Metabolic Roots of my Migraine and How I Managed to Address Them

This is a second chapter in my personal story as to how I managed to defeat migraine that was ruining my life. In a previous chapter of my story I was switching from anti-migraine drugs to Aspirin and consequently to GINGER. That story can be found here: https://migraine.com/forums/how-i-freed-myself-of-migraine-yes-it-is-possible .

My new chapter started 9 months ago when I finally managed to convince my wife to join me in an experiment with the KETO diet. I was at the time suffering from elevated blood pressure and all my dietary measures to lower It were rendered useless and I was on the verge of going to the MD where I would most likely be prescribed with the pressure lowering drugs.

Three days after we switched to the KETO diet, my blood pressure went to normal and I was ecstatic about the speed of the change as well as about the overall effectiveness of the diet. Since my ginger intake was somewhat compliant with the KETO diet with the exception of the honey I was dipping ginger into (honey quantity was rather low) I was not paying much of the attention to it. I was busy observing other changes my body was going through and was battling sugar (and carbs) withdrawal symptoms. After a weeklong of experiencing so called “KETO flu”, I emerged victorious. One month after, most of my symptoms: HBP, skin issue, IBS, RA, etc. were gone and I was at the time wondering whether my migraines were gone as well… So I decided to stop ginger intake for a while to verify that possibility and I my feeling proved to be correct – migraines did NOT come back! Being aware of ginger health benefits in many other ways I am still taking it not as a remedy for my migraines but rather as a general beneficial contributor to my regular KETO diet. And if I forget to take it, I do not fear of migraine attacks anymore.

KETO diet is my new lifestyle and I admit… it is not easy to live in a world overwhelmed with the foods rich in sugars and carbs but for me, there is no going back. I was always slim and did not need such diet as a weight loss treatment but it proved in my case to be effective in many other ways. I eat lots of cruciferous veggies, eggs, meats, bacon, dairy, etc., use extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil only (trashed all other vegetable oils) in salads and use lard for cooking purposes, eat lots of sauerkraut I make myself at home. One detail though… KETO diet alone was not sufficient in addressing my IBS (carnivore diet perhaps but I was not ready to go that far)… so in addition I treated it with essential oils of wild oregano and peppermint. After meal I would drop a little bit of olive oil into tablespoon and then add 2-3 drops of each essential oil, steer the mix with the toothpick and swallow it. After 7 days of that treatment my IBS was gone. Now I use this treatment once every two weeks for a day as a precautionary measure. During transition period (first week of KETO diet) I was supplementing myself with the Magnesium and Potassium – supplements help with the withdrawal symptoms.

I have had my bloodwork done recently and all parameters are normal. My energy is normal, head is clear, no more fatigue after meals… overall feel great. Original use of ginger to prevent migraine attacks was, in my understanding, patchwork while underlying root cause was on a metabolic level and that was now addressed and rectified via KETO diet – apparently, KETO diet switches body to use fats as a source of fuel instead of sugars (carbs metabolize into sugars). Once that was resolved all my resulting ailments, including migraine, fell apart.