Are you Triggered?
Updated: Nov 15, 2021
Migraine and Headache triggers do you know yours?
Welcome back Warriors to Migraines and Margaritas where we share a deelish Margarita recipe and then get down to business creating a healthier happier pain free life
Today's Recipe to quench your thirst is the Cotton Candy Margarita
by the Tipsy Bartender
Ingredients
1 oz. Tequila
1 oz. Cream Soda
½ oz. (15ml) Triple Sec
¾ oz. (22ml) Lime Juice
Pink Cotton Candy
Rim: Pink Sugar
Directions
Rim edge of margarita glass in corn syrup and pink sugar. In an ice filled glass combine tequila, triple sec, lime juice and cream soda. Stir. Fill margarita glass with pink cotton candy and pour on mix.
Enjoy Warriors!
What in the holy hell is in this stuff?
This is a story of a coffee fein and the unsuspecting hell at the bottom of her cup. For literally a decade I would make my coffee each morning with my half and half and little pink packet of sweet n low to avoid the calories. It tasted extra sweet, mixed nicely, was calorie free, and didn't sink to the bottom like real sugar, this stuff was a dream.
This was of course back in the 90's and 2000's before all of the reports of rats getting cancer from this little pink packet of sweet heaven. Soon after the horror stories of Aspartame were released and no delicious cup of coffee was safe from calories. Just in time for Splenda to come out as a replacement. Notice I said "delicious", black is not where it's at when it comes to a cup of Joe.
For 10 solid years I had a dull headache EVERY SINGLE DAY! Of course god awful Migraines, tension headaches and cluster headaches and everything in between were sprinkled in there as well. But every single day I had a damn headache even if it was just annoying enough to make me not want to do anything or be miserable, and I could not figure out why.
Thanks to the Cancer warnings and scare tactics I gave up my pink packets and slid in to a daisy yellow packet of Splenda.
Soon, I realized that my daily headaches were gone. Oh the rest of the headaches and Migraines were alive and well but that daily nagging level 2 headache that just lingered was finally gone. A few weeks went by and I happened to be getting coffee at the office and we were out of Splenda. But of course there were 100's of the cancer causing pink packets nobody wanted. So I caved, I didn't want the real sugar sinking to the bottom and I had meetings to get to. I dumped in my Sweet n Low and savored the flavor of my old friend. Until...…………………..BAM! The damn headaches were back. And then because I tend to be quite the smart cookie, I connected the dots.
The Devil wears pink!
Now hopefully since it's now 2020 none of you are using sweet n low or possibly don't even know what it is. There have been controversies over Splenda, Equal and even Stevia since the sweet n low incident. The same with eggs and meat or carbs and fat. One day it's DON'T EAT THAT! The next it's EAT THIS it will help you lose weight or reduce your risk of cancer.
This is why I did go back to regular granulated sugar only I boil it with equal parts of water for a simple sugar so that it doesn't sink to the bottom. There's your coffee tip! You're welcome :)
And like the sugar, I try to avoid the latest craze whether it be fat free or carb free and just stay with wholefoods as much as possible, because it always circles back to the basics.
Triggers
As a Migraine Warrior ANYTHING can be a trigger, and probably is. Some may be more sensitive than others. For most, prevention is the key to reducing the number of headaches to a manageable level.
If you are suffering from "daily" headaches then it has to be something that you are doing "daily" to cause them. Getting headaches several days or even weeks a month is different than a DAILY headache. You may only be exposed to your trigger once a week or maybe it's part of your daily routine. Figuring out what your triggers are in addition to regular self care is a big part of the recipe to prevention.
Research
If you suffer daily I would recommend looking at all medications you currently take as these are generally the biggest culprits. Research online each medication name and the word "headache" to find if it is a common side effect or if others are complaining of this same symptom. For sensitive Migraine Warriors most prescriptions will cause headaches among other issues.
After that, look at your food. You can do an elimination diet yourself or have a food allergy test done. The problem with food allergy tests is a particular food made show as a sensitivity for you, but in life you feel no adverse affects. And in my case I am evidently allergic to almost all food known to mankind, and not eating was not an option. So, I started by removing one food at a time for a week then reintroducing it for a few days and making note of any reactions. My reactions were seasonal like allergies and nasal congestion. But this nasal congestion created sinus headaches. So those food I avoid. One was eggs. This really cramped my healthy eating breakfast game. You never realize how virtually every breakfast idea contains eggs until you can't eat them.
Another daily trigger is water, or not getting enough. To understand the specific effects on Migraine Warriors check out our other Blog post H2Ohhhhh.
Sleep, not enough, too much, the wrong pillow. All of this can be a trigger.
Fluorescent lighting in the office is a big one for me. Notice how you do in different environments.
This can be a pain to narrow down some of your triggers but BEING IN PAIN from the triggered headache is a lot worse.
Find your triggers and don't be surprised if there are several.
And stay away from the pink devil!
xoxo
Jen and the Headzen Team