S G BLOG POST: TRIGGERS - GOING THE DISTANCE

                            


                          DO THE WHOLE THING

             ( Silent Migraine    -   Migraine   -   Meniere's -   Vestibular Migraine )

         It has been shown that people who get migraine, with a headache or with only the other neurological symptoms such as VERTIGO, have a "sensitive" brain.  They do not adapt to continuous bright light, excessive noise, strong odors, excessive motion, weather changes, hormonal fluctuations or painful stimuli.  In fact, the stimulus may continue to grow for them even after it is removed.
(Click Here for Resources - then "Migraine -  More Than A Headache" Teixido article)
  
     People on this migraine continuum are set to generate abnormal electrical activity.  It is believed that certain "triggers" push them over the cliff and create electrical disturbances that result in not only headache or vertigo, but also ear pain and fullness (so it may not be Meniere's - it may be Migraine), sinus pressure, bowel issues, foggy thinking, lethargy and even hearing loss (that's me).

     The biggest insult comes from the environmental triggers mentioned earlier.  But what are the additional triggers that make it difficult to adjust to these powerful environmental assaults?  How important are they?  I know from first hand experience that they are very important.  Diet, fatigue, dehydration and stress all exacerbate environmental and physical triggers.  Monitoring them must continue to remain part of the whole program even when you are in control of your situation.  You are trying to keep a raised threshold level for tolerance of  environmental triggers, the ones that are often out of your control.  Reducing the influence of these other controllable triggers (diet, etc.) helps you do that.  After a period of abstinence, you can return small amounts of food and chemical triggers to weigh their affect.  Some items will always bother you.  For others, you will find you can tolerate condiment size samples or maybe even larger portions , as long as they are rotated throughout the week or month. Everyone's system is different.  You never can have much caffeine or be under stress all the time.  You must learn to rotate small amounts of each trigger so that you do not have a cumulative effect, i.e, a little of this + a little of that + some more of this and all of a sudden - YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.  Triggers are cumulative and additive and the brain has trouble recovering.  We have to reduce the ones in our control in order to accommodate the others that are out of our control.  Sometimes, to be honest, there are just too many environmental assaults.

     So, migraine triggers are environmental, dietary and physiological occurrences that can provoke "migrainous" activity like headaches and vertigo.  In order to reduce all the symptoms, we have to pay attention to all of the triggers.  We have to eliminate as many as possible.  We cannot just rely on pills.

     When I go out on Saturday night , I wear tinted glasses, put ear plugs in my ears, bring my own food, do not dance or sing karaoke, order San Pellegrino (neat), only go with people I enjoy and arrive home by 11:00.  Just kidding.  It's best to keep triggers very low all week so you can enjoy the weekend.  But don't overdo on any one day.  And keep your head still.  Good luck.