Kim was doing a lot of things right – she ate low carb, she was physically active, she avoided processed foods. Yet, she wasn’t seeing the results she expected.
In this interview, she shares how she finally made the breakthrough that put her on the path to migraine freedom.
FULL EPISODE WITH TRANSCRIPT
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Dr. T:
Welcome to the migraine miracle moment. I’m your host, Dr. Josh Turknett. I’m a neurologist, migraine specialist, migraine sufferer and author of the book The Migraine Miracle. In this podcast, you’ll learn all about how to find your path to migraines freedom without pills. Let’s get started.
Dr. T:
Howdy, folks. So welcome to another episode of The Miracle Moment. Today we have another amazing, wonderful success story for you from migrant Overland member Kim Yee, who shares tons of great wisdom in this podcast, doesn’t she, Jenn?
Jenn:
She sure does. And particularly addressing the topic of rebound headache and getting off the medications is something that we get a lot of questions about. We’ve talked about how critical it is, a part of the plan, how it’s one of the three pillars of migraine freedom. But we know there are lots of people who struggle with that particular part. And it’s oftentimes the big breakthrough that many people make. And that’s certainly the case for Kim.
Dr. T:
And she’s certainly a wealth of great wisdom on how to think about going through that process and how she got through it at an incredibly challenging time to do so. So if that if you have struggled any way with the medication piece, this is definitely a conversation not to be missed. All in all, this interview is chock full of wisdom, which is so often true with our conversations with our Migrai-Neverland members. You’ve probably heard me say before that I think that our members are one of the greatest resources of being part of Migrai-Neverland. So if you want to follow in Kim’s footsteps and take advantage of all the resources inside of Migrai-Neverland, you can learn more by going to my my gray miracle dot com and clicking on the resources tab at the top menu, which will take you through all of our nine primary resources, including Migrai-Neverland. So without further delay, here is our interview with Kim.
Dr. T:
So I am delighted to have on the podcast today Kim Yee. Hi, Kim. Good morning. So Kim is one of our beloved Migrai-Neverland members who not long ago shared a pretty significant victory with us on our forum that we were all very excited about and has been generous enough to share her story with us on the podcast today. So, Kim, maybe can you start by just telling us a little bit about yourself and who you are?
Kim:
Yeah. So I’m a lawyer and a mom and I have a very busy, active life. I’ve had migraines since I was I had headaches starting when I was a child. And looking back, I think sugar was probably a big trigger. I would often get them after I would eat things like apples. At one point, we thought I actually had an allergy to apples in my teens. I started to get menstrual migraines and I wasn’t diagnosed with migraines until I was in my very early 20s. I didn’t get an aura or anything with them. And so it took a while for my doctor to suggest my green medication. And once I took it, it worked instantly. I was given a sample of his romig. And when Tollman next Migrante, I got I took it in it. Within half an hour, I was back on my feet again.
Kim:
Right. Magic, which, of course. Yes. Seemed like magic at that time. And then through I was really just getting them around my cycle to begin with.
Kim:
And then after I started taking this, I started getting them more frequently. But I attributed that to my was in law school at the time and thought it was just, you know, additional stress. And I started to become more sensitive to things like chocolate and wine and caffeine, and I never had been before. And so slowly, those things, I started having to eliminate those things from my diet. And then it became I started to get migraines when the weather would change. And migraines when I had a cold and or, you know, sinus congestion, all sorts of different things started to trigger them. And I’ve tried a variety of different medications over the years from, you know, blood pressure medication to Topamax seizure medication. The only thing that really worked for me was nor Tripp Darling for a period of time. But it was very brief. It was just in the beginning of taking that medication. Right. As you know, with a lot of these medications, physicians will tell patients to keep increasing. And so I would do that for a period of time and then wouldn’t drive any benefits. We tried something else. I had Botox over the years, like a sort of variety of other medications, you know, including things to treat the migraines like acute attacks. So anti-inflammatories and things really, you know, were sort of up and down through my 20s and 30s.
Kim:
And then when I got pregnant with my first son, they improved quite a bit. But during that pregnancy, my doctor had prescribed Imtech to take instead of taking his own. It was typically the medication I would take right when I had a migraine and would work fairly well. Although I do know now over the years the amount of that medication certainly increased over time. And so during that pregnancy, I took em tack and I only had a couple of migraines throughout the whole pregnancy, which was great. But as soon as my son was born and they returned and were even worse, I would say for a period of time, probably due to, you know, hormonal changes and that sort of thing. Then when I was pregnant with my second son, I had many more headaches during that pregnancy. Men had to use the tech more regularly. And after he was born, it really is when the real sort of came off in terms of my migraines being, I would say, out of control. And I think, you know, it was partly the use of Imitrex. As you know, it’s a combination of Tylenol and codeine. Right. And I think it was probably, you know, just lack of sleep, stress hormones, the use of attack. And it just like I said, they were really quite out of control.
Kim:
He’s three and a half now. So the last few years, I’ve really tried a number of things to get them back under control. And at times they were better than others. When I discovered your program, I had actually been doing a whole 30 and was doing some reading about migraines and nutrition. I had been eating paleo for a while before that, or mostly paleo. I would still be on time, eat bread and things like that, but mostly eating a paleo diet. And then I did a whole 30, which led me to Google Paleo and migraines. And your book came up and I gave it a read and it just made a whole lot of sense. Me, I was already eating quite healthy, and so in terms of change of the diet part was probably the easiest for me. Right. And then the lifestyle changes. You know, I read a lot of books on optimal performance and things like that. The principles in your book were so consistent with things that I already really believed in and changes that I already had made I wanted to make. So it all made a lot of sense. But it was it was great because it was talking about all of these things with a specific focus on migraines. And so as you know, you know, not all Keto is ideal for my Grainer Keto meals, but people would absolutely consider to be Keto.
Kim:
Not all of that is good for a person who suffers from migraines. So it was really nice to have to be able to look at your program. And then I became a member of your website and I think fairly quickly because it was just, you know, the cost in terms of what the way I looked at it was like, you know, the cost of one Botox treatment essentially here. You know, that was the membership for the year for your Web site. So for me, it was just a very small investment with potentially large upside. And so I signed up immediately and did a lot of reading and, you know, implemented most of your plan except for addressing the rebound part. I just couldn’t imagine not taking. Megan being able to function. As I mentioned, I’m a lawyer and I have a full time practice. And I have two young kids, three and five. And just the pace of my every day. I just really couldn’t imagine not being able to take Romig for migraines. Sure. And so I went I did most everything in your program and even went Kito for the first time last summer, which I was actually amazed when I went to Kito and I felt the changes. Amazing. Your body can do this and shift gears that way.
Dr. T:
Yeah, it is cool.
Kim:
Yeah. And I know the day that I sort of slipped into ketosis and I I had done the test strips just to kind of confirm and you know, I definitely felt, you know, a difference physically. And my headaches did improve. You know, I was still getting migraines, but a lot of the little sort of headaches I was getting got much better. And I just felt better eating Kito. So I remained on keto for for several months and then sort of gave it a break around Christmas. And this January I started doing some interval training and was found not to be such a huge trigger for migraines.
Kim:
And which was odd to me because I’ve always been quite active and never before have I had issues with getting back to being active. As soon as I would work out later in the day when that sort of muscle inflammation would set in, I would get horrible migraines. And by March, this, I thought, oh, I’m going to exercise my way through this and I’ll get back to it, because exercise has been one of the things.
It’s been very good for my migraines over the years.
Kim:
The times when I’ve had most control over them have been when I’ve been most active. So I thought, you know, I’m just going to push through this and it just got worse. And by March, the beginning of March, I just really felt like I was visiting the pharmacy more than I ought to be in terms of getting a refill for the Zomig. I found that the medications weren’t working as well. You know, it went from needing to take a Zomig to as I’ll make with a Tylenol to, you know, with the Tylenol and an anti-inflammatory. Sometimes caffeine as well would be something that would help in a real pinch. So those were sort of the things I was using most often. I stopped using the Imitrex quite a long time ago because of its propensity for a rebound headache. And reading your book really solidified that for me, the importance of not taking those medications at all. And so, yeah. But even the zone stopped working. Some of the time. And so I just really felt like the only path to wellness was to start taking this medication. So at that point in mid-March is when I stopped taking Zomig altogether. And so I’m coming up on 90 days. I had to take one tablet in the whole 90 days. Just I had a work commitment that I couldn’t I couldn’t work around. So it was sort of an emergency situation. But the changes have been incredible. I’m still really struggling with menstrual migraines around the time of my cycle. Those are essentially the only migraines I’m getting now prior to addressing rebound headaches.
Kim:
I was getting very frequent. It was almost daily headaches. I would wake up with them if it wasn’t in my brain. It was certainly a headache. And after, you know, going off, trip to. Completely. Those headaches have gone away completely. And the good days. You know, the days where I’m migraines free are you know, many of them are sort of 10 out of 10 in terms of being pain free. Right. So it’s really I’ve noticed such a big difference. The first I would say week was rough. I had quite a few sort of rebound headaches the first week and then I think I had some in the second week, but it really tapered off. And then I’ve sort of settled into this. I don’t want to say routine, but, you know, cycle of where I’ll be fine for two weeks or so. And then around the time of observation, I’ll have a migraine and then again around the time when I’m supposed to have my period. So it’s really those are the pesci’s sort of stubborn migraines and I’m still working on. Yeah, but the days in between have been great. I just feel so much more clear and being I don’t even think I realized how much of a drag it was on my systems, so to speak. Right. To have this constant pain and be trying to work around it. And before I stopped taking the trip down. The migrants were much more severe. Like now I can definitely say that they’ve improved in terms of the length of time that I have them for. And the severity. So things have improved significantly.
Dr. T:
That’s a really great story that there’s so many things that I get to go back to there. I want to go back to when you kind of reached a point or you made the decision to really tackle the rebound issue of the medication issue, because you’re in a scenario that I know a lot of people get into. You know, you’re a full time job, a lot of responsibilities taking care of kids. You don’t see how you’re going to like the idea of not taking anything like you said. Seems, you know, I can’t figure out how that’s going to work. So what do you think? Got you to the point where you finally decide. I’ve got to do something. And then how did you actually navigate it once you did?
Kim:
Like I said, I think it just because the medications were working anyway. I felt like I really had nothing to lose. Uh-Huh. And, you know, I’ve been listening to your podcast for a long time and just hearing the stories of other people who were like me, who had jobs and kids. And even just listening to your story that, you know, even as a physician, you were able to to make that transition from using a board of medications.
Kim:
And so it was really just, I think, frustration and having just felt like it was enough. And I really felt like there was this real paradox between, you know, other than having migraines.
I’m healthy. I agree. And I felt like I was.
Kim:
Each day I felt like I was just so uncomfortable and not myself. And the fact that I was unable to do things that were, you know, relatively easy before and would never give me a migraine. The fact that just even working out consistently gave me issues, you know, told me that something really changed, you know, in terms of getting rebound headaches. And I fully you know, when I read through the checklist of things or symptoms that point to the fact that a person is suffering rebound, I had essentially all of them. And so there was no denying that that the medication was contributing. And certain things like the medication, I would take it and it would make my headache worse. You know, taking it. Yes, I was experiencing that as well. I’ve always functioned at a high level despite having this condition, which has been, you know, quite a big part of my life since my 20s, for sure. Right. And managing it has been this constant, whether it be through pregnancy or through, you know, navigating law school and articling and all of that. I’ve always had to manage this condition. And it just it was becoming more complex. And the real sort of Eye-Opener for me is how often I was having to refill the medication. And that’s just felt again, like such a paradox because I felt otherwise so healthy. Right. And so. And your book really had the roadmap plan for the way out of that. And so it just the more I listen to other people’s stories and the more I read, the more I realized that that’s what I needed to do.
Kim:
And there was no doubt about it. You know, I was having these days where I was finding myself in bed a lot more, which was, you know, when I used Zomig before, it worked quite well. And sort of that was sort of the key to me being functional. And I’ve missed in the past very little work or had very little downtime as a result of migraines, even though I suffered quite a bit with them. There’s no doubt about that. But it was becoming more and more that I would find myself at that, which was really hard because I like it. So they have kids and I certainly didn’t want to end. It would be, you know, come on, suddenly we would be doing something and then I would find myself up in bed for a day. And that certainly wasn’t the way that I wanted to be. So I just decide to make some really consistent changes in my husband. Has been extremely supportive throughout this whole process and really, you know, sort of created the support system, I needed to be able to take some time to just address this. Right. And like I said, the first couple of weeks, I spent a fair bit of time in bed. But I just decided to take it one day at a time when my brain at a time and told myself that if I needed to take this, I’ll make, you know, to manage work and family commitments, that I would do that, but that the goal was to really just reduce the amount of medication. And so when I set out to reduce the amount of medication I was taking, wasn’t the plan that I was going to start taking the trip down completely.
Kim:
But I ended up doing that. You know, as you’ve talked about on your website and in your book, mindset is so important that I think just looking at it that way that it wasn’t you know, I wasn’t committed to doing this forever. I was just going to do it for a small period of time, kind of looking at it that way in smaller chunks. I think made it manageable. And so I really decided to just take it one migraine at a time. And at the time in mid-March, I was in the midst of preparing for a trial. And so it was a stressful period. But I literally thought it’s never gonna be the right time or the perfect time to do this. So I’m just going to do it. And like I said, within two weeks I was feeling so much better. And I when I look back on it now, I think to myself, why didn’t I do think of it? Like I said, I discovered your book about I would maybe two years ago and I’ve come back to it over and over again, you know, and now that I look back at it, you know, rebound is the I mean, it’s all the way you describe it as pillars. Right. Is a very accurate analogy. But the rebound piece is like the key to all of it. You know, having gone through all of this now, I can see that that is been the biggest piece for me.
Kim:
I was very different with all the other things. Right. You know, I really fully committed to all the other things. And being on a ketogenic diet wasn’t difficult for me. And I actually really gravitated towards that way of eating in the first place. So it just the rebellion, though, was the last sort of peace that needed to fall into place for me. And I know it’s a hard peace for so many people, but in my mind, I had actually thought it was going to be worse than what it was. And it was difficult. And it does take you know, it has been my whole family has been really supportive and even friends as well. Understanding the fact that I’m on this diet, you know, and that I need to sort of manage stress and sleep and all of those things.
Kim:
But, you know, I think, you know, the biggest thing, the biggest part of it, biggest change that had the greatest affect for me was certainly reducing the amount of medication my husband and I joke my services, probably wonders where I lived or died of asthma or or whatever happened, because I was literally I felt like I was I would always get twelve so big at a time.
Kim:
And for example, in the first couple of weeks of March, I had used 14 tablets of those making the first two weeks. And that when I when I started tracking things, I was like, this is just, you know, crazy. And it wasn’t that I had used them every day. It was more like on the days that I had migraines. It would take two, three, four tablets to make it through the day. Yeah. And then I still had days that were better, but I would commonly wake up with a dull ache in my head that would sometimes progress to a migraine over the course of the day. And so it wasn’t uncommon for me to take Tylenol or Advil even on the days when I didn’t have migraines. And it just felt like I really don’t like taking medication at all. And so I just felt again, like it was this paradox. I was becoming more and more version of myself that was, you know, not recognized or not the way I wanted to live my life. So the commitment to doing this was just I really, really, truly had had enough of taking the medication. And so, yeah, just one day decided today’s the day I’m not going to I’m just going to take out the migraines. And I hadn’t done that for a long time since I was pregnant, probably. And it’s not that I had just the mountain pregnancy because I had the Imtech. So I truly hadn’t sort of ridden a migration out for probably since my early 20s. You know, prior to being prescribed this Olmec doesn’t make had become such a part of my day to day.
Kim:
Like I wouldn’t leave the house without it. I had some in my nightstand that had some of my bathroom, like, you know, and then, you know, as the migraines got worse, I started to notice the wrappers. You know, I was just again, like this realization that this was not at all with my control any longer. Yeah. So toughing it out was hard. But the strategies, you know, I used a lot of the strategies that you talk about in your book and on your Web site, things that you can do that don’t involve medication. And they were really, you know, helped me to get through that. And then just telling myself that this was once I made it through the first migrate, it was actually quite liberating. Yes. That I had done it without medication. I think I had taken Tylenol just to take the edge off the pain. But other than that, I let the migraines sort of subside on its own. And then that happened started to happen more and more quickly. They wouldn’t last as long and they weren’t as painful. And so I started to see improvements pretty quickly, which was motivating. I realized that the longer I went without taking a trip down, the better it would be. And that if I took one, I would be sort of, you know, taking a few steps back by doing that. And so I really just did my best to stop taking them altogether. And like I said, I only took one tablet in the 90 days. And that’s been now.
Kim:
Yeah, that’s fantastic. So one of the things that I would like to see happen is for more folks to not have to get to that point where you reached toward finally kind of just decided to do this and read and get people earlier. Is there anything that you can think of that if you were to be able to go back and talk to yourself maybe a year ago or talk to someone else who’s in this similar situation that you were in? Anything you think you could have said to yourself, then you are knowing what you know now that would have maybe could have motivated you to go down that path even sooner.
Kim:
I think just realizing that there is this course of events that most of your readers and patients go through and realizing it’s not a matter of if it’s going to happen, you know, the improvement. Right. It’s a matter of when. And so it does involve tweaking certain here. As I mentioned earlier, I’m still getting migraines and I’m still getting them about twice a month. And so it’s not an all or nothing sort of thing. I mean, it takes tweaking and figuring out what’s going to work. But I definitely followed a certain course when I started. But when I stopped taking the trip down, I there was as so many of your readers described, and that’s why having the community of people that have gone through this. Yeah, it’s so helpful. Many of the other resources online that I have looked at before were really negative and pain focused. Yes. And we’re not. Wasn’t a physician and I follow migraines sufferer. You know, it was the focus of your group is so different, so much different and very positive compared to a lot of the other things that are online out there. And frankly, there’s there’s a lot of misinformation out there just about how to manage migraines.
Kim:
And, you know, I’ve been to many doctors over the years and I’m sure they had the best of intentions. But, you know, when I was first diagnosed with migraines, I remember I was in university at the time and the neurologist gave me an entire sample box of Domanick, and that was all. You know, you have migraines. Here are these medications. Right. And he knew I was a student, that they were very expensive at that time. So he was just being helpful for sure. But it set me off on a course that led to this trajectory over time that, you know, I have there have been times when I have used much less, though, making my migraines are really under control. But, you know, for the most part, it was increasing use over time. And just my migraines evolved. I would say, like I said in the beginning, they were just, you know, mainly hormones. Was were the big trigger. And then it became all sorts of things and food. And then, you know, sitting in the sun for too long or just everything seemed to become a migraine trigger. Right.
Dr. T:
And then we did. It’s so common not to recognize that the medications are playing any role in that. You think it’s the common conception is it’s there that they’re helping you through it and then you need them. But we don’t realize it. It’s kind of sets you up for this endless cycle of becoming increasingly sensitive with more and more environmental triggers adding up because they’re ultimately making you more vulnerable over the long run. So really an absolute or important concept to understand.
You know, I wanted to say I’m sorry.
Jenn:
I was going to say I’m so excited for you because you are only 90 days in and you’re already experiencing so much progress. It only gets better from here. So, you know, the longer your body. To heal, so I’m so excited for you.
Dr. T:
Yeah. You mentioned the the menstrual migraines and we also mentioned that this progression. One of the things that’s been so remarkable, like you talked about, was that we see the same sort of progression from every person who kind of goes down this road. And that was one of the reasons for creating the phases. But that includes we minster migraines being kind of the last thing that we see fall. And that was one reason we added the menstrual migraine protocol to the Beast Slayer Training Academy because it was so consistent. People would make the progress and then this would be the last little piece to fall. So we wanted to take care of that. But I think the. You mentioned that that hearing that there was this typical progression was important for you. And I agree. I think that’s a really important point to make, is that we just see that time and again happening. And what you mentioned about one of the things we often commonly here is when someone has taken made the decision, you know, OK, I’m going to do it. We’ll do what I can to minimize the abortive. Is that things while they’re, you know, not fun initially, the improvements tend to happen a lot faster than expected. Yeah, it was it was quite quick. Yeah. Got a lot of great information from your story. And I know it’s gonna help a ton of people like you say that, you know, you hearing others sharing this kind of story helped you. And I’m absolutely certain this hearing your story is going to help a lot of folks, you know, finally make the progress, those who have put in the effort for the diet lifestyle stuff that you’ve already done. We see that commonly folks make really rapid progress after when it’s addressing the medication piece because those other elements are in place. So you’re already kind of poised to reap those benefits.
Kim:
So really, I had stopped Keto around Christmas, but then I know I was still very much eating a paleo diet until March. And then I realized that going Keto for me was probably going to be something that would really help me through the initial period of rebound. And it did. Yeah, because for the first couple of weeks I really felt like I was teetering on the edge of a migraine at all times. And being on a Keto diet during that period I think really helped. But I had like I said, I’d been on it for a long time. So it wasn’t another stressor for my body, so to speak. eOne that type of an eating plan and I have to say, I really the meals on your Web site are amazing.
Kim:
Some of them have become our family favorites and go to meals for sure. My kids eat a lot of the meals that are on your plan and enjoy them. That’s great.
Kim:
And my husband, like I said, has been really incredibly supportive.
Kim:
And, you know, just having a supportive family involved in the process is so helpful to them. The other thing I would say for sure, for people that are making that change to really involve your family members and so that everybody is aware of what you’re going through and what the progression is going to look like. And everybody is aware of the things that you need to do to make that work. And there have been times where, you know, if I felt discouraged and wanted to have a cheat, me and my husband would go to give me a nudge.
Kim:
Just remind me of how important it was to stay on track. Right. And that’s important.
Kim:
And there were moments, too, where I was just in so much pain and felt like taking a trip down so badly, because I knew, you know, I felt like if I did, I’d be able to get back to my life and within 50 minutes. But I know that that’s not always the case because the medications weren’t working as well. So that I think, as I said, was a key piece for me is just feeling like I really had no other choice. I knew that if I kept taking the medications that, you know, it was joyous, just going to get worse and worse and I was going to have to take more. And I certainly don’t want to do damage to my body, you know, because of this condition, which is not something that needs to be. It’s a very odd condition to have because it can make you feel so awful, but otherwise you can be perfectly healthy, right? Exactly. And yes, it’s something that obviously takes a concerted effort to manage. But it is, I would say to others that are thinking about taking that step, it’s definitely doable. And baby steps are the key. And, you know, one migrate at a time committing for a small period of time, but yet giving it a chance because, you know, it does take several weeks for sure to see significant changes and to break rebound. But once that happens, it’s definitely I’ve experienced that many of the things that your other readers have. And people on your podcast have experienced and the podcasts are extremely helpful. That was probably one of the biggest motivators for me is just listening to other people who I would listen and hear people talk.
I think that is exactly me, right?
Kim:
So many times when I’ve been listening, I’ve related to so much. About what people have said and what they’d gone through. And that really convinced me that it was something that was going to be doable. But even then, like the thought of going 90 days, taking only one trip down for that entire period was inconceivable to me because of how, you know, reliant I had become on the ZOMG in particular. It was really, truly inconceivable to me, but I thought, OK, I’m going to give this a go and really committed to it. And then once I had made it through one my brain without medication, I didn’t want to take the medication. So I didn’t want to set myself back. So I think getting started is one of the biggest steps. Just making the decision to commit to it and to do it is is one of the biggest hurdles to overcome. And then once I was down that path, I just was really motivated to continue. And when the migraines started getting shorter and shorter, it felt like sort of the light at the end of the tunnel because I knew that it wasn’t going to be three days in bed. Typically now about my ring will be, you know, one day and the pain is much less significant. I can go about my usual activities. It’s not fun. But, you know, it’s not it’s not always the case that I find myself having to lie down. Yeah. And I do take the occasional Tylenol if it gets bad, I sort of give myself the the freedom to do that. Right. I know that it’s better than taking a trip down for me. Right. And that, you know, I I need to also balance life. Right.
Kim:
And this condition is so and so much of this is about being able to make these decisions with the right information. Right. I mean, it’s we are always navigating these kind of things where we’re trying to balance, you know, what we need to do today with what we do is tomorrow. And it’s really just about, you know, being able to make that decision, an informed one. And now that you’ve had this reframing of, you know what that means with respect to medications, you can make it much more informed decision and make one that really, truly fits with what your needs are at the moment, for sure.
Kim:
And it wasn’t your progression over time. I initially when I first read your book, it was I realized like the Imitrex certainly had to go. And I realized that probably before I just didn’t like taking it. It made me feel really drowsy and blah. And I also realized that it was making my migrants’ worse. There was no doubt that I took the, um, tact. It was making things worse. And the migrants were becoming so severe. Yes. When I was taking that medication that things drastically improved, just making that change initially. So even if people aren’t ready to make, you know, take the full leap in terms of addressing rebound for me, the I’m checklist first and then I was taking I had been on your trip to lean with the last preventative medication. I tried. And I just slowly tapered myself off of that. That was sort of the next step. And then, you know, just reducing my consumption of Advil and Tylenol before, you know, on the advice of my doctor, I would always take the medication very early on when I would feel like I would feel like the slightest twinge of a headache or a migraine.
Kim:
And I would immediately take pain medication. I would maybe start off without delay or Tylenol and then not use the ZOMG until I was pretty sure it was going to be a migraines. Right. But that, you know, once I even changed that and stopped doing that, you know, things did improve to a certain extent. But the triptans were such an important piece for me. And I’ve seen the greatest the biggest change as a result of that. So it’s I definitely would urge people to sort of rip the Band-Aid off.
Kim:
And for me, like I said, there wasn’t going to be a good time. I thought, well, right, if I’m on holidays, I’m not going to want to spend my holidays in bed.
Kim:
And, you know, during the times that I’m working or busy with kids. I mean, that’s always going to be the situation. Right? So I think it was just I got fed up, I think was probably the final piece. And I said, you know, this is really not I don’t feel as though I’m living the way that, like, this condition was dominating or controlling me, right? Yeah, most certainly. And just there was just so much about my day that I didn’t like having to carry the medications and always be cognizant of whether I had them. And then having to go to the pharmacy and, you know, make sure if I was going away for the weekend or something, that I had enough. And this constant anxiety about managing this was just I truly thought it would be very liberating if I didn’t have to worry about that any longer. And it has been you know, I still have Romig in the house.
Kim:
But I just I couldn’t. Tell you how many I have or right now it’s just become a very different way of thinking about it.
Kim:
And I can’t say that I’ll never take another trip down again. Right. But I certainly will not go back to I can say that without a doubt. I will not go back to the place that I was in right prior to this where, you know. Yeah, we’re just getting through progressively worse over time.
Dr. T:
Right. Yeah. You know how not to get back there and you know how to get out of there. Which is both are huge. Well, thank you so much for joining us and sharing your story and being so generous. There’s tons of wisdom you’ve given and throughout this episode. So trying to say is gonna help a lot of people. And we really, really appreciate it. Thank you.
Kim:
Oh, thank you very much for having me. And thank you for creating this space.
Kim:
It’s amazing to me that this type of resource exists for my condition. And I read a lot of books and things on migraines over the years. And this has been this roadmap that you’ve created based on your own experiences and the experiences of others. Has been so helpful. Just really appreciate that you’ve created this. And then it’s an evolving sort of community where other people’s experiences are, you know, contributing to the knowledge base over time. Right. And I have to say, you know, the chatter archives, when I first started to read through them, I couldn’t believe the wealth of knowledge that’s in there.
Kim:
I mean, every every archive has that.
Kim:
I’ve always wondered as to be able to have the opportunity to ask someone about all of these things that’s knowledgeable. You know, I had a really great neurologist for the last several years, but just I’ve read a lot of the focus is still on the use of medication for migraines. And many doctors still prescribe medications that do make the situation worse. And that’s not always recognized. You know, certainly in my case, I don’t think it was recognized by the physicians involved in my care that I was in rebound. I sort of had to sort that out on my own. And having a resource like this was integral to that process. And I would just really encourage people to go and read through those, because the old archives, because there’s just a wealth of knowledge in there on specific topics that are highly relevant to people who suffer from migraines. So, again, thank you for that. And thank you for the amazing recipes. And just the whole thing has been really a lifestyle for me rather than just reading a book. And like I said, a lot of it was in line with principles. I already made so much sense to me already. Right. So it’s the way that it set out is just really helpful. Sort of bite-size pieces. Again, the way that the you know, your training program is set out in sort of chapters or things that you’ll work on. And I often go back to that, although I’ve done it before or read it before at certain points in time. I think information sinks in just a bit differently when you’re dealing with it.
Yeah.
Kim:
Yeah. And certainly with respect to rebound, when I read through it again, you know, when I was ready to receive that information, fully, receive that information and implemented it, I read it in a different way. So I would encourage people to go back through and give things a second read because I always learn something new when I go back. Like I said, even though I’ve done it before and the menstrual migraines protocol, I I read that probably five times, having to keep it, you know, at the forefront of things that I need to be doing.
Dr. T:
Yeah. Yes. Well, thank you. That really means a lot to hear. You hear all that. We you know, we’ve been quite a bit of time building those resources. And the greatest gift to us is to see people like really using them and really putting in an action. And that’s it means a lot. It’s also humbling. And I appreciate that. So thanks again and really enjoy talking. You did. I can. Yes, think.
Kim:
Yes. You, too. Thanks for having me. All right.
Bye.
Dr. T:
Well, that was fantastic, wasn’t it, Jenny? It was so. It’s. I made a lot of notes as she was talking because there was so much wisdom that she shared. So you’d have to try to edit myself. But anything that stood out for you in particular, Jane?
Jenn:
Yes. One of the things that I really hope people will hone in on from her message is that there is no perfect time to approach breaking rebound. And she did that while she was in the midst of a trial. I think that’s pretty significant.
Dr. T:
No question. Like it’s really hard. That’s like not the point. The point is like the other side is so much better. Right. And as you know, as so many people have said before, that you know it. It was. Yes. You know, not fun at first, but. Right. But they started seeing signs of improvement and significant improvement pretty quickly. And and then I don’t think we’ve had a single person who’s who didn’t say, why didn’t I do that sooner? Right. Right. So like she said, there’s never gonna be as a great message. There’s never gonna be more every time. And it’s so true. And she talked about taking just taking action. Right. Just start. Yes. And that’s and because the feedback, you know, we see time and again, these are these critical little pieces of feedback. Right. The first migraines that you go through without taking anything huge milestone. Yeah. Everybody, that’s always a victory. And then and because then it’s like, well, I can do it. I can do this, you know. And then the second being that they start lessening in intensity. That’s right. That, you know, you start seeing these signs of recovery pretty quick. And once you get those when you get that initial pieces of feedback, then it makes it a whole lot easier to stick with it. So, yeah, just getting just getting started and hopefully hearing her will motivate some other folks to just get started. Let’s also, you know, for her, another thing that we oftentimes see is that folks, when they get when they have all the other pieces in place, you know, really make rapid progress once they get the medication peace out of the way. I just did the an interview for the Kicking Sugar Summit. And the host asked me, you know, what about someone who has, you know, is implemented and ancestral diet and still getting migraines? You know, we’re going to see ads that said, you know, almost every single one of those situations, it’s going to stop using new medications. That’s right. And it’s, you know, consistently true.
Jenn:
Right. And I think that that’s something that is important about her message. She really tried to do what. And frankly, a lot of people do when they come to us as they try to, you know, work on the diet and even the lifestyle pieces without really addressing that rebound issue. And that’s really just sort of the first key issue you have to take care of first.
Dr. T:
That’s why I refer to it as a zero multiplier. It’s like so if you multiply any number by zero, you still get zero or it’s just like if you you can you can have the best car in the world. All the best parts, you know, everything else. It doesn’t have any gas. Not going to go anywhere. It’s the same thing with, you know, you can work on all these other elements that will pay tremendous dividends if that rebound stuff. If the medications are out of picture and you’re not having that zero multiplier in the picture. That’s right. I also was glad to hear recognize that not all Kito is the same. In this. Yes. Plenty of ways to go. Another thing we try to get out there is it is there? There are plenty of ways to go Kito that are not migraine friendly at all.
Dr. T:
We know. Wow, how helpful it can be. So we want to be able to get people to experience that. And that was a big reason why we started the Keto blast so that we could give folks an idea of what the migraine miracle version of it looks like. I also really appreciated her pointing out that our community felt different than a lot of what she’d encountered in the migraine world. Certainly that was a big motivation as well as trying to find a place that had a positive community and a positive message, because we know that that that alone makes a huge difference. And there’s unfortunately a lot of negativity and a lot of misinformation out there in the migraine world. A lot of people trying to capitalize on what is a vulnerable population, who is kind of ready to do anything. And that’s an opportunity for opportunists to take advantage of. And hopefully that more folks will be steered away from those sorts of things and find find their way to a more positive place. That’s right. All right. Well, thanks again to Kim. If you want to become part of this community, including people like him and all the others who, like she said, are great sources of encouragement, then we’d love to have you in my ever land. You can find out more by going to my micro miracle dot com. Clicking on the resources tab on the top menu.
Dr. T:
And if you enjoy this podcast, it be awesome if you left a rating and review in i-Tunes. Now, Jenny, what time is it? Time to slay the beast.
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LINKS MENTIONED:
The 9 Primary Migraine Miracle RESOURCES: mymigrainemiracle.com/how-we-can-help/
The 2019 Schedule of Migrai-Neverland Challenges: https://www.mymigrainemiracle.com/schedule
MIGRAI-NEVERLAND, our premier resource for those who want to find their pill free path to migraine freedom (including the Beast Slayer Training Academy): mymigrainemiracle.com/endofmigraine
The Beast Slayer Training Academy
The 2019 Schedule of Migrai-Neverland Challenges: https://www.mymigrainemiracle.com/schedule