|
Dr. McDougall's Comments
Beth’s headaches
ruled her life. We can only guess how different her childhood
and early adult years would have been if she had, instead, lived
pain-free. After searching and experimenting she has found a way
to cure her migraines and improve her overall health—and it is a
cost-free and side-effect-free method.
About 28 million
Americans suffer from disabling headaches. When the pain is very
severe, they are often called migraines—whether or not they
truly are. Classically this kind of headache is preceded by
characteristic symptoms called an aura. The aura is commonly
visual disturbances, described as zig-zag lines and impairment
of vision, but numbness and tingling of the face and arms, and
speech disturbances also occur. These symptoms develop over a
few minutes, usually last for less than 1 hour, and disappear
before the headache begins. The headache pain is intense and
throbbing and usually restricted to one side of the head—and
lasting from minutes to days. The brain tissue has no pain
fibers, but the blood vessels to the brain do have these sensory
nerves. The migraine aura is believed to be caused by
constriction of the blood vessels in the brain (cerebral
vasoconstriction) and the headache by the dilation of the blood
vessels that follows (reactive vasodilatation).
Worldwide,
migraine headaches are reported more commonly in countries where
people consume the Western diet.1 Obesity is also
associated with the frequency and severity of migraines.2
These observations have led to the idea that rich foods play an
important role in migraine headaches. As with many Western
diseases (type-2 diabetes, heart disease, etc.), the large
amount of fat people consume is suspect, and for good reason.
Saturated fat (animal fat) causes blood-clotting elements called
platelets to aggregate, and causes the activation of tiny
hormones called prostaglandins. These fat-induced changes
constrict and dilate the blood vessels.
A low-fat diet
treatment used at Loma Linda University has been found to be
highly effective for migraine sufferers. In their published
study, 54 patients were taught a diet containing 20 grams of
fat.3 There was no calorie restriction and the diet
was primarily made of fruits, vegetables, grains, and legumes,
in other words, a low-fat, vegan, diet. Their daily fat intake
actually decreased among participants from an average of 66
grams to 28 grams daily. The results reported after 4 weeks on
the diet were statistically significant decreases in headache
frequency, intensity, duration, and medication use.
In addition to
changes in fat content, there are other reasons a plant-based
diet, like the McDougall diet, may help people with migraine
headaches. Since 1913, allergic reactions have been found to
cause migraine headaches in children and adults. Treatments with
simple diets that avoid foods known to commonly cause allergies,
such as dairy, wheat, and corn, have been highly effective at
providing relief.4-6 (If the basic McDougall diet
without wheat and corn fails to give relief then a highly
effective elimination diet, found in my December 2002
newsletter, should be tried before food is discounted.)
Most people
suffer from pain in the head area, but rarely do they make a
connection between their headache and their food—other than the
well-recognized sufferings that result from too much alcohol and
caffeine withdrawal. Since diet has such a profound effect on
every part of the body, food should be carefully looked at early
on when the cause of headaches is being investigated. The
benefits of a change in diet are not limited to migraine
patients. I usually see complete relief of headaches of most
kinds—even those with no name or identified cause—within days
after a change in diet. So as Beth says, “just
try the McDougall diet for 12 days.”
1) Morillo LE.
Migraine headache. Am Fam Physician. 2002 May 1;65(9):1871-3.
2) Bigal ME,
Liberman JN, Lipton RB. Obesity and migraine: a population
study. Neurology. 2006 Feb 28;66(4):545-50.
3)
Bic
Z, Blix GG, Hopp HP, Leslie FM, Schell MJ.
The influence of a low-fat diet on incidence and
severity of migraine headaches. J Womens Health Gend Based Med.
1999 Jun;8(5):623-30.
4) Egger J,
Carter CH, Soothill JF, Wilson J. Effect of diet treatment on
enuresis in children with migraine or hyperkinetic behavior.
Clin Pediatr (Phila). 1992 May;31(5):302-7.
5) Egger J, Carter CM, Wilson J,
Turner MW, Soothill JF.
Is migraine food allergy? A double-blind controlled trial of
oligoantigenic diet treatment. Lancet. 1983 Oct
15;2(8355):865-9.
6) Monro J, Carini C, Brostoff J.
Migraine is a food-allergic disease. Lancet. 1984 Sep
29;2(8405):719-21.
We encourage you to pass
this Star McDougaller along to friends. |
|
 I
started having migraine headaches when I was four years old. My
mom called them “hungry headaches,” and every time I got one she
fed me. I quickly learned to associate food with easing my pain.
The problem, though, was that eating never made my headaches go
away. I would continue to cry in pain, which only made things
worse.
While growing up in Michigan, my dad
struggled throughout most of my childhood to find work to
provide for our family of seven. My mom was always a loving
person, and giving and serving is how she showed her love to us
kids. Since we didn’t have money for the things other kids had,
my mom gave to us by baking and cooking. She was really good at
it, and I was really good at eating whatever she made. If we
said we didn’t like something or if we said we were full, you
could see the pain on her face. So I ate everything.
I can remember my mom’s can of fat on
the back of the stove. She would save the drippings from the
meats she cooked for the evening meal (hamburgers, bacon, pork
chops) and would use it the next day to fry the eggs for
breakfast. Thursdays were baking day, and all that fat on the
stove would go into mom’s cookies, cakes, breads and pies.
Although my mom did what she could to
serve her family, she spent much of my childhood in bed. It
seems like her head hurt all the time. I can remember she would
often ask me to bring her a handful of aspirin—literally a
handful. While the other kids in the neighborhood were running
and playing outdoors, I, like my mom, was often lying in a dark
room with an icepack on my head. Each of my migraines ended with
violent vomiting and then several hours of exhausted sleep.
When I was twelve years old I
contracted meningitis, the symptoms of which were very similar
to what I experienced during my headaches. My parents didn’t
realize I was sick because they were so used to me being in pain
from the headaches. By the time my dad decided to take me to the
emergency room, I almost died. I spent a week in the hospital
suffering from severe pain, dehydration and hallucinations.
Alone with the pain
In school, even though I was
academically advanced, my teachers often accused me of using
headaches to get out of doing my work and to avoid participation
in gym class. The truth is, I loved to run and play, it was just
so hard to do with an almost constant headache. My siblings
accused me in the same way, saying it was convenient for me to
have a headache whenever it was time for chores (although, I
have to admit, I liked getting out of chores).
By 10th grade my headaches were a
daily event. I was taking prescription narcotics and had to have
my teachers' permission to be in their classes. It didn’t matter
that I pulled straight A’s, the school secretary would still
roll her eyes every time I asked to go home because of a
headache. In college my migraines grew even worse. While the
campus doctor told me that “some people are just prone to
headaches”—a very discouraging comment—some of my professors
were worried that there might be something else wrong besides
“just migraines,” as if that’s not enough.
My heart was broken, and I lost hope
of ever being normal. From this point I started a long trip down
the road of depression. I didn’t want to get out of bed for
class. I didn’t want to participate in campus activities. I
didn’t even want to live. And by now, it wasn’t just the
migraine pain that was out of control, so was my eating.
After college, when I started my
career as a Worship Pastor, I decided it was time to take
control of my migraine pain. After dozens of doctor visits,
tests and drugs, I still had migraines at least three times a
week. I also developed gastro-intestinal issues, such as
constipation, diarrhea and acid reflux,
which were thought to be the result of all the medications over
so many years. My doctor also suggested I was allergic to
tomatoes, wheat and garlic, so I cut these things out of my
diet, plus sugar and caffeine. But I still continued to have
migraines.
On two separate occasions I was in a
serious dating relationship that was headed toward marriage.
Both men, however, felt that they couldn’t commit to someone who
may or may not ever be free of the migraine pain. By this time
my depression was affecting my work and it was suggested that I
seek counseling, which I did. My migraines improved somewhat but
I still had one or two a week. If you've ever had a migraine
headache you know that even one is too many.
I eventually got a job as a counselor
in that same office. But I hated that clients were counting on
me to help them with their problems; meanwhile I would often
have to cancel appointments because my head hurt so much. At
this point, it was clear that migraines controlled my life, not
me. I spent a lot of money going in for shots to help relieve
the pain when I just couldn’t bear it any longer. But generally
I resigned myself to the pain and decided not to fight it so
hard anymore.
Finally, relief
In addition to living with migraines,
I also wanted to lose some weight. One day while talking to a
friend about how I wanted to eat healthier in order to shed some
pounds, she recommended The McDougall Program and gave me The
McDougall Quick and Easy Cookbook. After reading the
book and some other information from the McDougall website, I
decided it was not going to work because everyone else out there
(the media, other health authorities and authors, etc.) was
saying that carbohydrates are bad. I figured I would just get
fatter.
But I started following the program
anyway because my friend had been so nice to give me the book. I
kept telling myself, “It’s only 12 days—if it doesn't work I can
stop.” The funny thing is, my migraines disappeared! I also
began to lose weight, especially after reading The McDougall
Program for Maximum Weight Loss.
Within a week, because my blood
pressure was so low (in other words it was now normal), I had to
stop taking the beta blocker my doctor had prescribed as a
migraine preventative. My migraines became fewer and farther
between. They appeared once a week, once a month, once in a
while, and then they completely disappeared. The last time I had
a migraine headache was October 2006 when I was 31 years old. GI
problems became a thing of the past, and I was able to eat
tomatoes and wheat (although garlic still disagrees with me).
On and off the wagon
In November 2007 my mom died
unexpectedly from Coronary Artery Atherosclerosis. At this time
I had gotten away from eating McDougall style for various
reasons and was starting to see a return of the headaches,
although they were not yet migraines. My mom was only 64.
Sitting at her funeral I realized that if I continued in my
mom’s footsteps, at 32 years old I have already lived half of my
life. That was a sobering thought.
So I explored other diet programs
that allowed for the consumption of meat and dairy (I missed
them) and, once again, daily headaches became routine. But I
kept going because, after all, they weren’t migraines. In May
2008 I had my first migraine headache in almost two years. It
scared me enough to bring me back to eating McDougall style.
Within two weeks I was once again free of migraines. So what if
I miss meat and dairy; it’s better than returning to a life of
migraine pain.
I now take no cholesterol meds, no
blood pressure meds and, most importantly, no headache meds! Now
I can hike, bike, walk, travel, work, read and go to the movies.
All of the things that used to trigger migraines are the things
I now enjoy the most.
My advice to others who are looking
for change is to just try the McDougall diet for 12 days; even
if you have to tell yourself the same thing I did: “It’s only 12
days—if it doesn’t work I can stop.” But once the 12 days are up
you will probably not want to stop.
Don’t worry if you fall off the
wagon, you’ll eventually get sick of feeling sick and won’t care
about missing the taste of meat and dairy foods. You will
discover a host of new fruits, vegetables, grains and spices
while still being able to enjoy healthier and delicious versions
of your old favorite dishes, such as spaghetti and baked
potatoes.
Before,
on the standard American diet, I never felt full until I was so
stuffed I felt sick. But on the McDougall diet I finally know
what satisfied feels like, and it feels good!
Beth
Burns
Saranac, Michigan
June 2008
 2008
John McDougall All Rights Reserveded
McDougall Wellness
Center P.O. Box 14039, Santa Rosa, CA 95402
http://www.drmcdougall.com
|
