Under Construction

Warning: life under construction

Have you ever noticed that pulling on loose threads often results in clothes with holes, or that when tidying out a cluttered cupboard, there is a significant period of time where the cupboard (room, house etc.) looks far worse than the original problem. Often this period coincides beautifully with the moment when the energy and motivation that sparked the endeavour begins to wane.
I am finding this cause and effect paradigm rings true now I am pulling on the 'loose threads' of my health and mind. Thinking about one topic for improvement has spiralled into thinking about everything.
I call it six degrees of life separation (patent pending... ha ha).
A case in point, all this talk of work has me thinking. Have I really removed myself from the (outside of the home) workplace as a result of migraine stress overload? If so, does this mean that if I can remove or manage them better I can go back? Do I want to? Have I really let migraines sabotage my career and finances to that extent?
Significant as this topic is, it is only ONE of the subjects to emerge from the depths of my mind, stirred into action by errant deep thoughts. Talk about opening Pandora's box.
Looking at the situation from a positive perspective, I am taking all this frenzied thinking as a sign that my subconscious mind is completely on board with the idea that change is coming.
I'll just have to get used to the idea that I might be living in a mental construction zone while work continues.

Mayday Mayday....

I have a son who is obsessed with lego.... he would spend every waking moment constructing lego machinery if he was allowed. Earlier in the week he spent an afternoon making a squadron of various flying machines, none of them standard but all pretty cool to his mothers eye.

Made for a demolition derby

Of course, as happens with lego in the hands of a little boy, pretty soon these marvellous flying machines had all crashed and burned, been rebuilt, modified and crashed and burned again.
It is a bit unfortunate when you have a day that is analogous to broken lego planes, but I have to say I managed to do my own bit of crashing and burning this week. Bits falling off all over the place!
What could trigger a bit of good old fashioned falling apart...... cue the migraine.
I know I have written a little about the mental side of being a part of the long term migraine afflicted population. The feelings of helplessness, hopelessness and guilt that have slithered into my mind over the years. Perhaps not surprisingly I have found writing about this side of the condition enlightening and empowering, which is why I was taken by surprise when all these feelings ambushed me after one measly migraine. One. Oh dear.
The details of what I was thinking are unimportant, what is important however is the bounce back. Bouncing back because I recognised the migraine mind in action. I heard the odd and nasty things my migraine affected mind was whispering in my ears, and while it was not immediate, I am quietly pleased that awareness helped me to turn that bus around. No more one way tickets to the dump I call negative valley.
Hey, awareness may just be King. Long live the King, and long live those friends and family who support you through these times and give awareness a helping hand. (You know you are:)

Small things.

I have always been a person who takes great pleasure out of the 'small things' in life.
You know, when all the songs on the radio happen to be favourites, the shirt I want to wear is mysteriously already ironed, my car seems to have decided to drive like a top gear dream and all the lights are green.
This morning, my small pleasure was breakfast. Out. In a cafe. Alone. So good!
The even better news was that I discovered 'Primal food' was made for breakfast. Eggs and Ham and a cuppa while reading a magazine.
Maybe this Primal thing won't be so hard after all?

Step 1: What can I eat?

Well, I have had another whole day with my nose buried in all things Primal, excluding perhaps a cave man's armpit.
 It is sooo interesting, who would have thought looking backwards through time would seem to hold so many of the answers to moving forward?
As they say, a little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing, and with just a day's worth of information I am fired up to change EVERYTHING!
As they also say, 'Whoa there Tiger, one thing at a time!'
Luckily I decided yesterday to make food my starting point for making the change, so here is a quick overview of what I have discovered about the diet.

1) Lots of things I love to eat... are off the menu! Sigh. A basic list of things to avoid/ exclude is shown below:

• Grains (including wheat, oats, corn, barley etc)
• Legumes
• Dairy
• Refined sugar (uh oh, I am addicted to this one)
• Processed foods
• Salt
• Refined vegetable oils

2) Some things I love to eat..... are still on the menu:

• Grass fed meat
• Fish
• Fruits and vegetables
• Eggs
• Nuts and seeds
• Some oils including coconut, macadamia, olive and avocado.

Hmmm, as you have read this is quite the overhaul from the usual western diet. Certainly from my usual diet. But I am determined to break through my long held belief ('I won't be able to stick to that!) and give it a red hot go.

I will let you know my first shopping list and menu on Thursday, until then I have a lot of naughty foods in my cupboard to eat my way through (waste not want not!):)

PS: Here are some links I used to get some of the dietary information over and above 'It starts with food'

The Paleo Diet: What to eat

How to eat according to the Primal Blueprint

Hunting the Cave Man

I am starting the working week by looking into the Paleo diet and lifestyle, in line with my desire to start at the 'bottom of the pyramid', or the basics if you like, in my search for a migraine free life.
I have decided to try 'Paleo' after reading some really compelling success stories from migraineurs who have experienced significant relief from taking on the approach.
If you are interested in reading some of these success stories, I suggest looking at Mark's Daily Apple. Authored by Mark Sisson, one of the 'founding fathers' of the Paleo or 'Primal' lifestyle. Mark's Daily Apple is the 'go to' Blog for people interested in all things Paleo and one of the main resources I am using to investigate going 'Primal'.
In my last post 'The Giza Approach', I noted that I am not a trained expert when it comes to reviewing or analysing medical or lifestyle choices. I do however consider myself the biggest stakeholder in my own life and as such I choose to be active in finding a better way of dealing with my health. (So there!)

Primal Beings loved nature and sunshine

So what is 'Primal Living', and where to start? There are a lot of holistic aspects to living Primal, but the beginning point for me is going to be what I eat. I am hoping this will be the most direct route to migraine and health improvements.
As a certified book worm, I find that knowledge and information delivered to my mind regularly is the fasted way to keep me motivated. With this is mind, I have gone back to school and am studying up on the Paleo diet, referring to Melissa Hartwig's Book 'It Starts with Food' and Mark Sisson's latest, 'The Primal Connection' to help inspire me further.
Tomorrow I will list for you what dietary changes I will need to make to go Paleo. I will also create a new page to track my changes and diarise how I am feeling during the process.
I hope that I will be documenting something positive in my life, but as the wise say, 'nothing changes if you change nothing'. Reckon, results aside, taking action is always worth doing.

The 'Giza' approach

What do Pyramids have to do with Migraines I hear you ask.... well probably not much if you are thinking of mystical Egyptian Princes with cat fetishes exerting influence over your head. I believe however, that there is a key link between achieving great improvements in your head health and the construction of a pyramid.
I have tried lots of tricky, technical and 'far out' things to try and get rid of migraines from my life. I have had my brain scanned, tried acupuncture (with some success), under tongue sprays, myriad preventative medications (with side affects from weight gain to night terrors), cranial sacral therapy, used chiropractors, physiotherapists and naturopaths.  Surprisingly enough after all this effort... I STILL get Migraines. Weird huh?

Looking back at this list, it is clear to me that I have been concentrating many of my efforts towards to top of the pyramid of migraine health. Perhaps it is time to start from the base.

Medical 
Intervention

Medecines

Mental Health

Physical Health

Basic: Sleep and Food

Now, to be clear, I am in no way a medical expert, and these are merely the ideas of a migraineur who has long thought about this issue.  This pyramid order approach is how I choose to crack on in the mean time, but I assume it will not suit everyone's situation. 

OK, all disclaimers aside, I am excited to have a reason to look hard at my diet and sleep. I am hoping improvements in diet will equal improvements in sleep as well.

From tomorrow I am going to have a look at the 'Paleo diet'. I don't know if the hype, expectations and reality will align, but I will take one for the team and give it a go!

Ooops, I did it again

I just had a rather disturbing/ telling realisation. Earlier in this blog's history, i.e as long as last week ago (I know ancient history), I decided to take up some new activities to help with my migraines and anxiety issues.
Sadly, my realisation is that I have done absolutely NOTHING about it. Not a thing. Nada.

How could this happen? How could I announce to the world (well potentially the world) I was going to take action and yet do nothing?
After some panicked and recriminating thoughts, I have moved onto trying to turn this rather disappointing outcome around.
Perhaps I didn't set my self up for success? After all, apart from writing about what I was going to do in this blog I did no other planning to integrate the changes into my day? (Is this what I normally do?)
So here is the new deal, step two if you like, in making the changes stick.
For each idea I have to try as a part of this blog I am going to diarise it on another page, so step by step we can see what is happening.
Promise.
Keep posted to see my brand new 'Action Pages'.