodium' will heal a brain that has been subjected to massive amounts of histamine.  Which is what happened to me during all those horrendous migraines, but Table salt will never ever do that magical healing thing!       

Sea Salt Tonic seems to work wonders for me and during this particular headache episode, it was only after the third glass and 4 1/2 hours later, it finally disappeared.

Salt Tonics have been around for centuries and of course we all know Saline Solution can heal a myriad of complaints, but who would have guessed that ingesting sodium could do me so much good?  

The Sea Salt I use is fortified with potassium, calcium and magnesium.  It has a greyish colour, is hand harvested from the Atlantic using methods the Romans used.  It's organic and slightly damp.  I have mashed a load of it up with my pestle and mortar and poured it into a little pot for use during cooking, as when you buy it, its really does need to be ground down.  For Salt Tonic though, its possibly better taken as tiny beads or crystals, as you can swallow them quickly, also the quantity of ground Sea Salt is obviously greater per quarter teaspoon than if the crystals were intact.  

Duration of this headache was cut down to 4 1/2 hours

With all of these things in place, I registered that my migraines have reduced from 72 hours, down to about 4 1/2 hours.  

This didn't happen at all once and if you read back you can see its happened mainly over the last 3 months.  But the biggest improvement happened after I started Salt Tonics.

Oestrogen Dominance and headaches

I should never have been prescribed HRT because of my headaches.  

The quack should have made basic enquiries of me before he started scribbling on his little pad. 

But of course, all they have time to ask you is, if there is breast cancer in your family?  

I thought I would get more time with a private doctor, but instead of a measly 7 minutes, he magnanimously gave AN ENTIRE 10 MINUTES!

I answered 'yes' to the breast cancer in the family question, my mother had it, as a result of taking HRT for 15 years!  

Even though I said that to him, he still insisted that my emotional disturbance would be corrected with HRT and if I didn't take it, I would probably kill myself. He added it was 'safer now'.  (I was too upset at that time to think straight, but what I should have told him was my mother has only just stopped taking it in the last 5 years!).  

I remembered my mother benefitted from taking it, so I thought I would too. 

I read recently a woman describe her experience with HRT as "feeling like she was due to have a period the whole time she was on it, kind of bloated and irritable".  

I can completely relate to that.  When I look back at photographs of myself taken during those awful 17 months, I don't recognise myself.  I looked like a fat old woman, with a colourless face, a swollen neck and half-closed eyes. 

(The fat has been shed by coming off HRT and with the help of Salt Tonics and Iodine.  The swollen neck has been altered immensely by Iodine.  The half-closed eyes was a classic symptom of Adrenal Fatigue and that's been helped by Salt Tonic, Iodine and Pantothenic Acid, Riboflavin and Liquorice Root.  My complexion has been dramatically improved by Salt Tonic, Iodine and DMAE, DHEA and L-Carnotine.)

Anxiety and Thyroid Disturbance/Instability

Anxiety has been a problem of mine for a very long time, 15 years to be precise.  Persistent anxiety coupled with exhaustion should never be ignored, these are the two key features of Adrenal depletion.

I've always thought that anxiety is merely a neurosis and basically its about your personality and your thoughts and experiences, not about things going wrong in your body and your sensitivity to hormonal imbalaces like excessive adrenaline or cortisol, reduced serotonin, overproduction of oestrogen etc.

Low Progesterone

It seems to me you can cruise along with your own particular bag of tricks for years, until Progesterone production gets a kick in the teeth.  Once Progesterone is no longer reporting for duty, you can expect things to really start to go downhill. 

Now I've come to realise the hard way, that persistent perennial anxiety is actually the result of endocrinal problems.  Anger is also the result of that.  Anger for anger's sake: bad moods, irritability, hatred, bad temper, dark thoughts.

Truman Capote once said "My head is a dangerous neighbourhood at times".  I can relate to that!

Why am I saying all of this?  Because since taking Iodine, I've noticed I'm no longer anxious, either about anticipated migraines or anything else for that matter.

Levothyroxine didn't end the anxiety, HRT didn't for sure.  Nothing touched it except something so basic and ancient and cheap called SEAWEED EXTRACT!

This confirms to me several things:

1.  It was right and proper for me to come off synthetic thyroid hormone.

2.  Anxiety is often reported by people suffering with thyroid instability.

3.  My thyroid is obviously now being given what it needs, and my pain has ended.

Tyrosine

Last time I mentioned that I'm also taking L-Tyrosine. Tyrosine and Iodine are essential to the Thyroid Gland, in order that they can produce T3 and T4.

Natural Tyrosine in our bodies is responsible, in a large part, for our 'motivation' mechanism.  If you have enough Tyrosine, you have motivation to do things.  Its a simple biological feedback loop. 

5-HTP

If you think about Thyroid dysfunction, patients always report a lack of motivation as one of their major symptoms.  I think I said a while back, 5-HTP improved my mood, but it had not addressed my lack of energy/motivation.

Well, thankfully Tyrosine has.  So I have to go now - lol!

5 days ago I was given the key, to let myself out of a 15-year prison sentence - the name of the key: IODINE !

I haven't blogged in while because I became a lot sicker since I last posted, but have now Thankfully recovered, due to several, strange, interrelated circumstances.  

I had another migraine, this time of the magnitude that I hope never to experience again, but I'm not going to talk about that this time.

For the first time in my life I'm confused:  I don't know whether to be elated that I've found, what appears to be the missing link to all my problems, or angry that I was not 'diagnosed' a long time ago?

I've decided to be positive, because I feel sooooooooooo much better, and 'HEALTH IS WEALTH', plus I look 100 times better than I have in about 10 years!

If I plot everything as it happened, I fear I will overburden readers, so I'm going to give it to you in bullet points:

1.  My adrenal fatigue reached a peak (as they do): I was shaking for about 30 minutes every morning.  The shaking would start in my left hand and radiate outwards.  At its worst it was like continous sessions of big jerks or twitches.  They were all-consuming and I recognised that I just had to sit and wait for them to pass.  

Any attempt to suppress these 'shakes' meant it would re-emerge elsewhere.  I've never in my life shaken so uncontrollably before and thankfully most of it happened at around 9.30am.  

My DH (the dear man) thought I was 'exaggerating' or somehow 'faking' it.  This made me quite angry afterwards and when (about) the worst episode of shaking stopped, I confronted his callous attitude.  

I said something like: "I hope I never see you in this reduced state, can't you see that I'm suffering what prisoners of war go through?"  He just looked at me.  I then went further and said "Why don't you believe how ill I am?".  His response was "You don't look ill, in fact you look better than you have for a long time".

We embraced!!  Dont you just love men!  

Obviously the changes in my complexion, eyes and hair, that I'd noticed since taking DHEA, L-Carnosine and DMAE - all anti-ageing amino acid supplements - have worked and are incredible in their results.  

Thankfully they enabled me to face the world during the worst health crisis of my entire life.  Crucially, I NEVER LOOKED LIKE I FELT, which I'm so grateful for.

Back to the cascade of events....

2.  I noticed quite soon after starting the 'Salt Tonic', that my Thyroid was complaining.  The pain radiating from my neck became utterly unbearable.  Twinges became dull aches, and those changed to outright throbbing.

I'm very familiar with that pain, I've had it for 15 years, but obviously this time it was louder, more intense and seemed to literally be screaming at me to do something?????? 

I took painkillers in the past, but this time I was determined not to congest my liver (as it leads to yellow eyes, which are an obvious sign of ill-health).  I started to think about why I had so much pain, especially as I was taking Levothyroxine medication?

Then the pain reached the point that it reminded me of when it first presented, when I was 35.  The pain radiates up the back of my neck, to the back of my skull and beyond.  I was also getting horrible pulsating pains around my scalp.  

I started to fear that in this condition, as it was growing worse by the minute, it would mean the next migraine would finish me off.  By that I mean, that I honestly feared, the area where migraine stems from would, horror of horrors, herniate!!

That's when I became convinced Levothyroxine was not helping me.  Remember, I've been under-dosed and over-dosed before and I knew I was not either, this time.  

I sensed my thyroid was trying to compensate for my adrenal depletion? but it was made partially numb by the medication I was taking?  

Then I read that medication was probably killing my thyroid off, in that it was becoming more and more lazy.  

It appeared to me that I needed my thyroid gland to help me now more than ever, and yet I was strangling its power with synthetic thyroid hormone.  

I remembered everything I'd learned as a student about how essential it was that THE THYROID RECEIVES IODINE in order to function.  That's when I finally questioned if I was getting enough Iodine?  

I went over to my loaf of bread to read the ingredients but it was not listed.  Nor was Iodine listed on the dairy products in the fridge, like cheese, yoghurts etc.  

Then I looked over the milk label (last resort), as I felt sure I had seen 'Iodine' labelled on milk cartons in the past?  It was NOT listed there either.  

Then I thought about all the fish I had eaten recently = next to none!  In fact I stopped eating fish in a big way when I was 30.  

I remember that clearly, because our old house had sticky old windows that were veritable hand traps, so I couldn't easily open the kitchen window, and I couldn't stand the smell of cooked fish in the kitchen the next day.     

That afternoon, I rushed to the health store to buy some Iodine, in the form of dried Sea Kelp tablets. But they said I couldn't have it whilst being medicated for Hypothyroidism.  

I spent the next 2 days in a lot of pain thinking very hard if I should come off Levo?  I knew that Levo had serious side effects, like Osteoporosis, even at correct doses.  I also remembered how it helped me with agoraphobic feelings I'd had for several years?  I was torn, but I was also in increasing pain.

I took the pain to be a warning, and made an appointment to see my doctor to ask him if I could safely come off Levothyroxine? and give myself Iodine therapy along with L-tyrosine supplementation.

Then I read this article: 

"Whether it comes in the form of thyroid disorders, estrogen imbalance or difficulty losing weight, the use of iodine often comes as the missing piece of the puzzle for an increasing number of individuals that would not have even considered it as a possibility."

Read more: http://www.blueprintfitness.co.uk/iodine_deficiency.html#ixzz2RMQczup9

The words 'missing piece of a puzzle' kept resonating in my head.

Then I ran some quick internet searches on Iodine consumption generally, especially in the Western world and realised very quickly that MOST people are deficient in Iodine because they no longer include it in bread, or milk, or anything.  Its been SCRAPPED.

Feeling very confused and at a complete loss as to how this vital element, that I thought I was being covered for in the from of Government guidelines regarding its inclusion in BREAD and MILK production, I am not afterall.  None of us are.  WE ARE ALL IODINE DEFICIENT!  What the hell happened, I mean, am I in a bad dream or something?

3.  So I went to the doctor, I told him I wanted to come off Levothyroxine and take SEA KELP that has Iodine and on top of that, L-Tyrosine supplements to assist with Thyroid function.  He said "Do it, thats fine and you can stop Levothyroxine straight away".  He was a younger doctor than I usually see, he was about 30.  

I was overjoyed!!

Remember, I presented as BORDERLINE HYPOTHYROIDISM.  So please consult your doctor if you are thinking of doing the same thing.  

4.  I finally went along and bought my first bottle of 500 tablets of Sea Kelp extract (Iodine) 15mg.  WITHIN 1 HOUR I NOTICED I FELT DIFFERENT, AFTER 2 HOURS ALL MY PAIN DISAPPEARED FROM MY NECK, SHOULDERS, BASE OF SKULL.  

THE NEXT DAY IT HAD DISAPPEARED FROM MY SCALP!

I'm going to stop now because I'm actually starting to cry and I don't want this keyboard to electrocute me.  Save to say I have now passed the due date of my next migraine, pain free.  I'll provide links next time.  Have a productive week and remember, we have a brain for a reason, above all else, to save our own lives!  

Migraines due to low, or no, natural Progesterone!

I got a terrible migraine!  Lasted 4 days, two days of agony.

Well, that wont be a surprise to anyone.  They warn you on these tubs of Serenity Cream that you should only discontinue HRT gradually, over a 3-month period.

But of course I wanted nothing more to do with H-R-flaming-T, so I just stopped.

As you know, I'm getting 2 migraines a month.  One at around ovulation and the other at menses.  Both are due to my not producing enough (or any) natural progesterone anymore because my ovaries have obviously packed up.  Hence the worsening nature of my migraines.

Its a terrible shame that its taken me soooooo long to realise this, but I think I stopped ovulating around last November??

Yesterday's attack was so horrendous that I wanted to go to hospital but the thought of having stangers man-handle me was just too much too bear in that condition.  

I realised that the pain I was experiencing was so excruciating that it was beyond the scope of normal pain-killing drugs and I probably needed to take Morphine in some form or another?  

Its interesting to read that people who are in the armed forces that get bad migraines are administered morphine but 'civvy street' physicians wont do it.

Although this last migraine lasted 4 days, strangely, it kept coming and going for the first two - which was weird and filled me with vain optimism that things were maybe improving?

Then on the 4th day, all hell broke loose and the pain was even stronger than the strongest I've had to date.  

I ended-up pulling at my hair like a mad person.  I couldn't bear anyone to pull my hair in a normal state but when the migraine is full-on, its like I'm trying to turn 'useless' pain without visible injury, into visible injury and useful pain, if that makes any sense?  

At one point it was so bad that I thought it would actually rip?  I hate to admit this to myself, but these damn migraines are causing me to look older.  (This is all I need with a DH that's obsessed with youth and good looks - and never mind how old HE is!.)

Honestly, the inflammation inside my skull was insane.  My face was so pale it looked bloodless.  I kept feeling sick but ended-up on the toilet each time instead.  

I've had various pains over my life (broken arm, rotten tooth socket, childbirth, shingles, fractured elbow, wisdom tooth extraction with infection) as we all do, and I don't usually give in to pain, as such.  I think its something you can largely ignore and just get on with things.  

But this last migraine just took hold of me to the point where I could think about nothing else, except when it would stop.  I actually sat in a chair for 3 entire hours just weeping with the throbbing and stabbing.

My nose became hideously swollen.  The dog just lay at my feet, not moving.  He might be deaf and virtually blind, but he knew I was in big trouble.  The poor thing, he's so sweet at those times.

I had daymare visions of how these migraines are going to eventually end.  Of course I'm going to die from them.  I'll look ahead one day and the room will go black, I'll fall over, people will come and slap my face and I'll hear them say "I cant find a pulse" then the gates of Hades will open and pull me in.

The flames of eternal damnation will whip round my feet and Satan himself will eventually come over to me and hiss triumphantly "You're here because you couldn't cope with your senile dog, you bitch!".....

Then my thoughts switch to contemplating whether I should administer self-medication in the form of a cordless electric drill to the side of my head - lol!!!

Truthfully, during the worst part of the migraine I thought of going to the shed, charging my cordless drill and pinpointing exactly where I would drill into my own skull!  

This sounds completely unreal of course, now that the pain is gone, but believe me, when your head is being crushed slowly in a vice, you imagine you still have some control over your fate??

The only thing that relieved the pain, which I discovered after 4 hours of hell, was not an icepack against my skull as previously resorted to, but actually immersing my LEFT HAND, passed my wrist, INTO ICED WATER until it turned blue.

That was the only thing that stopped the pounding in my head.

The relief lasts about 15 minutes, then it starts up again.

But with that quarter hour, I was able to wash a few dishes, make some beds, tidy the dog area, do some dusting, open some mail and clean a couple of toilets.  Then back to the ice.  I dragged this procedure out for another 4 hours THEN THE BIG ONE CAME.

The pain just mounted till I heard no sounds and the room went blurred.  It was screaming at me.  I was freezing cold, I could neither taste nor smell anything.  I went to the toilet for a last time and honestly, felt I was genuinely going to die.  When I came out it finally started to subside.  Gradually the stabbing faded to throbs, then mild throbs then low aches, then nothing................

When I went to bed I felt very bruised and faint.  I couldn't fall asleep straight away, I was too sad about the whole episode, so I switched on my Kindle.  I'm reading a book about Natural (Yam Extract) Progesterone Cream and low and behold I got to the very section that tackles migraine.

His advice is: "at the onset of migraine, rub in one full teaspoon of the cream".

Source:

My eyes popped out, I dragged myself up and did just that.  

When I woke up this morning, I was expecting all the usual echo pains of an attack, and that kind of wobbly, go-easy-with-me phase but instead, there was nothing.

As I walked down the stairs, I expected my head to ache from the bruising, but still nothing!

I'm not going to push my luck by running for the bus or anything, but I'm getting back in the proverbial saddle today and getting my life back!

I feel better very quickly, which must be the effect of this Natural Progesterone Cream, because usually it takes 2 or three days to completely recover.  I have three tubs of the stuff in the house and all I can say is, I'm going to apply it 4 times a day to anticipate the next attack.  That's 1 teaspoon in total each day, instead of the usual 1/4 teaspoon every 12 hours, as directed on the tub.

Wish me luck people, because I'm at the very end of my tether here....

O-oh, guess what happened to me...I got a terrible migraine (groan!)

The working week began badly.  I learned on Sunday that I had to do everything in my power on Monday to prevent a deal going out the window.  I had incredible stress all day long and there was nothing I could do about it except work methodically and try to keep a watch on possible migraine triggers...

By Monday evening I thought things were looking a little better, I had done everything I needed to do from my end of things.  I was pleased therefore that I could manage to sit down with the dog and watch  Drives, Diners and Dives (which I adore!).  

I was just getting settled into the episode I'd recorded, when I noticed the dog was acting weird.  Something made me watch him as he came round the corner for the third time, as he tends to do a lot of repetitive things this was not so weird but on the third occasion he came round the corner, his right side gave way under him.  

I thought he had just tripped over but continued watching him.  He then flips onto his back, in silence (which should have alerted me) then starts to have a kind of fight with himself, then his eyes went really weird then I realised he was having a seizure.  

OMG I jumped up, screamed up to DH, who came (lumbering) down the stairs at his usual speed (slow).  He comes into the room and I tell him what's happening.  He says he thinks its not over.  The dog's eyes remained opened the whole time, staring at me.  I rang the vet, only spoke to receptionist, said vet will ring later and told me to turn off the lights and not leave him.  

I go back to dog and DH.  Dog has managed to flip back onto his side, after twisting himself into a silent corkscrew shape for what seemed like an eternity.  We watch him.  He looks at us but seems dazed.  He tries to get up, but cannot.  

He waits, lies down again, tries to get up again and cannot.  Does this for about 10 minutes.  Then eventually gets up and walks to the other side of the room and goes to sleep.  

I'm crying my eye balls out, DH is panicking.  The vet still hasn't phoned.  My left hand starts shaking and my latent stammer emerges.  

Vet rings, says it wont happen at night or when he's excited but we should expect it to happen as he is starting to relax for the evening (it was 6.30pm).  He said in view of his age (nearly 15) and his other problems (senile & mild kidney failure) "its not good news".  Then my DH asks about dog graves??!!??  Can you believe that, I mean can you really believe that?? I then do a lot more crying before the evening ends.

Next day the pressure continues, plus we have to watch the dog like hawks.

Later that night, about 3am or thereabouts, I start to get a really bad migraine.  No warning, no sugar cravings, no copious peeing, or depression, just there, boom. 

I get up and wonder if I should eat or be sick?  I noticed that I felt a different temperature at different points of my body?  My hands were really hot and so was my head, my chest was cold, my legs were cold, my feet were hot??  I had a hot patch around my side but immediately to the left of that it was icy cold?  This was really strange, I felt all separated and unconnected??  In view of the demands on me, I just try to work through it.  (Some hope!) 

By 10.00am it was really bad.  I detested having to waste yet another day to this crap and this deadline I had was still hanging over me.  My face looks awful, I was totally grey and my hair starts to do its own thing, like it does during a migraine.      

So the head is throbbing, DH is like a cat on a hot tin proverbial, the dog is still dazed and weird and my appetite just goes and I end up on the toilet, as usual.  

By 8pm I decide to take Maxalt Melt that the doctor gave me.  It tastes totally vile.  I sit there for about 10 minutes feeling this mounting throbbing and feeling ill in the lower regions, then from nowhere my heart starts really POUNDING, like I'm going to have a heart attack or something.  I got really scared then realised I'd read in the stoopid leaflet that this could happen. 

I count how many poundings and it was about 4.

Now this is where it gets really interesting.

I went to bed.  My limbs were heavy, my head was out of control and I felt terribly sick.  I tried to be sick but it didn't kick off.  I lie there for about half hour thinking I was going to die and how worried about the dog I was and how terribly guilty I felt about how impatient I had been with all his drooling, wetting and separation anxiety.  Then I thought about this 'deal' and how horrible the man was that was not being clear with us about signing the blasted documents and if he had sent them by FedEx or not?  Then I'm crying, going to the toilet and my neck starts jerking.  Yes jerking.  Turns out its another side effect and I still feel really sick.  

Then I had this awful vision that the dog might die while Maxalt Melt was making me feel sicker than I felt before I took it? 

Then I fell asleep.  I didn't move all night.  Then at about 1am the dog (bless him) starts barking.  I partially wake up, well enough to realise that I wasn't dead yet and nor was the dog.  

Then I lie there, not daring to move and feeling my heart beat really fast at the thought of our darling Sooty, AND THAT'S WHEN I REALISED that I could completely isolate the cause of my Goddamn migraines and they were coming from stress causing my increased heart rate and I could ACTUALLY feel the blood shoot up from my heart, through my neck and explode in the top of my head!  

In my daze, I conclude that the solitary artery that is causing me all this (shit), has to be my CAROTID ARTERY.

It was awful, totally totally awful.  So clear, so crystal clear and horrendously painful, I was in agony!

Because magnesium has reduced the spasms in the tissues that surround the pathway of pain, I've finally been able to isolate and identify exactly where the pain is coming from.

Its not the back of my neck - oh well that neck massager was a waste of money.

Its not my stomach, or bowels, its not my liver or kidneys or God-knows what else.  Its my adrenals affecting my heart, which then pushes the blood too fast and too hard to the top of my agonising head.

In view of this, I've decided to apply to the Charing Cross Hospital for one of their Carotid Artery Ultra Sound Scans.  

I bet they either end up giving me Statins or Valium, but they have to give me something??

I told DH, if the dog wasn't ill, I would have gone to A&E, for sure....

Taking Rhodiola Rosea to help maintain Serotonin Levels

I've been taking this ancient plant root for over a week now but haven't really mentioned it because I didn't notice any significant changes until 4 days afterwards.

Basically, I decided to give it a try after reading an article about boosting your Serotonin levels called: '10 Quick Tips to Boost Your Serotonin' written by Mark Sisson, an athlete, that believes in keeping as healthy as you possibly can.  

Quoting from his article:

"HTP is a popular supplement, but I personally prefer rhodiola, which actually slows the process of serotonin breakdown (it also has better scientific backing)."

by Mark Sisson, that you can visit here.

If you recall, I was reading about Serotonin levels dropping steeply in response to a decrease in Oestrogen, according to our cycles, and how chaotic that invariably is for moods and PMT.  

I've always had awful PMT and now, part of that cyclical downturn, is these debilitating migraine attacks.

So there I was, taking Rhodiola Rosea for about 4 days and 

noticing nothing in particular.  

Then at around day 5, it registered, by my reaction to a stressful situation, that I was feeling different, somehow?

It was initially hard to define, but according to my packet of pills, I should be lurching into arguments and feeling totally exhausted by now?

Instead, I felt calm, my thoughts were logical, (instead of extremely emotional) and I was definitely less tired.

Considering where I am in the cycle, this is VERY unusual for me.

There is a downside though, in my personal case, because it reduces appetite.  I'm not a person with a huge appetite at the best of times and Rhodiola certainly reduces mine even more.

This figures really, as its prescribed for among other things, stress-related over-eating!  I can totally see how that would work, because quite honestly, even by 3pm I'm still not actually hungry !!

It turns out that Rhodiola Rosea is an ADAPTOGEN and that means it works out what your body is  imbalanced in e.g. you could be producing, say, too much stress hormone: cortisol.  Then it will 'adapt itself' to suppress / boost your levels, whatever the needs be.

Here's a quotation I found from a really good article about recent testing on Rhodiola:

"A Swedish trial from 2009 examined the effects of a patented Rhodiola extract (SHR-5) on 60 patients with “stress related fatigue“. The dosage used was 4 tablets of the herbal extract, providing 576 milligrams, or an equal quantity of an inactive placebo. The authors of the trial concluded that, “repeated administration of R. rosea extract SHR-5 exerts an anti-fatigue effect that increases mental performance, particularly the ability to concentrate, and decreases cortisol response”. Previous experiments, dating back up to 9 years, tend to support these findings. (4,5,6)"

Written by J P Fanton of Healthy Fellow, that you can read here. 

I'm currently taking two capsules a day (of maximum strength), during mid-morning.  I was taking it later on in the day, but I noticed it was keeping me awake.  This is not unusual and you are warned about that.  

I plan to only take it for half the month, from a few days before I start taking Progesterone.

There are countless articles about Rhodiola on the internet, and it seems its a common ingredient that's added to a lot of 'wonder drugs' for combating fatigue.  

I'll need to watch my appetite while taking this, in that I don't want to end up too weak because I eat lunch too late.  Once I start eating though, I feel fine about food again, but before that, I've noticed I'm not thinking about food, if you know what I mean?

It's going to be very interesting to see how my next migraine will turn out.  Because my aim in taking this medication was to maintain serotonin levels, but now I can clearly detect that my real problem was quite possibly the over-production of Cortisol?

Happy holidays everyone!