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Plagued with severe headaches

Posted By Mary (St. Petersburg, Florida, Usa) on 02/08/2012

Hi Everyone... I started having severe headaches about 2 years ago. I associated them with hormones because they came once a month and I was approaching menopause. The first headache was very intense: throbbing, puking and debilitating. I do not have a history of headaches otherwise.

I did the obvious treatments at the time: tylenol, ibuprofen, sinus meds. I even took some percocet that I had left over from the wisdom teeth extraction. None of these helped at all. At one point I even took 20mg of prednisone that I took from another person. It completely stopped the pain in about 10 minutes, like magic. Of course I don't want to take prednisone but I found that when your head hurts that much you don't care what you swallow.

Now I am at the place where the periods have stopped but the headaches are still showing up. They are less severe but they ALWAYS come in the early morning and wake me up out of a sound sleep. They present as a throb right in the middle of my head and radiate outward toward the front and back and sides of the head like a saucer or disc. The pain is less when I sit up straight.

Since being on Earthclinic for the last month I have done the basic steps of change...

1. stopped all artificial sweeteners and sugar

2. started ACV, blackstrap molasses

3. started taking flax and omegas plus got the good vitamins from the organic store

4. will be ordering magnesium oil today to start

I am not feeling any different than before I started these things and I am wondering if I am missing a piece of the puzzle.

I am otherwise healthy. No smoking, no drinking, no meds and no hormone replacement. No disease history. I am not overweight. No allergies.

I would very much appreciate some opinions and perspectives from others who have some experience with these kind of headaches.

Thanks to all who can respond.

Mary

Replied by Diane (Los Angeles, California) on 02/08/2012

Hi Mary, Sorry to hear of your medical problems.

A family friend told me of a woman's health aid for menopausal women. A Vintage remedy that works!

Great for hot flashes, nervousness, headaches etc.

Lydia Pinkham tablets!

Our great friend couldn't stop talking about how these tablets helped so many women in the past.

It takes about 2 weeks to see good results. So don't stop taking them if you try them. I think you can order them from your local pharmacy or on line. Google: Lydia Pinkham tablets.

Replied by Ydk (Bend, Or) on 02/08/2012

You may want to investigate craniosacral therapy. See Upledger web site for local practitioner(s).

Replied by Carly (Seattle, Wa - Usa) on 02/08/2012

Hi Mary. Your headaches sound just like my MSG headaches. If I wake in the middle of the night with a throbbing headache - and go back over what I ate the evening before - I usually will find MSG lurking in something I ate.

It goes by many names, and is in many good items you would not expect. I would read up on it if you have not yet - many excellent articles on the web.

Also - I just read something about low vitamin D3 causing chronic headaches.... At this time of year almost everyone in the northern hemisphere, (yes, even FL if you are indoors a lot or go heavy on the sunscreen! ) has low D3. I would read up on that too.

Also #2 - Check out wheat / gluten intolerance as another possible reason for headaches. I believe Dr. Mercola's site had an article on that. Apparently 7 out of 10 people who had chronic headaches and cut out ALL gluten (also hiddne in many things! ) had their headaches go away in some small study that was done. Interesting...

Good luck. Throbbing headaches are awful.

Carly

Replied by Mary (St. Petersburg, Florida, Usa) on 02/09/2012

Thanks Carly. I am looking into the MSG info. I have never thought much about it so this will be new info. I remember as a small kid my mother bought it at the store from the spice section and used it to cook. The stuff has been around a long time.

I will be isolating food items this week to see if there is a connection between MSG and the pounding head.

Also, while reading up on it last night I found an article that made a connection between MSG and ACNE!

News to me. Might be of interest to those dealing with skin issues.

Mary

Replied by Timh (Louisville, Ky, Usa) on 02/09/2012

Mary, Evening Primrose Oil is supposed to be the superior EFA for menopausal problems. Also the amino acid L-Methionine is good to help a congested Liver ("fatty liver" or possibly gallstones) metabolize excess estrogen buildup in the bloodstream (which could be the cause of your problem). Be sure to take extra B-12 or else L-Methionine won't work and could become dangerous homocysteine. SAM-e is the preferred form of Methionine but is more expensive. To be precise, any "Homocysteine Formula" would be the best as you would presumably get better results. Sun Lecithin is also very good fat burner.

Hope this helps and good luck and please update progress.

Replied by Carly (Seattle, Wa - Usa) on 02/09/2012

Hi Mary, Thanks for posting back. I am very interested in your results and if it was the MSG or some food allergy, so I hope you will write back with an update later.

My mom used to buy "Accent" meat tenderizer in the spice isle. Accent is pure MSG. I was shocked when I started reading up on MSG. It is a neuro toxin, and the top symptoms of being sensitive to it are headaches and shortness of breath. I can't believe it is even legal to sell!

Here is an excellent link (if it is okay to post links) with simple charts telling the hidden names that MSG goes by in foods, and the symptoms. It is on an aspartame poisioning website, but this particular page is about MSG. I like it because it is so simple, and easy to comprehend.

http://www.aspartame.ca/msg names.htm

Good luck, it is a very hard additive to avoid entirely, as I have found out.... But well worth reading all of the labels on anything you put in your mouth. I just have to make sure I take my reading glasses to the supermarket now.

Carly

Replied by Debbie (Melbourne, Australia ) on 02/09/2012

Mary, here is a great article. It says that headaches are caused by an acidic condition in the body and the more severe the more acidic your body is. It would be interesting for you to test this theory out and see if it helps you. I also get bad migraines but actually haven't one for a little while. I have also been taking wheatgrass powder in capsules which is very alkaline so I am wondering now if it is connected.

http://www.truthquest2.com/pHbalance.htm

Replied by Linda (New Haven, Connecticut, United States) on 02/09/2012

@ Carly... Love your link but now I'm a bit concerned. Have just started adding some gelatin powder to my diet for my arthritis but your link showed MSG in gelatin! That is just for the prepared "Jello-like" products right? Not in the plain gelatin powder? I don't want to trade my arthritic knee for MSG issues. Anyone know for sure? Thanks.

Linda :-)

Replied by Mary (St. Petersburg, Florida, Usa) on 02/10/2012

Well, guess what? Yesterday I eliminated all MSG and today I have NO pounding in the head!

I will continue on this journey to see if it is coincidence or not. I have to tell you that after reading about MSG yesterday that I will eliminate it from my life whether my head hurt or not. I did not know it was so poisonous. I told my teenagers about it and they let me throw away their Ramen noodles. That's huge. I even made my own mayo yesterday.

The offending item seems to be the packaged lunch meat and sliced, processed cheese item. That was easy enough to figure out. I would like to know of a cheese I can switch to that is chemical free.

I wonder how many symptoms we put up with and call it "hormones" or "age" (that's a dirty word at my house).. No wonder people are on so many prescription meds.

Thanks again to Carly for the heads up.... no pun intended.

Replied by Carly (Seattle, Wa - Usa) on 02/10/2012

That is awesome Mary! I am very happy for you! (I am doing a happy dance right now! ) So, so fabulous!

When I read your original post your symptoms were so exactly like mine when I get an MSG headache that I just had to write in.

Ramen noodles are tasty (addictive tasty! ) not to mention cheap and easy - it is sad they are full of MSG in the flavoring packet. I have not eaten ramen in ages and ages now, and I still miss it. Lol. Good on your kids for not wanting to eat that junk!

I agree, most lunch meats are just terrible.... As are most turkeys. That "solution of 6% injected" is MSG. The non injected turkeys cost twice as much, and that is IF you can even find them in a regular grocery store.

The list goes on and on, as I am sure you have found out by now. Knowledge is power, and taking control of our own health (when possible) is such a great feeling!

Earth Clinic is such a wonderful site, people sharing their issues, and what has worked (or not worked) for them. I have learned so much here. A HUGE "Thank You" to the people running it as well!

Carly :-)

Replied by Carly (Seattle, Wa - Usa) on 02/10/2012

Hi Linda, It is just a website that I found helpful for me, it is not my website. :)

If you are unsure if the regular (unflavored) gelatin has MSG or not - I would write the manufacturer. A lot of food labels now list websites and email addresses you can write to as well as phone numbers - so you can usually get a pretty fast response from most companies.

Also, about arthritis in your knee - unsolicited advice follows! ;-)

I don't know what type of arthritis you have or how severe it is, but you might want to look into taking a boron supplement - it has been amazing for the arthritis that I had / have in my hands. When I take boron it goes away, when I ignore my boron for a while, it comes back. The caps of boron I buy are 3mg and cost less than 5 dollars for a 3 month supply. I take one or two a day. If you search "boron and arthritis" on the web there are some really interesting atricles on it.

Hylauronic Acid (HA) is supposed to be good also, but costs more.

Good luck to you! :-)

Carly

Replied by Mary (St. Petersburg, Florida, Usa) on 02/10/2012

OK. One more thing on the MSG issue. I just couldn't let this go by without saying something.

One article I read on MSG expained that MSG actually kills brain cells, in particular those located in the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus is the area of the brain that controls... you guessed it....appetite!

No wonder people are addicted. They have literally lost appetite control from this chemical.

Also, where is the hypothalamus located? That's right, exactly in the middle of your head. That is where my headaches were. Frightening.

Mary

Replied by Linda (New Haven, Ct, United States) on 02/11/2012

@ Carly... Thank you for the suggestion. I will contact them to see if their product contains any MSG at all. Really hope not as I've heard so many good things about gelatin use for arthritis. I have Osteoarthritis in my knee and seem to be doing a bit better with the gelatin. I'm also taking 1 1/2 teaspoons of tumeric twice daily and find that doing the stairs is a bit easier. I'll pick up the boron on my next payday. Thanks for the suggestion. I'm "only" 58 but have used a cane to get up stairs for the past 3 years or so, taking them one at a time until recently when I began actually going up them fairly normally.

My Dad had knee issues as well and had a total knee replacement done when he was 82 that went badly. The doctor had scheduled two patients for surgery that day with just a short time between them. Dad swears that a younger "trainee" doctor (it's a teaching hospital) finished up his surgery. Dad's inplant was later found to be placed too high up & to the right with the result being that it never allowed him to walk properly even after a year of therapy.

The doctor claimed he wasn't working hard enough! Dad would even tie bags of cement to his leg to use as a weight while trying to work the knee! Finally, another doctor discovered the real issue in a simple x-ray. It was never put in properly to start. Dad underwent a 2nd replacement by this new doctor but after being in an improper alignment for over an year there was only so much they could do.

The knee would give out while walking unexpectedly, eventually leading to his death. His knee gave out one day, he fell, fractured his back, was given Oxycodine, became immoble from the strength of the drug, developed pneumonia & died. Granted this was an extreme combination of events but his life insurance policy that ONLY paid out in the case of accidental death was fully convinced that he died as a result of the fall, which related back to the faulty knee replacement.

Sorry for the long post but even agter 12 years it's upsetting that this happened to my Dad. He was into health before it became common. He walked hours every days for his entire life and began each day with healthy eating & exercise. He would have loved this site and all of you who share their experiences to help each other.

God bless you all!

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