Migraine Heroes
Anna in ski gear with long blonde hair, goggles on her head, and skis over her shoulder against a plain white background.
Subscribe onBy subscribing to the Migraine Heroes Podcast on Apple or Spotify, you will receive episodes twice a week with fresh evidence-based insights.

Anna

27 years old, New Zealand

28 min

What changed

Went from a migraine six days a week to about one a month, with enough stability to compete again and get married.

Join us in this episode as we follow the inspiring migraine journey of Anna Willcox - a New Zealand Olympian freestyle skier and reporter for TV show 'The Crowd Goes Wild'For Migraine Warriors:This podcast is a beacon for those seeking answers and support. Remember, you're never alone; there are over one billion individuals worldwide battling migraine disease.

Episode Highlights: 🌟 Anna's Childhood Struggles: Early battles with migraines, supported by her mother, also a migraine warrior, highlighting the profound impact of genetics and family. ⛷️ Olympic Dreams Dashed: Anna's ski career was overshadowed by concussions, leading to persistent migraines and emotional challenges, offering a raw glimpse into the toll of chronic pain. 🌱 A Healing Connection: Experience Anna's skepticism turning into hope as she embraces natural remedies and holistic practices. 🌈 The Triumph of Transformation: The strength found in vulnerability, and self-compassion, inspiring listeners to face their migraines with courage and hope."Migraine Heroes" podcast stands as a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the transformative power of holistic approach, understanding, and support.⁠

00:00
-28:00
Transcript

[00:00]

Hello, this is the Migraine Heroes podcast, a podcast where we share real stories from

[00:11]

real people suffering and battling with migraine disease.

[00:16]

In this podcast, we seek to provide support, hope, holistic health advocacy, and inspiration

[00:22]

for those who suffer from migraines.

[00:30]

This is Anna Wilcox and Diane Dugarm and we're here to talk about Anna's migraine journey.

[00:34]

So welcome, Anna.

[00:35]

Thank you for having me.

[00:37]

So when did your migraine start?

[00:39]

I think my first migraine, you know, it was one of my first memories.

[00:44]

So I've had them from a really young age.

[00:47]

I think, you know, I was maybe five or six or something.

[00:50]

And I would get them not super often, maybe like three times a year when I was growing

[00:55]

up.

[00:56]

But it would be bad.

[00:57]

It would be like, you know, throwing up and in a black room and completely, yeah, you

[01:02]

have horror memories of those.

[01:03]

Yeah.

[01:04]

And so you would go in a black room and ask then your mom to be.

[01:07]

Yeah, my mom was my mom has been my rock through all of this because she also like has migraines.

[01:13]

So she she really understands what it feels like.

[01:16]

Has it been different to mine?

[01:18]

They never have become like chronic, but she still, to this day, you know, gets migraines,

[01:23]

you know, probably once a month, for example.

[01:25]

Yeah.

[01:26]

And so when you were five, then were you going to doctors or not for the migraines?

[01:31]

I think I don't remember it being enough of an issue enough for it to be, you know, and

[01:36]

migraines, I guess.

[01:37]

Like, what do you do?

[01:38]

How do you help?

[01:39]

You know, especially if you're six years old.

[01:41]

So and they kind of I grew out of them in my sort of teenage years, I remember.

[01:45]

And then I remember sort of they started to come back a little bit in my late teens and

[01:49]

then throughout my 20s as well.

[01:52]

And so it's your mom who educates you on what they were and what they were doing and.

[01:57]

Yeah.

[01:58]

And I think just having exactly that, just, I guess, an understanding of what and I remember

[02:02]

growing up with my mom, you know, my dad would be like, oh, mom's unfortunately in the migraine

[02:06]

this morning and she'll be in bed that day.

[02:08]

So it was, you know, something that I was always lived with, but it's it's been a game

[02:13]

changer to have someone, especially when I was going through it really bad, like who

[02:17]

really, really understands because it's such like an isolating feeling.

[02:21]

And, you know, throughout all of it, she I could always call her and she could just really

[02:26]

give me the sympathy that I needed because I know that she really understands.

[02:29]

Yeah.

[02:30]

Yeah.

[02:31]

Yeah.

[02:32]

It must have been also nice for her that you understood.

[02:33]

I mean, in a way.

[02:35]

Yeah.

[02:36]

I mean, you wish it for your child, but it's still nice to have one child in the family

[02:39]

that truly understands.

[02:40]

Yeah.

[02:41]

Yeah.

[02:42]

Among your siblings.

[02:43]

Are you the only one?

[02:44]

Yeah.

[02:45]

Yeah.

[02:46]

My brother, I have a brother and my dad and my dad.

[02:47]

Yeah.

[02:48]

None of them get migraines, sometimes headaches, but not my brother, though.

[02:51]

I think he's never had a headache in his life.

[02:54]

Yeah.

[02:55]

Yeah.

[02:56]

Right.

[02:57]

Yeah.

[02:58]

And so and so you start a career in skiing, so you come from a very supportive family.

[03:03]

Yeah.

[03:04]

And you become an Olympian skier.

[03:07]

Can you say a bit about that and the excitement around that?

[03:09]

Yeah.

[03:10]

I started skiing quite late, professionally, actually.

[03:13]

I'm from Auckland and so I didn't grow up skiing every weekend, but I did have a passion

[03:18]

for skiing.

[03:19]

I would go down a couple of weekends a year at least and then some weeks and stuff.

[03:24]

And I just wanted to do a ski season after I finished school and I didn't want to go

[03:28]

straight into university.

[03:30]

That seemed insane to me.

[03:31]

You know, I just spent 13 years at school.

[03:33]

I was like, the last thing I wanted to do was go and sit in another classroom.

[03:36]

So I went to do a gap year ski season and it turned into a career, which was cool.

[03:41]

So I started, I picked it up, I fell in love with freestyle skiing, which is the discipline

[03:46]

that I started to compete in.

[03:48]

And I started competing like maybe like a year and a half, two years after just doing

[03:52]

ski season.

[03:53]

Wow.

[03:54]

That's really impressive.

[03:55]

Yeah.

[03:56]

You could only really pick it up if you had skied really early at least, that's what I

[03:58]

think.

[03:59]

Yeah.

[04:00]

I told myself.

[04:01]

Yeah.

[04:03]

It was a wild ride.

[04:04]

I mean, no one could really believe it back here.

[04:06]

Were you surfing before?

[04:07]

Yeah.

[04:08]

I've always grown up like surfing and skating and stuff like that.

[04:11]

And I did ski, like I said, when I was younger, but not like, no, I just went to do it.

[04:16]

And the first two seasons I was just, you know, a normal teenager going.

[04:20]

I went to Canada and worked and did, you know, partied and had a great time.

[04:24]

And then I started to fall in love and get really, really passionate with skiing, like

[04:28]

obsessed, you know, like obsessed.

[04:32]

It's like the way to describe it, because that's, I guess, the only way for me to get

[04:35]

to have gone to where I did in such a short period of time.

[04:38]

So I, yeah, I got, I started, I got noticed by the New Zealand team and then got put on

[04:42]

the team and yeah, competed on the world tour and ended up qualifying seventh in the world

[04:47]

for the Olympics, which was, yeah, looking back, it's a wild ride because they were on

[04:51]

here and my parents were like, what do you mean?

[04:53]

I thought you were just avoiding university.

[04:55]

I don't understand.

[04:57]

So yeah, it was a crazy ride to get to that, the 2014 Olympics, but, and then after that,

[05:04]

you know, that was, I said, you know, it's a dangerous sport, so a lot of injuries followed

[05:08]

from them.

[05:09]

And so you got a few concussions.

[05:11]

Can you talk a little bit about the first one, when it happened, how it happened?

[05:14]

Yeah, I would say, I mean, I probably in my medical records where I look back to think

[05:18]

about it, but the amount of ACC claims I've got, but I think I had a, you know, I had

[05:24]

a few head scattered concussions that I remember, I remember getting one, one season, there

[05:29]

would maybe be at least one or two head knocks a season, but not super, like not enough to

[05:33]

take me out for months, just maybe like a week.

[05:35]

But then I think.

[05:36]

Can you explain that?

[05:37]

So you're, you're, you're hitting your head and then you start skiing for a week?

[05:40]

Yeah.

[05:41]

Like they were never, the ones I'm talking about were sort of more just like precautionary,

[05:46]

like head knocks, nothing that like I could really, apart from maybe, you know, having

[05:51]

to take that week off because maybe I would get really tired or whatever, but I've had

[05:56]

like two significant ones amongst, amongst that, where I had repercussions for months

[06:01]

and months and months.

[06:02]

So they would probably be traumatic, traumatic brain injuries in comparison to concussions.

[06:07]

I'd say particularly the one I had in, in September, 2016, I think that was about a

[06:13]

nine month recovery is what I felt.

[06:16]

It was my short term memory that was the thing that was lagging for a really long time.

[06:21]

Yeah.

[06:22]

Yeah.

[06:23]

Yeah.

[06:24]

And so you decide, is it after that injury that you decided to, I should, I mean, I should

[06:28]

have.

[06:29]

Oh, okay.

[06:30]

So the obsession.

[06:31]

Yeah.

[06:32]

Yeah.

[06:33]

Yeah.

[06:34]

I, I saw a neurologist actually.

[06:35]

Well, he was a, he was a concussion specialist, I think.

[06:37]

And he did a lot of testing because I felt like something was wrong, but it's really

[06:41]

hard to know when, you know, you don't know the person that you were before the concussion

[06:45]

and you don't know, like, it's hard to know what's missing when you don't remember what

[06:49]

you had because your memory is gone.

[06:53]

But he did some really thorough testing hours of it.

[06:56]

And he did discover like a portion of my portion of my brain and memory that was actually,

[07:01]

you know, I think still affected.

[07:03]

And we made the decision together that I, I wasn't ready yet to walk away.

[07:06]

I wanted to give one more push to go to the PyeongChang Olympics, but knowing in my head

[07:11]

that like, or, you know, in my heart that if I hit my head again, like I would have

[07:16]

to walk away, but I broke my back instead.

[07:18]

So I did.

[07:19]

So that was the, that was the nail in the coffin.

[07:22]

I ended up walking away after that, which was in January, 2017.

[07:27]

Okay.

[07:28]

Yeah.

[07:29]

And so that was probably very devastating.

[07:31]

Yeah.

[07:32]

Oh yeah.

[07:33]

It was heartbreaking.

[07:34]

It was, um, it was, I didn't, to be honest, like mourn it for a really long time.

[07:38]

I just, I, I decided to, it took months to decide to, to quit.

[07:43]

And then when I did, I just booked a plane ticket to Europe because I just wanted to

[07:46]

get away from everything that reminded me of skiing.

[07:49]

So I went, so I flew to like Menorca in Spain to go and teach sailing there, which was just

[07:54]

a complete contrast, which is really what I needed.

[07:57]

And so still not university, not university yet.

[08:01]

I promised myself I'd take a really fun gap year, another gap year, perpetual gap year.

[08:08]

Yeah.

[08:09]

I decided to, to, yeah, to, to take that year off and just have fun.

[08:13]

And it was quite, it was so ironic the, the day that I like announced my retirement on

[08:18]

social media.

[08:19]

So I, I, you know, cause I needed to explain why I wasn't, you know, in Monaco and why

[08:23]

I was on the other side of the world in Spain.

[08:26]

And so I, you know, did quite a heart about posts and why I was leaving the sport and

[08:30]

how, you know, I guess devastated I was to be leaving and how I was leaving because,

[08:35]

you know, at the end of the day, I couldn't put my body through anymore.

[08:38]

You know, I just given so much physically to the sport that like, I'm so lucky to have

[08:43]

walked away from the sport, literally walked away that I, and that was sort of that main

[08:47]

reason, you know, like it was time to lead like a safe life.

[08:51]

And then literally like the response from that was really incredible.

[08:56]

I was quite overwhelmed with how many messages I thought and loved, like it was really a

[09:00]

beautiful day.

[09:03]

And then later that night I was walking home from like a restaurant and in Spain.

[09:07]

And so I'd just been in the island for a few days, so I didn't know it very well and I

[09:10]

didn't really know anyone on the island.

[09:12]

And I was walking down like a really steep hill and it was dark and it was probably like,

[09:18]

you know, a good 500 meter hill.

[09:19]

So, and I was near the bottom and like, I have no memory of it, but by someone who was

[09:25]

biking was like full speed and they didn't see me and they like flattened me and I smacked

[09:30]

my like the front of my face and was completely knocked out for like, I think like 20, like

[09:35]

a long time, like maybe 20 minutes.

[09:37]

Like I don't remember much at all.

[09:39]

I remember waking up in an ambulance and like not knowing why I was in Spain, for example.

[09:45]

Like it was just like a really scary and just like what are the chances of that the day

[09:51]

I announced my retirement on like becoming safe human and this happens.

[09:55]

Yeah, so I had another head injury that put me in hospital and I was really lucky to be

[10:01]

honest.

[10:02]

So I thought like, I thought this was it.

[10:03]

Yeah.

[10:04]

I was thinking like, how, like how can my brain go through this again?

[10:09]

Do you remember before that where you, how were your vision?

[10:13]

I mean, it's really hard to remember in time, but how was your vision?

[10:17]

Was it ever blurry, ever blurry at night?

[10:19]

Were you ever feeling dizzy?

[10:20]

No, for me, like the main symptoms from that first one was all memory.

[10:26]

So I think just the part of the brain that I hit, I hit the back, this back right section.

[10:31]

So it affects the frontal lobe, which is often your memory and all that, which is not so

[10:35]

much your physical symptoms, but depending on where you hit your brain.

[10:39]

So this time I, I mean, this time I was flattened basically on my face.

[10:42]

So it caused not no memory, but it was physical.

[10:46]

So it was more like it was really getting, being really tired and being really slow and

[10:50]

stuff like that.

[10:51]

So yeah, it was a different kind of concussion that I've ever had and probably not my worst,

[10:57]

even though it was physically the worst.

[11:00]

If you looked at me, I was, you know, black and blue and hospital and stuff.

[11:03]

But I actually bounced back from that within about a month.

[11:07]

Okay.

[11:08]

Yeah.

[11:09]

Okay.

[11:10]

And I haven't had one since.

[11:11]

I actually know that's a lie.

[11:12]

I have.

[11:13]

Okay.

[11:14]

Yeah.

[11:15]

Yeah.

[11:16]

I had one.

[11:17]

I had one.

[11:18]

I had one.

[11:19]

And I think that's what re-triggered my chronic migraines.

[11:20]

I'm trying to remember, like 2018, 19, when that was the year that I had really bad migraines.

[11:26]

Yeah.

[11:27]

I had a concussion.

[11:28]

Which one?

[11:29]

2019.

[11:30]

19.

[11:31]

Yeah.

[11:32]

That's about when we meet.

[11:33]

Yeah.

[11:34]

Yeah.

[11:35]

Yeah.

[11:36]

Yeah.

[11:37]

Yeah.

[11:38]

Okay.

[11:39]

And so what's the last concussion?

[11:40]

It's probably been 2019.

[11:41]

I was go-karting with Scott McLachlan.

[11:43]

And I t-boned someone and ended up just, it wasn't, I didn't hit my head.

[11:49]

It was the force of it.

[11:51]

It just shook my brain.

[11:52]

And because I'm really susceptible now to it, it doesn't take much for me to have symptoms.

[11:58]

That put me out for like a week and then also like brought my migraines back.

[12:01]

Yeah.

[12:02]

Yeah.

[12:03]

Okay.

[12:04]

And so at that time you're suffering.

[12:05]

And then a friend, so then I'm in a retreat in New Zealand in Great Barrier with a lot

[12:10]

of entrepreneurs and I discuss what I'm doing.

[12:13]

And one of them, Georgia, talks to me about you.

[12:17]

And she says, Oh, one of my friend has had a couple of concussion.

[12:21]

I don't know anything about your history.

[12:24]

Like she says, she's just had a couple of concussions and she has migraines as a result.

[12:28]

Do you think you can help?

[12:29]

And I was helping just at the time.

[12:32]

And I think that was the only woman with concussion at the time.

[12:35]

And I'm like, sure.

[12:36]

And so we meet, we meet.

[12:37]

Do you remember a little bit like we meet and you come to my place and we discuss about

[12:42]

your head injury and probably ask a lot of questions.

[12:45]

I don't remember.

[12:46]

Was it through WhatsApp or?

[12:47]

Yeah.

[12:48]

Yeah.

[12:49]

WhatsApp.

[12:50]

Probably.

[12:51]

And so then I tell you and I tell you what to eat and we get started.

[12:54]

Yeah.

[12:55]

Yeah.

[12:56]

And at this point, like I have to say, with everything that came my way at the end of

[12:59]

that year, I had spent like a whole year trying to find like a solution and spend probably

[13:05]

like three and a half thousand dollars of my own money, you know, just like on trying

[13:09]

to fix my health.

[13:10]

And I tried so many different things.

[13:12]

So whenever I like, I was skeptical as you know, when it came to your technique and also

[13:18]

when it came to the Wim Hof stuff, like the only reason why I jumped in the ice with the

[13:21]

Wim Hof stuff was to get someone off my back because they kept asking me, they're like,

[13:25]

well, you haven't tried this.

[13:26]

You haven't tried like and kept asking me.

[13:28]

I was like, oh my gosh, I just, all right, I'll get in the ice to make this person shut

[13:32]

up.

[13:33]

And then, you know, like, yeah, they worked in the ice.

[13:36]

Yeah.

[13:37]

Yeah.

[13:38]

And so you arrived and you were quite skeptical.

[13:39]

I also didn't know too much, right.

[13:40]

I was really starting, but I had done it a couple of times.

[13:43]

And so I thought, not too complex, like we can do this.

[13:47]

Like she's had a couple of concussions, especially as for me, it was at the time easier to do

[13:51]

someone who had had their migraine starting after puberty, which I made this massive assumption

[13:57]

about you.

[13:58]

And so you have these migraines and we started to eat the foods and you're very skeptical.

[14:03]

And then what happens, do you remember a little bit, like what some of these foods were and

[14:07]

how they made you feel?

[14:09]

I remember, um, like the, the licorice root.

[14:11]

Yeah.

[14:12]

Yeah.

[14:13]

Yeah.

[14:14]

Yeah.

[14:15]

Yeah.

[14:16]

Yeah.

[14:17]

Exactly.

[14:18]

That was something that I, I drank almost every day.

[14:19]

And then the other different types of tea as well that you, that you gave.

[14:23]

And yeah, I think that combined with, yeah, no, I mean, I don't know much about it.

[14:27]

Yeah.

[14:28]

Yeah.

[14:29]

So this is a great one.

[14:30]

I mean, I understand that, you know, like a woman needs to have a number of things in

[14:33]

place in order to be able to be given.

[14:35]

But once she drinks it, it's something that really helps specifically for that.

[14:39]

And I think I even gave it to you that day.

[14:41]

Yeah.

[14:42]

No, I think.

[14:43]

Yeah.

[14:44]

Yeah.

[14:45]

And you start to replenish it because that day you were not feeling great.

[14:46]

No.

[14:47]

Yeah.

[14:48]

You were not as you're, uh, you know, you were not with such an energy.

[14:51]

At that point, like 2019, I pretty much had a migraine six days a week.

[14:56]

Yes.

[14:57]

I mean, yeah.

[14:58]

And on any given day I had one and I was going through it.

[15:01]

So it was like a really tough year for me.

[15:04]

Uh, yeah.

[15:05]

And, and Georgia was really kind and she recommended you and I, you know, because I don't come

[15:08]

from New Zealand, I had no background on who you were.

[15:11]

And so I'm like, sure, come in.

[15:13]

I thought, Oh, she looks so gorgeous.

[15:15]

Let's just, you know, give her a great life back, you know, a life, fun, joy.

[15:21]

And yeah, I remember you being quite tired.

[15:23]

And I remember me giving you that tea and telling you, you can replenish it a couple

[15:27]

of times.

[15:28]

Yeah.

[15:29]

You went on and then probably you went, you were quite good fast.

[15:33]

Yeah.

[15:34]

I think so around the similar time.

[15:35]

So I think the combination of the foods that you were given, like prescribing me, which,

[15:40]

you know, I guess have unique nutrients in it that like you said, replenish certain parts

[15:44]

that you like that are maybe lacking.

[15:47]

And then you were doing Wim Hof at the same time.

[15:49]

Yeah.

[15:50]

About the similar time I jumped into the ice and you know, that didn't work straight away

[15:54]

either.

[15:55]

It was probably like, you know, six weeks or something, but then everything started

[16:00]

to work, you know, and I finally got, got my life back, which was amazing.

[16:04]

So I think it was around January, 2020, yeah, I said I was, I was more or less migraine

[16:11]

free.

[16:12]

So I, I'm now, and now I am pretty much like, you know, I get maybe one a month, but it's

[16:17]

super manageable and compared to five days a week, six days a week, it's just like, I

[16:22]

actually can be normal again.

[16:24]

Yeah.

[16:25]

That's amazing.

[16:26]

And then you got married and you had a nice and fun year and good 2021 in spite of everything.

[16:32]

Yeah, definitely.

[16:33]

It was, it was great.

[16:35]

Yeah.

[16:36]

It's just, it's been, I can get emotional talking about like that year because it's

[16:39]

just like, I wouldn't wish it on anyone, this sort of chronic, like what chronic pain does

[16:43]

to people.

[16:44]

There's not enough people, you know, almost talking about it.

[16:47]

And there are so many people suffering from chronic pain and it's not just people, you

[16:51]

know, suffering from migraines, which I know there's a lot of, but there's also people

[16:55]

who have endo and like, you know, it's just, and well, yeah, one of my best friends has

[17:00]

it and it's just brutal to, to watch it sucks the life out of you.

[17:04]

And it's also like completely, what's the word for it?

[17:08]

Like you can't see it on someone.

[17:09]

It's not like they have a broken leg and they're in a cast and you're like, oh, that sucks.

[17:12]

I'm sorry.

[17:13]

Yeah.

[17:14]

It's just nothing.

[17:15]

You don't know what they're going through and yeah, I just, it's awful.

[17:18]

Yeah.

[17:19]

Yeah.

[17:20]

It is an awful one.

[17:22]

And I've tried, but it's very complicated.

[17:26]

Like if it's taken very early, it can be contained once it's full on.

[17:30]

There's currently no miracle, but you know, quite positive at some point we will manage

[17:35]

to find something.

[17:36]

It's really important to work on women's health.

[17:38]

Are you able to, it's probably really difficult, but to like describe the difference, like

[17:44]

when you do wheel half, what does it do to your body?

[17:46]

How does it achieve versus when you eat some of the foods or, or they work really well

[17:51]

just together.

[17:52]

It's really hard to like, you know, separate one from the other or.

[17:56]

Yeah.

[17:57]

I think it's, I think both the combination is really, really good.

[18:01]

And what's cool about the combination is like, it's both natural and like, you know, it's

[18:05]

also really affordable.

[18:06]

You know, these foods that you're, you know, prescribing, you know, it's cheap and there's

[18:12]

so many expensive, you know, I guess treatments out there where you're spending thousands

[18:17]

of thousands of dollars and, and people do.

[18:19]

And I did because, you know, you're so desperate and to have come across, I guess, two types

[18:24]

of treatments for my migraines that I can, you know, really affordable is such a game

[18:28]

changer because I think that's a massive part of it.

[18:31]

Like if you're spending, you know, $150 on a session, you know, a couple of times a week

[18:36]

or something that would give me a migraine because you just, that money that's going

[18:40]

in that store, it's almost, that stresses you out.

[18:42]

Yeah.

[18:43]

So it's like.

[18:44]

It's very stressful.

[18:45]

Yeah.

[18:46]

And I think people don't.

[18:47]

Yeah.

[18:48]

So to, yeah.

[18:49]

No, I think I totally get it.

[18:50]

You know, like recently I was with someone and now we have a subscription fee and I could

[18:52]

feel it was putting strain on her and I'm like, I discount you.

[18:55]

Like the last thing I want to do is add stress to your life, like, cause you do, you do appreciate

[19:00]

that because usually they do a lot of additional things because the migraines don't always

[19:05]

come on their own.

[19:06]

So there's just more stacks of problem.

[19:08]

But it's still, you know, like even if that cost is small in comparison to what you'd

[19:12]

pay for, like, you know, even, even the really good acupuncture, it's like $200 a session

[19:17]

or whatever it is.

[19:19]

And the Wim Hof, like the Wim Hof is stuff is half in regards to what you physically

[19:24]

have to do and put yourself in like an ice bucket for five minutes.

[19:28]

It's not fun.

[19:30]

And often I laugh because it's the last resort for a lot of people, you know, it was the

[19:33]

last resort for me.

[19:34]

I was like, this is the last thing I want to do, you know?

[19:37]

It is still hard to do, but the feeling that you get afterwards is, is a game changer and

[19:43]

it's good for your mental health.

[19:44]

Just like the stuff that you're also working with.

[19:46]

It's not just one, you don't just fix one part of your body, you know, you fix a lot

[19:51]

of the different parts of the different aspects, including your mental health, because it's

[19:55]

all related, you know, like your guts related to your brain.

[19:57]

So.

[19:58]

And women, I must say now that I have, you know, I had many, many, many more women that

[20:03]

have your approach are much, much easier to help because when they take otherwise is

[20:08]

natural and they also are still in tune with their bodies.

[20:12]

When you've had a 30 years of medication life, you've like broken down lots of signals, things

[20:19]

you don't hear anymore as you need to almost restitch the communication and what's normal,

[20:24]

what's not normal in the rest of your body, in your transit, bowel movement, all of that.

[20:28]

And so lots of women are, have lost it.

[20:31]

But I find I love when women do something natural.

[20:34]

I know that spontaneously it's going to go much faster.

[20:35]

I don't remember the date exactly, but I think, I think that, that growing barrier thing was

[20:39]

in November, 2019.

[20:40]

So indeed probably took six weeks or like eight weeks for us to, to work that out together

[20:45]

with women health as well.

[20:48]

And that's, that's really fast in contrast with women who have had no choice but to leave

[20:53]

the medication.

[20:54]

Yeah.

[20:55]

And I've been down the medication route.

[20:56]

Like I went down it for a couple of months and it was not fun, you know, it was like

[21:01]

they put me on like a, it was like on the, you know, the nortriptyline, triptyline kind

[21:05]

of like family of medication.

[21:07]

And for me, like I was so desperate that I was like, like, you know, wanting to try everything.

[21:11]

Of course.

[21:12]

Yeah.

[21:13]

But it was, ended up like messing with my emotions so much that I was like, I would

[21:17]

rather have a migraine than feel like this sort of like depressed or anxious and all

[21:21]

this kind of stuff.

[21:22]

So for me, it just, it just wasn't for me.

[21:24]

But yeah, I really feel like, you know, I hit the nail on the head with these two types

[21:28]

of treatments.

[21:29]

And I think the combination is really, really cool.

[21:32]

Thank you so much for your time.

[21:33]

And thank you for those women.

[21:34]

Oh, maybe one last question.

[21:35]

You know, like I have different networks.

[21:38]

So I have the network of HBS women that I've studied with or alumni and they know I'm a

[21:42]

person and that if I do this, it's not because I, like I suddenly had a, I don't know, like

[21:48]

a weird idea and want to make money on people's back with migraines.

[21:52]

Like they think if I'm doing this, it means I found something.

[21:54]

Same with my former employer.

[21:57]

And women instantly trust me.

[21:59]

But I find on social media, there is so much stuff out there that it's much harder to,

[22:04]

for women who haven't been exposed to that, those networks, but are probably even, you

[22:10]

know, some of them very, very vulnerable in their family, in their work, like less of

[22:14]

them, you know, lose their job over their migraines.

[22:17]

What, you know, can you have a few words to them on things, I don't know, like how would

[22:23]

you express to your words to take sort of the path that you've taken on?

[22:29]

That's a long question.

[22:30]

With dealing, like, you know, like, I guess you mean trusting, I guess.

[22:35]

Trusting your own body first, I find that, you know, like some women, they say, oh, if

[22:39]

it doesn't work for me, I'm just going to suck it up and try harder or that medication

[22:43]

feels awful.

[22:44]

But I've been told that I'm just going to do that for longer or, because also people

[22:50]

tell them they're fine, they think they should feel fine, but they're not fine.

[22:55]

Yeah.

[22:56]

So over time, they just feel I'm really fine.

[22:58]

And so how, how would you help them to, what would you say to help them, like lead a life

[23:04]

of, yeah, of being quite natural or.

[23:07]

Yeah, I think you just, you have to just, A, be really kind to yourself.

[23:11]

I think that's something that, you know, I know I didn't do for a long time.

[23:16]

You wake up and you're angry, I was automatically angry at myself because I, my body was giving

[23:21]

me a migraine.

[23:22]

So I would like, you know, I would get to work and maybe I'd have to leave work because

[23:25]

I would get a really bad migraine and I would be angry and upset.

[23:28]

And I think that just doesn't help the situation at all.

[23:30]

So just for one, just being kinder to yourself is just really important.

[23:34]

And I think at the end of the day, like trying to get in tune with your body as much as possible

[23:40]

is the best way to figure out really works for you, whether it's like different types

[23:44]

of food or whether it's, you know, things like going for a walk in the mornings might

[23:49]

help this and like just those little things.

[23:51]

And at the end of the day, like, you know, I think you feel a lot better if you can take

[23:56]

a natural route, a natural pathway, just because you feel better inside almost, you know, but

[24:02]

at the same time, you know, you have to figure out what's right for you.

[24:04]

And sometimes medication is the right thing.

[24:06]

So it's just figuring out what's better.

[24:09]

But I personally really enjoy the fact that I don't have to, you know, take anything,

[24:14]

I guess, like any pharmaceutical kind of style drugs, you know.

[24:18]

It makes me feel good.

[24:20]

And at least for now, you know, I'm going to relish in that.

[24:22]

Yeah.

[24:23]

Who knows down the line, you know, you might have to, you know, go Western, but if you

[24:28]

don't have to, I think it's great not to.

[24:30]

Okay.

[24:31]

Well, thank you so much for your time.

[24:32]

We appreciate it.

[24:33]

No worries.

[24:34]

Sharing is caring.

[24:35]

So share this podcast with your loved ones or whomever it may help.

[24:46]

Follow us on social media to stay updated on our content.

[24:51]

And if you yourself suffer from migraines, then visit our website, mindingtownhealth.com

[24:57]

in order to take our free test and be assessed on your migraine.

[25:00]

All the best.

[25:01]

Stay well, stay healthy, and stay happy.

[25:03]

Yours, Diane.

[25:16]

Bye.

Originally published November 2023

Don’t miss an episode

Subscribe to the Migraine Heroes Podcast on your favorite platform and get evidence-based insights twice a week.

Back to Member Stories

Curious about the Migraine Heroes approach?

Discover your unique Migraine Profile—a clear picture of why recovery has been difficult. This report will shed light on the complexity of your migraines and reveal your healing potential.

Take Your Free Migraine Assessment