Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Fenugreek is a Headache Trigger

Fenugreek can help a long list of things, but I started taking it for milk production since I'm still breastfeeding my baby. I tried drinking Mother's Milk Tea at first, and it seemed to help a little (I only had one cup a day but they recommend more than that). Not that I really had a problem with milk production, but I figured it couldn't hurt. But when I took Hollis to her six-month checkup, she was only about 14 pounds and in the 8th percentile for weight, so her pediatrician asked about my milk production. She said that fenugreek was safe and worth a try, so I got serious about it and switched to the stronger pill form. In the back of my mind, I had this crazy idea that maybe it would magically help my headaches too. Well, it did increase my milk supply, but it also increased my headaches and migraines. Boo! A friend on Twitter later told me that fenugreek is notorious for triggering headaches. She also informed me that it's an ingredient in curry powder (I immediately went to the kitchen and threw out my curry powder). So in case you didn't know, fenugreek can make headaches worse. You live and you learn!

Also, a quick alert to pregnant women in case you didn't hear about this today: acetaminophen exposure during pregnancy has been linked to ADHD, but it just slightly increases the risk. Here's an article from Reuters. Yes I took a LOT of acetaminophen during my pregnancy and I still take it now that I breastfeed. It helped my head (when it decided to work) which lowered my tension and in turn was better for the baby, and if I could have avoided taking it I would have. Which makes this quote from the article hilarious:

Nevertheless, "it's reasonable to say that there's no reason to use these drugs during pregnancy unless there is a clear medical indication," said Olsen, a professor of epidemiology at UCLA and at Aarhus University in Denmark.

Because, ya know, pregnant ladies generally take acetaminophen just for fun. ;)