Topamax, nutritional triggers, good doctor?

Question: Topamax, nutritional triggers, good doctor?

Full Question:

I am 35 and have been diagnosed with chronic migraines since I was 16. All the women in my family have them. My grandmother even had several strokes. I was able to keep them relatively under control for the most part and would have 1 or 2 major ones a month. I came to work one day and did not feel right. I knew it was a migraine but it was so much worse that any I had ever had. I became very scared. I could not think. I could not see well.

Answer: A friend drove me to my doctors office and passed out. I awoke in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. They did all the tests, spinal, cat scan, x-rays, and did not find out the cause. I was hospitalized for 5 days using Demerol, Migranal and several others to break the headache. The doctors thought I had a stroke. I was sent home with Topamax and another med that I can't remember. I should also say that I had a hysterectomy at 27 so I must use HRT. I have worked myself into 1 day natural and 1 day synthetic. At this time I was taken off cold. God this was awful on top of the migraines. I went home and started the Topamax. I had Demerol and Fiorinal with Codeine and Migranal. These based on timing created rebound headaches. I was laid up for another week. By three weeks on Topamax I could not function very well. I was having a bad reaction to it. I would forget where I was, I could not take care of my children and most of all I had pain and I was scared. I was in real danger of losing my job/career. I finally spoke to a friend who had a stroke and she was given intravenous magnesium and suggested I try this. I saw a Neurologist who did a MRI. Nothing found. I did not have a stroke or another brain issues based on all the tests. I even had a Migraine start during the session. I demanded that I be taken off the Topamax. He acted like I was stupid. I walked out of his office with 4 more scripts. I went back to the doctor who I was seeing for natural hormone replacement. I shared all with her. I also said I had begun magnesium supplements and it seemed to be helping a little. She listened and gave me a sheet on magnesium deficiency. WOW I had all the symptoms. I worked my way up to 1500mgs of magnesium with calcium a day. I was still having the headaches daily but I was getting better. She then came to me with a study on COQ10 and melatonin. I added these as well to my diet. My diet changed from my collapse. I can not tolerate Chocolate, caffeine, alcohol (even a sip brings a raging migraine) and I stay away from sugars (low carbs). After 6 wks on the COQ10 and Melatonin and Magnesium things were looking better. I went from daily to once a week to only using my Fiorinal with codeine (this is what used to work). I have not used the Migranal in 2 months. Today, I am seeing things begin to slip backward. I don't have a good neurologist that I can see. I want to know why I am having these and put a stop to them. I do not want to be on heavy medication for the rest of my life. I honestly believe that there has to be a nutritional reason for this. I do know that I have an absorption problem and I live at 7300 ft elevation in Colorado. I do get allergies but not uncontrollable. I hope that your website will give me new information, a location of a good neurologist and some release of this pain. Please let me know what you can do to help. Brandy

Answer:

Dear Brandy;

You have a lot going on, and it's impossible to answer much of it via the Internet. Hopefully, we can give you some information that you can combine with seeing some doctors to get a good treatment regimen worked out.

You've obviously found that you have some food triggers for your Migraines. Have you tried an elimination diet to see if you have others? To do this, you eliminate the foods most likely to be trigger foods, then add them back in, one at a time, to see if they trigger a Migraine. You can find a list of potential trigger foods as part of this book review:

Review: The Headache Prevention Cookbook
Unfortunately, foods are a major headache trigger for many people. Fortunately, Dr. David Marks has written this book with a superb program for identifying those triggers and preventing headaches. His wife, Dr. Laura Marks has developed some wonderful recipes to accompany the program.

While it would be nice if you could manage your Migraines by eliminating food triggers and using dietary supplements, you may have to accept using some preventive medications. There's just no avoiding the fact that Migraine is a genetic neurological disease. Compare it to type 2 diabetes. Some people with type 2 diabetes can manage that disease with nutrition and exercise. Others need to take medication. Migraine disease is the same way. Take heart though. You don't have to tolerate side effects such as you experienced with Topamax. There are many, many other medications that can be used. Keep in mind that potential side effects are just that, potential side effects. The vast majority of patients do not experience them, or the medications wouldn't be on the market. If you try more medications, be aware of the potential side effects, but assume that you will not experience them.

There's a link below to our directory of recommended physicians.

Good luck,
Teri Robert and John Claude Krusz

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