Eating is Hard

In August 2018 I blacked out. When I came to 30 seconds later I was dizzy and had one of the worst migraines of my life. I was unable to stand for more than a few minutes, I could barely walk because of the vertigo, I could not drive or complete basic tasks. Work was almost impossible because I had to look at a computer and try to use my brain. My husband was 3 weeks away from getting off crutches for a knee surgery he had earlier that summer so he could hardly take care of our life either. Everything seemed like it was falling apart.

I went to multiple doctors who brushed me off or told me I was depressed or had anxiety. They gave me pills to try and relieve symptoms but the pills either made me craz, did nothing or had terrible side effects that weren’t worth the risk. I was surviving instead of living.

I had always had headaches. They had become the norm for my daily life. Over the years the headaches turned into migraines. I had done allergy tests and MRIs. I went to naturalpaths and eastern medicine doctors. Nothing seemed to help my headaches/migraines.

So what does this have to do with eating?

When the blackout happened I was desperate to get rid of the migraine and vertigo. Since the medical doctors were no help I turned to the only person who might have a crazy suggestion that could help me actually live, my mother. She asked me if I ever thought about doing an elimination diet. I had no clue what that meant so I immediately started my research.

I am not a dietitian but I have some experience with basic nutrition. Elimination diets are done to help a person find a trigger for something happening in their body. For me it was migraines.

Elimination diets require a person to be incredibly strict and follow the protocol for as long as it takes. Many people would have a hard time eliminating most of the food they have enjoyed for their entire life to see if something was causing them pain. For me, I was hardly eating anyway and was desperate to find a solution to my pain.

After 8 weeks on the elimination diet, I found that gluten and corn triggered my migraines.

This was devastating news. I love bread, pizza, donuts, pretzels, pasta, and anything you can think of that has gluten in it. I also loved corn on the cob and popcorn.

My husband was incredibly disappointed because we could no longer go to restaurants and try whatever we wanted on the menu. It was life-changing and at the time I thought it was going to be the worst thing that had ever happened to me.