Anyone Have Any Info on DHE IV Therapy for Migraine?

Dear D.,

How about nutrition? I didn't see where you'd mentioned having checked into your daily diet, or seen a nutritionist. I know many women, myself included, who have suffered with migraines or at least thought they were having severe migraines by the symptoms experienced. yet after changing their food intake for a more natural, less sugar, nothing artificial, and DEFINITELY NO MSG, these women found that their migraines ceased to exist!

I'm no doctor, nor any miracle worker. However, from my own experience I can tell you when I eat anything containing MSG within 15 minutes or less after eating my blood vessels in my head begin to swell. The pain is excruciating, I feel nauseous, light sensitive, and my head feels as though it will explode. Nothing takes away this pain! I will immediately lay down with my head covered from the light. Sometimes I seem to be uncontrollably sleepy but with severe pain. I have fallen asleep but the pain persists until (at times) I've run to the bathroom to vomit! Vomitting or riding it out are the only ways to stop the pain. If the vomitting or diarrhea happen to occur, then I will feel like new again once I've done either. If neither occur, then I am stuck with that awful pain and my head pounding until the MSG is finally released from my system, which could mean the next day or a couple days later depending on what and how much I ate.

Look into your eating habits, what you use when cooking, and even what is being used as flavor enhancers when you dine out. It could save your life! There is a liquid here where I live called Maggi's and it is a flavor enhancer and color enhancer just like the old Kitchen Bouquet my mother used to buy. This Maggi's stuff is loaded with MSG! Oh yeah it makes the foods taste so delicious, but I'm near to death after eating them. The kNORR cubes for making broth also contain lots of MSG. If I feel the need to use those cubes I will use less than 1/4 of the required amount on the package. In other words, it says 2 cubes to one quart of water; I use approx. half or less of one cube for no less than 1 qrt of water and often times I use more water. Most often I have made and frozen my own homemade broths, which protects me from becoming desperate enough to open a Knorr cube! In fact, I haven't bought any cubes since learning how dangerous they are for me!

Take a look into what you eat and what's in it. Then Google the letters MSG and read what is written about the dangers of both MSG and of artificial sweeteners.

Good Luck and God Bless you. I hope you are pain free IMMEDIATELY!

hugs,

d.maria

Although I do not have first hand experience with this treatment, I do have a friend who had become completely nonfunctional because of her migraines and consented to DHE IV. She swears by it. It worked for her, and she has been pain free for about 2 years. I hope this was helpful.

Best of Luck!

A.

I've never heard of DHE IV therapy, so I have no insight on that. I've been taking Fioricet for my migraines for the past year; my OB prescribed it and it's been fine through breast feeding and my current pregnancy. We found this after trying about four other medicines. Generally it helps me function, though with a full-on migraine, it may not take away all of the symptoms. Stress is my main trigger, though hormones (especially first trimester hormones) are also a huge one.

I have a friend who suffered from severe migraines for a long time. She would get them after eating chocolate or drinking coffee. Then they got to where she was getting migraines more days than not, and they tried medications, alternative therapies, and so on. Then she saw a doctor who suggested her headaches were related to a jaw injury that had not healed properly, where her muscles were straining to work properly around the flawed heal. She didn't know the injury hadn't healed properly - she didn't even realize she'd hurt herself that bad to begin with (the injury occurred almost a decade ago). So, you may want to look into whether your face and neck muscles are not overtight. An osteopathic doctor (D.O.) can look into that for you, and perhaps try some manipulative treatments to loosen things up. Chiropracty is an offshoot of osteopathic medicine, but does not require a medical degree. A D.O. takes all the classes an M.D. does, but also osteopathic manipulative medicine (OMM), a hands-on technique which has helped my husband's knee and shoulder be free of chronic pain. My husband is also studying to be a D.O. and has practiced some techniques on me that have loosened bunched muscles in my back and shoulders, so it's worth looking into.

I agree that trying the nutritional angle might help. Trying to eliminate various groups from your diet might help. Wine is a huge trigger in some people. Wheat products could be triggering the headaches. So could milk products, sugar, chocolate and msg. You might also try counseling to help deal with the stressors. Good luck and I hope your headaches improve quickly.

I suffered from migraines from the time I was about 10 - late 30s. It's strange, but my doctor suggested I stop my birth control pills. I decided we were finished with our having children so I stopped my birth control pills and had my tubes tied. Honestly, no more migranes and very few headaches. He had seen this before since mine were increasing in frequency. Don't know if you are on the pill or not, but thought I would mention it.