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Weight Control and Migraines

It is a lot harder than people think. At least for me it is. I've tried exercise and eating better as much as I possibly could, but it's so hard to do that. I do my best to do yoga as much as I can as a way to get rid of migraines, but when I try to do it to prevent one, without having a headache at all, the physical activity creates a migraine. How can exercise help, when it also brings on the one thing that frustrates me the most in my life and then I can't even exercise because of it? It just doesn't work very well. I know I can try to eat better, but i don't necessarily know what would be best and even what I could afford. I'm willing to change my whole diet if need be, because it might help my migraines and also help me lose a little weight and keep it under more control. I'm tired of feeling sick and looking sick. Whoever has suggestions for me, it would be greatly appreciated. Open to change in diets and even exercises if they wouldn't exert me too much. Thanks!

  1. DarkAngel,
    I can absolutely understand the frustration of trying to exercise and eat right only to feel like you're getting no results. I've written a few times about my struggle with exercise. It took me over a year to really learn to listen to my body to avoid causing a Migraine. I know that any intense cardio (running, zumba, etc) will likely incite fury in my head as the blood pumps loudly. I started off doing yoga and always comparing myself to others in the class. I should be able to do exactly what they do. But at first I would get so dizzy and I couldn't handle a 60 min class. So at home, I would do 15 or 20 min yoga videos to build up strength and now I can do a full class. There are a few great links in this article that you could start with: https://migraine.com/blog/year-yoga/

    On the diet side, have you ever heard of the elimination diet? Basically you start from scratch and introduce new foods slowly to see if you have a reaction to any of the foods. Here's an article about the elimination diet. You can also buy a book called "How to Heal Your Headache" but Dr. Steven Bucholz. It's a great resource and starting point for this diet.

    https://migraine.com/blog/whats-elimination-diet-manage-one/
    I hope this helps!
    -Katie
    Migraine.com Moderator

    1. Thank you very much! I appreciate the help and suggestions. I will look into each of these and hope for some good result out of it 😀 I'm happy that I'm not the only one who understands this problem. Thanks again!

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