I'm a little ashamed to write this post. I feel like I might be letting people down. Two months or so ago I decided to do a six-month gluten-free diet to see if it helped my headaches. My celiac disease tests came back negative, but I figured I might be gluten intolerant. I blogged about going gluten free and was excited to be trying a natural way to fight my headaches. It wasn't too hard either, but I think that's because I'm used to reading food labels due to my MSG intolerance. I thought I'd miss cupcakes and such, but I found some awesome gluten-free places in town that make gfree cupcakes, zucchini bread, etc. and they were delicious! The one thing I did miss was pizza (which is odd because I hated pizza as a kid but it grew on me later in life). I tried gfree pizza and the crust, my favorite part, was disgusting. However, I only tried it at one place and was scared to try it again. If you do want to try gfree pizza, I hear Bella Monica's is good - they have a restaurant in Raleigh and Whole Foods carries their pizza - also they were very helpful to me on Twitter while I was gfree.
One more quick tangent. A lot of people don't understand Twitter or think it's dumb, but I am an advocate. If you want to try going gluten-free, you can search "#gfree" and find a ton of people who are helpful in answering questions or sharing tips. I also use Twitter for migraine support. If you find the right people, it's a great community. So a special thank you to my gfree friends who helped me the last two months.
But, I'm sorry to say I've ended my gluten-free diet. I saw an internal medicine doctor last week and we discussed my headache history and things I'm currently trying, including the diet. He said that I could keep trying it if I wanted, but I probably would have noticed a difference by now. Also, my acupuncturist said he supports having a balanced diet. So I slowly started adding gluten back the past week, and my headaches haven't gotten worse.
In fact, they've been better, and I think it's due to my acupuncture. I've been doing private sessions where I lie down and the acupuncture points are more intense (somewhat painful). Also, my acupuncturist has been doing deep neck massages at the end of the last two sessions, and I think that is making a difference. It's painful to the point where I'm almost in tears and am sore for days afterward (I go once a week) but I honestly think this is what's helping my headaches. I've had maybe one or two headaches a week now instead of every day or every other day.
I'm terrified to say I'm getting better, but I'm definitely making progress. :)
Oh and also my internal medicine doc gave me permission to taper off the Lyrica and Lexapro, so soon I'll be taking only vitamins and minerals. WOOT!
