Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Offended by Life

So I've been having these terrible migraines twice a month for a year (every 28 days like clockwork; thanks for nothing, hormones!).

In between a million doctor's appointments I decided - probably in a (properly prescribed) drugged haze - to try a 'migraine supplement'.  One of the ones with herbs and a bunch of random B vitamins in possibly toxic doses.  (Also some enormous dose of magnesium, and I have given up drinking all alcohol, most added sugar, all painkillers, and more than one cup a day of coffee, all of which is also terrible).  The evidence is shaky!  The magnitude of the effect is... not entirely convincing!  But also one migraine lasted for five days.

My friends, I regret to inform you that it might be working.  I do not believe in herbal supplements or shaky observational studies or taking vitamins in normal, healthy adults.  But the migraines are so horrible that I think I have to... keep taking this stupid supplement?   I am deeply offended.

7 comments:

  1. People's body chemistry is enormously complicated and individual. Unfortunately, you are a special snowflake and you just need to do what works for you. Someday, far in the future, they'll test people's DNA and know precisely what to give them to stop migraines.

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    1. I am the specialest snowflake for sure!

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  2. I would take pretty much anything so long as it made migraines go away. This is why I almost never drink caffeine-- I am in mortal fear that if I build up a caffeine tolerance than my standard remedy for making my migraines go away will be gone (drink half a cup of coffee with an aspirin and sleep for the rest of the day, which I can do even having had caffeine when I have a migraine even with my low caffeine tolerance).

    I'm also aware that I need vit D regularly now (my levels are low and if I don't take the supplement I can tell) and I am convinced that B12 helps me when I'm feeling anemic during my cycle (my GP is less than convinced since my annual bloodwork for vit B is normal, but I never see her during my period!). DH has been taking B-complex for memory issues and it seems to be helping.

    I am also worried that all those years I took prenatals while ttc and pregnant and nursing has built up my tolerance for regular vitamins and maybe now I actually need a multi-vitamin just to get through the day. Quitting cold turkey may not have been a good idea. Vitamins seem to help when I'm feeling fatigued. And, of course, I also have all those stupid insulin resistance problems that are intertwined.

    Which is all to say... I agree about special snowflakes and migraines suck the worst.

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    1. I promise that you don't have a vitamin tolerance, that's not how it works! but you might have a wonky metabolism that did not come factory standard. That seems very likely.

      I'm okay on the magnesium - plausible mechanisms! - but the Random Herb stuff makes me crazy. However, migraines DO suck the worst so whatever.

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  3. I hear you. My GP told me my Vitamin D was low and to take more than what was in a daily vitamin. So I added another 1000U. I went back in 6 months, she said it was still too low, add another 1000U. I did.

    During that same period I was having terrible pain in one knee and really awful plantar fasciitis (self-diagnosed, didn't a a podiatrist). I was still doing my exercise, but I'd hobble around when I first got up in the morning, or after sitting for a while. I was icing my knee every night.

    Then one day (after I started adding the third 1000U of Vitamin D) I noticed that I wasn't in pain, wasn't hobbling, and I was still doing the same amount of exercise. When I realized and starting thinking about what changed, the only think I could come up with was the Vitamin D.

    Of course I looked online to see if Vitamin D deficiency was linked to such aches and pains, only to find it is linked to ALL THE THINGS. All of them. Everything.

    Oddly, I switched to a different brand of Vitamin D and my pain came back. DIdn't finish the bottle, just went back to the old brand, and pain was gone again.

    So I have no idea if my noticeable absence of old lady aches and pains is due to the (one specific brand of) Vitamin D, but I'm stinking with it.

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    1. I know, right? It's all witchcraft. (Yes, I know, it's incomplete science....)

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    2. Wait-- Momma PhD, are you me? What brand of Vit D is working for you? What brand caused the foot pain?

      I need to know! So I can stop hobbling around!

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