What can help a person who suffers from chronic headaches, whose pain lasts up to 72 hours, regularly 6-8 times a month and torments him for 12 years? Painkillers can be temporarily helpful, but they come with side effects and may lose their effectiveness over time.
The same goes for drugs that treat symptoms such as antiemetics, drugs that balance the chemical environment in the brain. Many people have even tried complicated methods such as electrical stimulation of the brain, psycho-behavioral treatment, but they are not effective.
That’s why chronic migraines are listed as incurable, according to the US medical website WebMD. But it looks like we’ve got an exception.
For a 60-year-old man in the US, the solution to a headache is too simple. He just changed his diet with a simple 3-step recipe, and the chronic headache of 12 years suddenly disappeared.
Headaches with no cure are affecting more than 1 billion people worldwide
This patient’s case was reported by doctors at the Center for Health Sciences, Stony Brook University in the journal BMJ Case Reports. Accordingly, the man went to the hospital to complain that his migraine was getting worse.
Migraine is a unilateral headache, usually lasting from 4-72 hours and accompanied by symptoms of fear of sound, light and vision of aura. If the attacks occur with a frequency greater than 15 days/month, it is defined as a chronic migraine.
For the man in America, he had to endure this condition for 12 and a half years. During this period, the patient has about 4-6 headaches per month, each pain lasts up to 72 hours corresponding to a total of 12-18 days/month. But in the 6 months before going to the hospital, the number had increased to 6–8 attacks per month (corresponding to 18–24 days).
The patient describes pain that begins with a feeling of tension in the shoulder and back of the neck. It usually appeared 15–30 minutes before severe pain officially hit the forehead and left temple of his head. The nature of the pain is sharp, and it usually lasts several days.
The man reported accompanying symptoms such as photosensitivity, fear, nausea, and vomiting. On a pain scale of 0–10, his headaches range from 10–12. The patient said there was nothing he could do, and the pain medication didn’t work, causing him to lie on the bed in the fetal position.
Headache also means unable to work. The man was a photographer and he said he had to quit because of it. According to statistics, migraine is the third most common disease in the world, currently affecting at least 1 billion people.
The disease reduces the productivity and quality of life of those affected. In the US, someone goes to the emergency room every 10 seconds complaining of a headache. In total, there are more than 1.2 million headache visits each year.
The estimated medical costs for this disease are up to $5.4 billion per year, and the economic loss due to loss of labor is up to $36 billion.
A sensible diet can help, even cure a headache
Although medication plays a central role in the prevention and treatment of migraines, there is increasing evidence that dietary interventions also work.
Reducing the consumption of certain irritating foods such as chocolate, cheese, alcohol, coffee and citrus can help patients reduce their symptoms. Low-fat, Keto, and Low Glycemic diets may also reduce the frequency of migraine attacks or prevent them altogether.
In this case, the doctors prescribed the patient a diet called LIFE, which stands for “Low Inflammatory Foods Everyday” which means “reduce inflammatory foods every day”. Basically, this is a vegetarian diet that focuses on dark green vegetables that are high in Beta-carotene. But to be more specific, doctors give patients 3 instructions:
1. Eat at least 5 ounces (142 grams) of dark green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale and watercress every day.
2. Drink a 32-ounce green smoothie (equivalent to 946 ml) per day.
3. Limit your intake of whole grains, starchy vegetables, oils and animal proteins, especially dairy and red meat.
Results after 2 months of eating the LIFE diet, patients reported a significant reduction in the frequency of migraine attacks, from about 18-24 days of pain to 1 day of pain/month. The man also reported a gradual decrease in pain levels, then completely disappearing after 3 months of sticking to the new diet.
By the time the study was reported, the patient had been completely cured for 7 years. He no longer takes any headache medication. “Now, I’m no longer a prisoner in my own body“, he said.I was able to get my life back“.
Explaining this man’s miraculous recovery, the doctors said it came from the LIFE diet that provided a lot of green vegetables rich in beta-carotene. Beta-carotene is a potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant, two factors central to the physiology of migraine.
In addition, beta-carotene also helps prevent and fight many diseases, from cardiovascular disease, senile dementia to cancer. The man in the study said that after eating the LIFE diet, his allergies also disappeared.
Doctors tested the patient’s blood before he entered the diet and found his blood beta-carotene level at 53 µg/dL. But after 1 month of applying LIFE, the number has increased to 92 µg/dL. After 5 months, beta-carotene levels peaked at 175 µg/dL and remained at 150 µg/dL for 7 and a half years.
Green leafy vegetables contain a lot of beta-carotene.
The doctors said that in addition to the man who was followed for seven years and detailed in the study, they also prescribed nutrition to several other migraine patients and found their symptoms improved. improved after 3 months of changing the diet.
According to the American Migraine Association, lifestyle and diet are major factors that influence the frequency and intensity of migraine attacks. So people with severe headaches can try a new diet to see if it helps.
However, you need to be careful when following strict diets as they can lead to nutrient deficiencies. Consult a dietitian or doctor before starting your new diet.
Consult Businessinsider, Webmd, Migraineresearchfoundation
.