Dear Marie,
It’s been three years since I last saw you and I am still migraine free. I suffered from migraines for over 50 years; since childhood. My Dad had them. My brother had them. I figured I was genetically predisposed to them.
Over the years they became so debilitating that I would take anything just to stop the pain. When Imitrex first came out on the market it was an absolute Godsend. The downside was I couldn’t function after taking the pill for about 2 hours because it knocked me out and I had to sleep but at least the pain was gone. It wasn’t until I joined the Migraine Foundation of Canada and they sent me a food journal to fill out that I noticed that milk may be a problem.
Sometimes I got migraines from milk and other times I didn’t. It was very difficult to see any pattern with any other foods other then milk and ice cream and to complicate things they were inconsistent. It was strange because milk or any kind of ice cream seemed to trigger them but not all the time nor on the same day that I consumed them. It could be a day or two later. I eventually figured out that it was the barometric pressure in combination with milk or ice cream that was the problem. If I had either of these foods on one day and the next day the barometric pressure changed then I would automatically get a migraine. As long as I had eaten those foods within a day or two of the air pressure changing up or down then guaranteed I’d get a migraine. Chocolate and cheeses never were a problem, only milk and ice cream. As time went on I stopped milk and ice cream and was relatively symptom-free but I sure did love milk and ice cream.
After seeing you cure my son of his chicken and turkey allergies I thought perhaps your treatment could work for me. Since that first and only appointment 3 years ago that you treated me for milk and ice cream allergies I have been eating them ever since and regardless of the weather I never get a migraine. I can’t imagine all the people out there who think they don’t have food allergies because of either the time lag issue or that it’s the combination of specific foods and the change in barometric pressure.
When I think of going through a bottle of 222’s with codeine (250 tablets) per month, year after year to eventually switch to Imitrex at $20.00 a pill, it’s incredible. I hope my story helps others in their quest for migraine relief.
Forever grateful,
James Luckett
Physics Coordinator
University of Toronto