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Hello, this is the Migraine Heroes podcast, a podcast where we share real stories from
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real people suffering and battling with migraine disease.
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In this podcast, we seek to provide support, hope, holistic health advocacy, and inspiration
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for those who suffer from migraines.
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The content in this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered
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a substitute for medical professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
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Always consult with your health care provider for any health related concerns.
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And remember, everyone and every situation is unique.
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Hello, Amanda, thank you so much for making the time.
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Thank you for having me.
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Luca, thank you so much in the name of all of the women that are listening, you know,
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to take the time to share your experience.
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So how did your migraine journey start?
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I got migraines as long as I can remember.
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I just turned 31 this year.
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And I have had them since I was a little kid.
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I remember coming home, like I told you initially from birthday parties, coming home just ill.
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And then so many missed days of school, coming home just, well, I would call it sick because
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when you're young, you don't know what it is other than you're sick.
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But my grandma has suffered from migraines her whole life.
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So she kind of knew right away what was going on.
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So I would go to her house because she took a lot of care of me when I was younger.
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So explain to me, so you were in school.
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And so was it your daily routine that you would go to her home or?
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Yeah, quite often.
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Like I don't remember, this is kind of a two parter, because I remember you mentioning
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at some point, like a lot of times when children, like I can't remember if you said women or
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young children in general get migraines that can be set off with kind of a traumatic event.
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My mom, yeah, my mom kind of stepped out of my life when I was really young.
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And when you mentioned that when we first talked, that kind of was like, whoa, maybe
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that you know, those things started happening around the same time.
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So my daily routine was quite often going to, you know, staying at my grandparents house
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quite regularly, going to school from their house, and living with my mom, but not super
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Yeah, quite often I'd go to school from my grandparents and call my grandma during the
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day to come pick me up because I was sick.
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So oh, and so and so your grandmother was having migraines herself.
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And so she was, well, reminds me, was it the mom of your mom or the mom of your dad?
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The mom of my mom.
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The mom of your mom.
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So this is so, so kind and so beautiful.
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And she knew she would put a cold cloth on my forehead and cuddle me up on the couch,
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you know, turn the lights off, turn all the TVs down.
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And I just so many days I remember laying on her couch with that cold cloth on my head.
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Because she knew, right?
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She knows that she knew exactly what it was like.
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So oh, that is just so special.
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It's so special to be taken care of by a family member, someone who loves you very dearly
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to the bottom of their heart and who understands with true empathy.
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Yeah, it really helps.
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Oh, that's so, so special.
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And I just want to take a moment to there's a there's a concept of in the Anglican Church
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and I respect everyone's, you know, faith and preference.
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It just turns out that I am not Anglican, but I have found out that in the Anglican
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Church, there's a day that is called Mothering Sunday.
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And this is really special.
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It's at my daughter's school.
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And it's a day where you thank all of the people who mothered you in their life.
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Oh, wow, that's nice.
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And it's the act of mothering.
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And I find this is exactly what your grandma did for you.
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And it's a moment where you reflect on the on the people you that mothered you and on
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the people who you mother in spite of you not being their mom.
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Yeah, that is special to me, too, because I said, like, my mom kind of stepped out of
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And I was raised mostly by my dad after that.
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And I've had so many women through my life that I looked to as mothers.
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So that's really special.
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It's a very special feeling.
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And it's a it's beautiful.
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And I think, you know, sometimes it can be mom who does things and sometimes it can't
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And it's about the gratitude for the people who feels that place and that voice in a selfless
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Anyway, I just really want to acknowledge her.
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And it's beautiful, especially if she has them herself, then probably she would be much
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Sometimes when as a parent and I'm a parent, too, you know, maybe I sometimes I'm tired
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of hearing my child, you know, complained about the same thing and, you know, brush
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it over slightly faster.
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And so you're coming back from school.
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And so she put that cloth on your on your on your head.
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She would cuddle me up on the couch and, you know, put a cloth and close the curtains and
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do all that stuff that we we all know about.
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If we tell us what was all of that stuff.
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So put it on your head.
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She would pick me up from school and let me curl up on the couch and just, you know, when
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you when you have a migraine, you can't really I don't want to say function.
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You can't really function sometimes and you can't have a conversation.
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And she just knew what to do without me having to tell her.
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So she knew what I was going through and was able to help.
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So, you know, and there's yeah, it is really special because in that moment of pain, there's
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also a complete bond and a form of happiness to a form of peace, I guess.
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That's really, really, really special.
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And did she give you something special to eat?
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Would she give you a treat?
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I can't remember anything special to eat.
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Oh, chamomile tea, actually, you know, you know, it's so funny is I have never liked
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chamomile tea because when I think of the flavor, it reminds me of being sick.
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So when I started the program, that was actually one of the one of the teas I I love what it
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But the flavor of it still, it's a weird memory.
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I mean, she probably didn't know any specific things about it, but she did give me chamomile
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Oh, that's incredible.
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You know that there is a scientific paper that came out in 1985, and it was celebrating
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the benefits of Feverfew, which is the chamomile family of foods, a family of flowers for their
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benefits on migraines.
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So what we're seeing, we find it works on a large proportion of women.
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I can't remember exactly the numbers, but other other women will experience a few digestive
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So many very loose bowel movements and they couldn't understand exactly why.
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And in traditional Chinese medicine, chamomile is a very potent flower, but it will cool
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the digestive tract.
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That can be too aggressive for some women sometimes, oftentimes, especially when it's
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So it's probably also a defensive mechanism of saying, hey, not too much of that stuff.
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Completely, because probably at that age, you were not majorly suffering from, you know,
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some of the root causes that chamomile would help.
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So it maybe doesn't quite resonate.
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But that's still super, and the human body is funny like that.
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It knows and it has the instinct.
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And so you grew up, how does teenager years do for you?
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So I think like from teenagers to early 20s actually wasn't too bad.
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I think I remember getting, I would say they weren't too bad to the point that maybe one
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or two bad ones a year, like it really tapered off.
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But you know, when you get them, they're debilitating.
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So yeah, teens to early 20s, I remember going from work a couple times and just because
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I couldn't function, you know, and I knew it was a migraine.
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I don't remember them lasting very long at that point, like maybe a day.
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But yeah, it wasn't too bad for my teenagers to mid 20s or so.
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And then I'd say in my mid 20s to, or like mid to late 20s, they started kind of becoming
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And so when I had that, you know, the years from my teenage to mid 20s, I kind of forgot
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how much they suck because I wasn't getting them so often.
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But then I started getting them again.
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For a few years, it was probably every two weeks.
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Like I quite, it was like almost like on schedule.
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And I feel like when I first started the program, I thought, well, you know, I don't get them
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as often as some of these ladies, so I shouldn't, you know, but you guys really made me feel
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like, you know, it matters, even if it's not as frequent as some people.
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Because what it is, what it does happen, it's debilitating, right?
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And you always have that anxiety that it's going to happen.
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I mean, completely.
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And look, I mean, you know, when you say they don't last so long, a day or so, I mean, any,
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I would say any other human being who does not have a genetic predisposition for migraines
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and would have to stay in bed for, you know, like a day would not qualify.
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They can only last for a day, you can't believe it.
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And that's something, yeah, that's something I didn't really, you know, I wasn't really
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taking into account.
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Like, yeah, it's really even a day, like missing, you know, and I have quite a physical job
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and one day missing one day of work or life is awful, right?
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So yeah, for that point of my life.
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Let's stay in that phase of your life for a minute.
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So because indeed, if you're having them, you know, one day a month or let's say two
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days a month, you know, because it's once every two weeks, let's just say once for two
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days, it's quickly a month, a year, like it's just quickly becomes, you know, a 12 of your
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And after about 10 years, you've lost about a year.
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Like so it's just, it really quickly compounds.
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At some point when I was working, I would do the maths on how many days were lost to
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migraines and I stopped doing that.
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I thought it was not a very, I don't know, I didn't like the metric.
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It felt so terrible to read and to share.
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And so you're in those years where the pain is really strong again, the frequency increases.
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What goes through your mind?
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Well, one thing I was going to mention during all this time, even since I was young, I was
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taking like Advil and all that kind of stuff all the time.
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Like I remember knowing how to swallow pills since I was little because that's, you know,
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to help their headaches.
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And so through all these years up and, you know, up until now, not now until this started,
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but not only the stress of migraine, but then always worrying about how many pills you're
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taking, right, was a huge, a huge negative too.
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So, but yeah, it's really, you know, when I was getting them quite off, like I said,
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every month or two in my mid twenties, it was like, you just kind of live with it, right?
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Like what do you do?
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You know, and some people who don't get migraines don't understand that, you know, they'll say,
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oh, you know, I have this medication you can try.
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And it's like, you can't, you can't be taking narcotics and everything all the time.
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Like, it's just as bad.
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You have to miss work and miss your life if you're, you know, taking those kinds of drugs.
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And so, yeah, it's just kind of confusing and overwhelming and you just deal with it,
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Like, what are you going to do?
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Miss work all the time.
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And so, yeah, it was just overwhelming.
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Yeah, it is overwhelming.
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I think it's a very good, it's a very good word for it to describe the situation.
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And so in that phase, who is around you?
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So is your grandma still around you or is someone else?
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I live with my husband, so I'm married and we've lived together since we were 17.
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So my husband has been with me through all this.
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So he knows when I'm not feeling well.
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So he, sorry, I just wrote it down here so I didn't forget.
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Yeah, in my mid-20s, like I said, when I was giving them about every two weeks, he just
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kind of knew to leave, just leave me alone if I'm not feeling good.
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That was the best thing to do, right?
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What was the code?
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Like, he would, he would just, you know, see it from your visual expression or he would?
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I just say, just say, like, I'm getting a migraine, like, I'm just, you know, just going
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to do my own thing.
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And he would just, just be there to support if I need anything.
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But he knew that for me, the best thing was just leave me alone, let me sleep, you know,
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in a kind way, not leave me alone, but the best thing to do.
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And he would just take care of everything, take care of the dogs, you know, take care
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of the chores and stuff.
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So I found that to be a good, good combo for us.
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And that was your, your major emotional and physical support.
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Throughout that time.
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Sorry, my grandma, my grandma was around too, but she, you know, we lived separately, still
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in the same city at that point, but we lived separately.
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So I didn't see her, you know, I wasn't going to her house every day.
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And so, and so, and so you work and we're going to talk about that quite a little bit
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And so you work and, and you have these migraines and so you, you power through with pills that
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you always then carry in your bag or how do you, were there any of those?
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I would just power through, I really didn't ever take sick days because I kind of, which
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is really sad, you know, kind of before COVID, everyone was just taught to work no matter
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how ill you are, you know, which I think that's, that's one positive thing we all have taken
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from that, that time of life is that if you're unwell, stay home, you know, take care.
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So, but for many years I didn't, I didn't, I just power through migraines and yeah, always
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had Advil in my purse and took handful, like not handfuls, but the maximum dose every six
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And I, just cause I didn't feel there was anything to do, right.
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And I had, yeah, I, I did see my family doctor in my, in my old city and he gave me a, like
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a prescription medication at one point, but I didn't experiment with it very much.
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So I didn't really take it regularly.
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And you're based in Canada.
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We've completely omitted that.
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I grew up in Alberta, which in Calgary, Alberta is actually really notorious for a weather
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related migraines because the weather changes so severely.
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But now I'm on Vancouver Island and the weather is different and you don't get those weather
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migraines as often.
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And so, and so then how, how did you, how did you find me?
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How did you come across?
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So I, so like I said, so my mid twenties ish, it was quite regularly, but not super, super
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So when I had migraines, they were bad, but I just kind of dealt with them and powered
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through and thought, you know, like I said, well, it's only one day here and there, whatever.
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It's not as bad as before.
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But then I stopped July of 2022, I stopped using hormonal birth control, which is a whole
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nother long story, but I had been on it for 15 years.
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And then when I stopped taking that, I noticed my migraine severity came back like crazy.
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So pretty much multiple days a month, I would feel, I would call it a headache, but I think
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it was just like a, like a migraine always there, you know, and very few days a month
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where I would feel...
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Like constant, something constant and then spiky.
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Constant and spiky.
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And like, again, I just dealt with it.
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Like you just, you know, think it is what it is.
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So I dealt with that for, when did I start with you?
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So I probably almost a full year of more, way more frequent migraines, probably attributed
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to my menstrual cycle, I think, because I was off the birth control.
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So my hormones were changing regularly.
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So I had been thinking, talking with my massage therapist, because she's wonderful and she
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helps me so much with my pain and migraines.
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I've been talking with her and she said, maybe it's time to revisit your doctor about some
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And I, you know, I just was kind of feeling lost and not sure what to do.
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And you hear, I don't know, I just didn't want to become reliant on handfuls of medication.
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And so in the last year, I was again, back in the habit of taking Advil multiple times
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a week, even though it didn't really do anything and losing many days to pain, right?
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And not only getting a migraine, but then you have, once it goes away, like two, three,
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four days of that, like hangover feeling, you know, and major fatigue.
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And like, like I said, my job is quite physical.
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So that kind of fatigue while you're working is just awful.
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So just days and days of that.
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And so I found you because I follow Nicole Jardim on Instagram.
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And I like lots of her information.
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I think I found her because of the whole birth control.
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I saw birth control and she has lots of information for women.
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So then I saw that she did a podcast with you and I thought, well, you know, functional
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foods is something I'm interested in to begin with.
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I kind of feel at a little bit of a loss from, I don't want to say, say it in a mean way,
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but the medical system, I feel very failed with, with some past history stuff.
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So I was like, well, maybe this will be a good option to try.
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Why, why, let's just double click on it.
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Why were you interested in functional food?
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I've always been more holistically minded.
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I've been feeding my pets raw food or whole foods for years and years and years because
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we, because I'm a dog groomer and I've worked with so many people and just kind of learned
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through my friends on ways to feed your animals to make them better.
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Because a lot of the, you know, the vet route of things is antibiotics, steroids, kibbles,
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but it doesn't work.
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It doesn't seem to work.
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So because I, you know, kind of fed and treated my dogs that way and it's helped them.
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My one dog Misty is 15 years old, so she seems to be doing well for her age.
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So yeah, I knew, I knew a little bit about traditional Chinese medicine history from
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some podcasts and vets that I, some holistic vets that I studied.
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So I thought, well, it makes sense.
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It works for them.
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You know, if I take good care of my pets, you know, and my dogs and, you know, they're
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everything in my life.
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And I give them, I think, I think your dogs have a royal diet, like really good, really
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They don't eat like kibbles, like cereal for a dog, you know, so I, it doesn't do them
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any favors, especially if they're unwell to begin with.
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So yeah, that's kind of what put two and two together for me.
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And so it resonated and then you listened to that podcast.
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I think it's the, the first one I did with her or the second one?
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The one on nutrition?
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It was the first one because the second one I can't, I couldn't find.
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So I haven't listened to the second one yet, but I listened to the first one and I was
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She's like, when you talked about your friend, whose dad is a neurologist or something, and
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I was like, how is she like, it just doesn't, I just can't believe it, you know?
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And I thought, well, what's the harm in trying, you know, the quiz you have on the website?
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I thought, whatever, it's free to take the quiz or the test, I guess it's not really
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I thought, um, yeah, I'll just try and see.
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And that's how we met.
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That's how we met.
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And I thought, yeah, like what's, you know, it doesn't take any time or any effort to
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Um, and there's no, no loss.
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So I thought I would give it a try.
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I've suffered for so many years and thought like, if it doesn't work, what's, what's the
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worst thing that could happen?
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And then you and I met online.
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Um, do you remember that conversation?
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We met, we had a consult, the consult first, which was great on my birthday.
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Um, I remember it was on your birthday.
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And then you were like, you were referring to all these symptoms that I was like, wow,
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how does she, like, you were putting a story together of my life that I didn't even tell
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you if that makes sense.
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Cause like you knew all the symptoms and what, what caused them without me really telling
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Like this, this lady knows what's going on.
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So yeah, it was really interesting.
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With migraine disease, we only have each other to make a difference.
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If you know of someone suffering from migraine attacks, share this podcast with them.
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And I also vividly remember you, I, there's something I always loved about you was there's
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something about you that is extremely peaceful.
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And we talked about it last time we did your exit interview, like something so peaceful
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and special and calm and grounded.
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And I really thought to myself, okay, I mean, a walk in the park, like just, you know, yeah,
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very clear and, and, and yes, profoundly debilitating, but it's very, very possible to have someone
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And I loved, you know, your philosophy and I loved how, you know, we did talk about,
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you know, pets and my daughter always wanted to have dogs and my husband and my son are
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So we ended up with, with guinea pigs thinking it would be small problems.
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If you deviate from the diet of a guinea pig, you have a lot of problems.
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There's very strict rules on which vegetables and which foods are allowed and not allowed.
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And if you feed them just extra, like if you miss the proportion, you know, it gets out
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Whenever I cook in the kitchen, so they're, they're, they're close to the kitchen.
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Whenever I cook something in the kitchen and the ingredient is raw and pure, they squeak
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like there's no tomorrow, they want to eat, they want a piece of it, they want to eat.
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But whenever I open something that is processed, nothing, not interested, not interested, not
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It is very, very funny.
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Like, I think the biggest shock is with chocolate.
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So if I open like a, a Linz chocolates, like a, sorry to name a brand, but like just a,
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you know, a beautiful chocolate versus I open raw cacao, like ceremony cacao, like on the
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second one, they go bananas, like they go bunkers.
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They're like, I want that second food.
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And it's quite, yeah, yeah.
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It shows like our, you know, we need to trust not, you know, we see it in other creatures
[25:11]
and we think we don't listen to ourselves a lot of times when we have these, you know,
[25:15]
feelings and intuition, but we, we know it's true, right?
[25:19]
You see it happen in nature.
[25:20]
So yeah, I just had a good feeling about it when I heard the podcast and read the website
[25:27]
And I thought it makes sense to me because of the stuff that I know about Chinese medicine
[25:32]
and because I've seen it work in people's pets before.
[25:37]
And I mean, I have to say, it's been like a complete pleasure to working together.
[25:42]
You know, everything was smooth and peaceful and relaxed and gradual and very organic.
[25:50]
And you know, and it's an absolute pleasure, like just, you know, absolute delight to be
[25:59]
Well, I remember at the end of my first, my consult with you and you said, I promise you
[26:04]
this will be your last stop for migraines.
[26:07]
And I was like, wow.
[26:08]
And then when I talked to my husband about it before I signed up, I talked to him and
[26:13]
I said, like, I don't know if I should or, and it was like, why not?
[26:17]
You know, there's nothing I can lose and yeah, it's like, I just thought for my health, it's
[26:28]
It's, it's, it's beautiful.
[26:30]
And ask their partner because they say, look, if this is true, how come not everyone's talking
[26:40]
And the reality is, it's very like, everything is very seamless from the app perspective
[26:45]
and it looks like no effort almost from the backend.
[26:49]
It's a ton of effort.
[26:50]
Like there's just a ton of rules, a ton of, a ton of work going beyond the scenes to,
[26:56]
to just make it seamless and make it peaceful.
[26:58]
And look, we do look forward to collaborating with universities.
[27:03]
I studied at Harvard.
[27:04]
I would love to, you know, collaborate with neurologists there to, to share the science
[27:09]
of what we're learning.
[27:11]
And I'm sure it will come in time.
[27:13]
Everything comes with patience.
[27:16]
You know, I think it's big, it's saying people overestimate what they can do in a year and
[27:20]
they underestimate what they can do in 10.
[27:23]
I think for this one, it's going to take 10 or 15, like it's a long, it's a long road,
[27:28]
but it's a road that, you know, I'm just so keen to march because women are so lost
[27:34]
and so desperate and so vulnerable.
[27:38]
And so it's important work.
[27:41]
So I appreciate it.
[27:42]
And that's why I thought too, when I heard it on the podcast, I thought, well, this,
[27:45]
you know, the way that one of the big things for me was the way that programs like this
[27:50]
can and research like this can get better is by more people doing, participating, right?
[27:56]
So I thought I got it.
[27:57]
I have to participate for everyone, not just for me, right, but to just to get more information
[28:05]
available for everyone.
[28:07]
And it's in that spirit that it means the world that we're doing this podcast.
[28:12]
Women are incredibly vulnerable.
[28:15]
And I massively empathize.
[28:18]
There's so many different solutions.
[28:20]
And because a woman and because migrants are very plural.
[28:24]
It's normal that whenever someone found something that worked for them, they will want to develop
[28:29]
But but but the reality is everyone's different and everyone's migraines within a single day,
[28:36]
within a single month are also different.
[28:39]
And so something that may work once or twice might not work the other time.
[28:44]
So here we're trying to have a holistic view of all of the types of migraines that you
[28:48]
can have and what to do with each of these solutions and and teach that back to you.
[28:53]
And I find that so true because I've had since I've been doing this, I've been open with
[28:58]
my friends who are who've asked about it and they'll say, well, what are you eating?
[29:03]
What are you having?
[29:04]
And I explain it, but I say it's different.
[29:06]
It's not like I can give you my list and say, here, do this.
[29:09]
It'll cause your migraines, right?
[29:11]
So that's why it's completely true.
[29:14]
It's very, very, very true because it's it's about that for a minute.
[29:21]
You imagine, imagine, and now I'm like addressing myself to the audience as well.
[29:25]
Imagine Amanda's migraines were like an onion and we have to unpeel one peel at a time,
[29:33]
but by order and for a certain time.
[29:36]
And how fast Amanda bounced back is a reflection of the presence or the absence of medication.
[29:43]
Yes, Amanda was taking Advil, but she wasn't taking like other medications that can be
[29:49]
a lot more aggressive.
[29:51]
And so that leads the body to absorb certain foods at a certain speed.
[29:55]
Amanda's age, Amanda's gastric juices, Amanda's ethnicity, all of that will in an environment,
[30:02]
all of that will make it that she's going to progress at a certain speed.
[30:05]
And so she's going to need a certain quantity and time, which is going to defer and be very
[30:10]
unique versus other people.
[30:14]
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
[30:15]
And so when women join, I always tell them your app is your app is just you like the
[30:19]
way you're going to do this is going to be different than anyone else.
[30:26]
And it's just in which order the body tries to or decides to repair different systems
[30:31]
is, you know, very, very unique.
[30:34]
Well, that's the same way.
[30:37]
It's definitely taught me a lesson of not, I really try not to tell people, try this,
[30:42]
do that, because we're all different.
[30:43]
So it's definitely taught me, you know, a bit of a, be a little bit more compassionate
[30:48]
with others and what they're going through and listen to what works for them, because,
[30:51]
you know, what works for me doesn't necessarily work for everyone else to write.
[30:55]
So there's lots of things that work for lots of people and not for certain ones.
[31:04]
And so, look, from the bottom of my heart, I want to I want to thank you.
[31:09]
I believe that you want to share with us like the name of your business.
[31:12]
Oh, my business is called Peace, Love and Paws.
[31:16]
I've always had this obsession with peace signs and peacefulness.
[31:20]
And yeah, so when you were chatting last time and you said, oh, there's just an air of peacefulness,
[31:26]
I thought, oh, that's so cute.
[31:28]
Yeah, yeah, completely.
[31:30]
Like there's so much peace coming from Amanda.
[31:32]
You really feel, I feel you really embody a generation of wisdom and kindness to others
[31:41]
and to to the animal kingdom as well, as well as humans and the earth.
[31:48]
And I love that about you.
[31:50]
And I just really want to thank you for the beautiful energy that you're going to carry
[31:55]
and all of the the love that you give to, you know, you know, those pets and those pet
[32:06]
I try to make a difference just like you with women.
[32:08]
I just, you know, if like you say, if you can help one person, it's all worth it.
[32:14]
So I thought I was really nervous to do a podcast.
[32:16]
I've never done one before, but I thought, oh, I just have to do it just to get the word
[32:22]
So thank you so much.
[32:26]
I just feel so good.
[32:29]
I don't know if I can speak on that or if you are.
[32:33]
So I started on my birthday, September 4th.
[32:37]
I think we got me started the next day or something.
[32:39]
And all of all of the foods, you know, what kind of made me think, wow, this is legitimate
[32:47]
is you didn't sign me up and then send me a huge list of products that you sell.
[32:52]
You know what I mean?
[32:53]
Sometimes you say, right, you sign up for something and then hereby are thousands of
[32:58]
dollars of products.
[32:59]
And then it's like, well, they kind of have a different incentive.
[33:01]
But you guys don't you don't have that at all.
[33:06]
So everything that I had been taking to help me has been able to buy from the grocery store,
[33:14]
And that's the kind of healing I was looking for, because I didn't want to be always relying
[33:18]
on, you know, you get sucked into buying this product for the next 30 years and it's overpriced
[33:26]
But I've just been able to add a little bit of things to my grocery bill that have been
[33:33]
So that's been a huge bonus for me.
[33:41]
And it's it's and you know what?
[33:42]
A lot of people said, oh, you know, maybe you send also boxes, there's a lot of money
[33:47]
to be made on books.
[33:51]
I'm trying to do it.
[33:53]
So I have women across the globe.
[33:54]
So if we need to do that sustainably, we need three distribution centers, one in North America,
[33:59]
one in Asia and one in Europe.
[34:00]
There's no way I can manage that, at least not yet.
[34:03]
I think if we do it one day, it's for the sake of the sake of convenience and maybe
[34:10]
availability, because some stuff is a little bit harder to find.
[34:16]
Some things are it can be harder to find.
[34:22]
And it's after a couple of weeks, I'm like saying to my husband, like I just to not feel
[34:28]
You feel like you don't notice any difference because nothing is happening, because you
[34:33]
So I think the first the first big sign to me was before, like I had when I first started
[34:40]
with you, I had a bad migraine right at the beginning.
[34:43]
But I think like that was just a couple of days in before anything had really started.
[34:49]
But I was able to come out of that within like five hours and no migraine hangover.
[34:53]
And I was like, what?
[34:55]
You know, taking lime peel infusion and just sleep and I was able to wake up.
[35:01]
I've never in my life been able to come through a migraine like that.
[35:06]
And then since then, I've had no zero major zero migraines.
[35:12]
I've had a couple times where I've woken up and felt a little bit tingly, I call it.
[35:18]
And I've been able to touch base with you guys on the app and say, this is how I'm feeling.
[35:22]
What do you guys think?
[35:25]
And you've been able to just help me out and say, try this, try that and not haven't wasted
[35:31]
any of my time being sick.
[35:33]
So it's just been incredible.
[35:35]
Oh, I like it just makes me so, so happy.
[35:39]
You know, I do that all day long, but I'm only on my side of the spectrum.
[35:44]
I don't see my day to day life.
[35:46]
Yeah, it's been really helpful.
[35:49]
And I find I'm not, it's funny, the last two menstrual cycle, I guess the last two periods
[35:55]
I've had, I haven't even had any symptoms coming up to them.
[36:01]
I'm very blessed that I, I have a good cycle and I don't suffer with what a lot of women
[36:08]
So I empathize for women who suffer badly with bad periods and PMS, but I always would
[36:15]
get low energy and kind of cranky and headache for three, four days.
[36:22]
But the last few periods I've had, it's like, whoa, okay, it's that time already.
[36:26]
Like I've had no, no warning, just good, you know, it's amazing.
[36:36]
It's almost like your cycles completely flat, like you can do whatever you want, whenever
[36:46]
I can completely relate to that.
[36:48]
It's just been really cool and it's been, been so cool to be able to experience things
[36:53]
in my life where I'm not like, okay, well this event is coming up and I hope I don't
[36:59]
And then the whole week before a certain event, you're just anxious hoping that you don't
[37:04]
Like I haven't had any of that anxiety or anything, which is huge.
[37:08]
So I've gone to, you know, a couple of different things, events with friends and not have the
[37:16]
So really amazing.
[37:18]
That's really, really cool.
[37:19]
That's really cool.
[37:20]
So among your friends and your family, did anyone notice?
[37:23]
So what is your husband's reaction?
[37:27]
And did people comment or say stuff?
[37:32]
Well, my husband can tell that because I'm feeling better in general.
[37:37]
And I, you know, I can't remember if I may have mentioned it in the app that I took a
[37:43]
I don't really take selfies very often, but I took one and posted it on my Instagram and
[37:47]
my husband messaged me and he said, even your skin is looking clearer, clearer these
[37:59]
So even in the app, we have what is called a symptoms tracker or image tracker.
[38:04]
And this is for acne and fungal acne and eczema.
[38:09]
And so skin is, is usually always improved, but not, not everyone notices.
[38:15]
Because I see you like this, you look with a complete glue, you know, I can't know, but
[38:24]
I love that he commented on that.
[38:26]
It looked, my skin looked clear.
[38:27]
So, but he definitely notices the difference because I'm with him.
[38:30]
We live together, so we're together all the time.
[38:33]
And I, yeah, it's hard to say if anyone's made any point, because I'm the one telling
[38:40]
everyone else how good I feel.
[38:41]
So they just, you know, have been listening to that.
[38:45]
And so they feel you're energetic and yeah, it's, it's funny for me, it's, it's, I meet
[38:52]
the woman in the first conversation, but I really feel I meet her in the second one.
[38:58]
And it's that, I don't know, that life force, that enthusiasm, that, you know, ideas that
[39:05]
looking forward to life, yesterday I was on, you know, with a woman and she said, if
[39:14]
I don't wake up tomorrow, I'm thinking it doesn't matter.
[39:19]
Not because, not because it's extremely sad.
[39:22]
And she says, not because I, I'm a depressed person and no, I'm like, I have so many reasons
[39:28]
to be alive and so many reasons to be happy and I have an incredible family, but I'm in
[39:34]
That's how I go to bed.
[39:38]
And so it's, it's amazing to see like the sharp contrast and see, okay, where's the from and
[39:42]
what's the to, and for me, it's a huge contrast as a person, because I feel in the app.
[39:48]
It's funny, there's Jess, you know, like, you know, I remember the first time it happened
[39:54]
to me, I said to the woman, it's funny, you're a lot more bubblier.
[39:57]
I feel I'm getting to know you for the first time.
[39:59]
And she said, yeah.
[40:01]
My dad said, oh my God, you're back.
[40:08]
Because it's that feel, like how we lose our personalities, you know, when, when all of
[40:14]
And, you know, with the, so much stigma behind migraine, just like, just like so many chronic
[40:18]
diseases, you know, people think they don't realize how, how ill you feel.
[40:24]
And then they see you missing social functions and missing this and not doing that.
[40:28]
And they think, you know, yeah, your personality seems different, but they don't realize how
[40:33]
sick you are until you're better.
[40:35]
And then you're back to feeling, I don't know, back to yourself.
[40:39]
So it's pretty amazing.
[40:43]
Is there anything else that you'd like to discuss about that we haven't covered?
[40:46]
I think I feel good.
[40:49]
I just feel so good these days.
[40:50]
And I, um, it was interesting too, when I talked to you about on the exit interview
[40:55]
and I said, so what do I do now?
[40:57]
And you said your body is in balance, like just continue to eat healthy, try different
[41:02]
You gave me a list of a couple of things, a couple of foods, um, to, to have, if things
[41:08]
are feeling a little bit off, um, which is great.
[41:12]
And, uh, yeah, it's, it's what I like about this too.
[41:16]
Like I said, with, it's not like you're stuck in a program where you're paying for products
[41:20]
for the rest of your life.
[41:21]
Like all I'm doing now is adding items to my grocery cart from my local stores.
[41:29]
So the fact that it's, and we've been doing this three months, I guess, so that's pretty
[41:35]
It was quite fast.
[41:38]
It was, it was really cool and really fast.
[41:39]
And, and so, um, and so indeed, indeed, what happens is of course your genetic is your
[41:43]
genetic and that's to be embraced, I think is not, you know what, if your firearm goes
[41:49]
on again, then it means there's something and investigate and try to use your intuition.
[41:54]
What did I change recently?
[41:56]
What changed in my body?
[41:57]
And it might be, you know, um, hormonal or something, but, but just trying to just listen
[42:02]
and, and, and correct it.
[42:04]
And if you correct it really early, it's, it's swift and look, and if you ever find
[42:09]
yourself, um, trapped and you see, oh, Deanne, I, I thought I was in the right direction,
[42:14]
I lost, I lost the plot.
[42:15]
Just text us in the app.
[42:22]
And if you ever need something, just pop a, pop a chat and, and we'll be there in no time
[42:28]
You guys are the best.
[42:29]
And that's something I've learned too, is I've learned a lot more to listen to myself
[42:32]
and feel, you know, my own feelings and see and make better choices that helped me a lot
[42:39]
So it's been good.
[42:42]
And one more quick thing I'll tell you that was really fantastic.
[42:45]
Um, I haven't drank alcohol in like years because it causes migraines.
[42:50]
Um, most of the time, like it's, it's like a rule that you don't know if it's going to
[42:54]
put you out for three days and, uh, most people nowadays, people are quite respectful of people
[43:01]
Um, but it's never been a, because I thought alcohol was bad, but it's just been difficult
[43:07]
But, um, so I haven't drank in years aside from like a sip here, there.
[43:11]
And then a couple of weeks ago, I thought, okay, I don't have anything to do tomorrow.
[43:15]
I'm going to try and have a drink.
[43:17]
And I had like one vodka soda.
[43:20]
I thought, I just want to be able to have one socially here and there.
[43:24]
And I said to my husband, I'm going to try.
[43:27]
And if I get a migraine, like, you know, it's not something I want to do all the time.
[43:31]
And I felt fine the next day.
[43:36]
I want to drink all the time, regularly.
[43:40]
This is the best share.
[43:42]
To go to a friend's and have one drink and not ruin my next three days support is really
[43:52]
Thank you so much for sharing that.
[43:53]
And I'll tell you a little, a little, uh, context and history, you know, um, on triggers.
[43:59]
So initially I did not want ever to put triggers on the app because exactly of the reason you're
[44:03]
mentioning, the triggers are only triggers now because your body can't process something.
[44:10]
And so over time you're able to process it.
[44:12]
Um, but, um, in my second year or something doing this, um, I had a woman go through three
[44:18]
days of migraines because she had eaten a pad thai, you know, like pad thai, right?
[44:23]
Like it was just a spicy bowl of noodles.
[44:26]
Then she had eaten that.
[44:27]
And after she had this massive, massive three days migraine, and I said, Oh, I feel so responsible.
[44:32]
And I said, Oh my God, spicy food.
[44:34]
I could have told her, I knew, I knew, but probably she doesn't know it's a trigger.
[44:38]
Whereas alcohol, she might know like, Oh, I, and I feel really guilty.
[44:42]
And I thought, Oh my God, she just lost three days of her life because you know, I didn't
[44:47]
And so afterwards I put triggers, um, as a list in the app.
[44:51]
Um, but it's written on top triggers are not forever.
[44:55]
This is currently a list of foods that we make your migraines.
[45:00]
And, again, that's very, very personal, and it's customized for everyone.
[45:04]
But it came from that.
[45:06]
And the reason why it's not forever, it means like, hey, you know what?
[45:10]
You might be able to have a glass of alcohol again, so don't ban it.
[45:14]
I'm not in favor of alcohol, but like you say, sometimes you just, you know,
[45:18]
lots of women, they say, you know, I do all of the right things.
[45:22]
I stop drinking alcohol, I eat vegetables, I go to the gym, I do yoga,
[45:27]
I meditate, and I have migraines.
[45:28]
And my partner, like, he drinks, and he doesn't sleep right, and he's just
[45:36]
being really naughty, and he's completely healthy.
[45:39]
I find it just incredibly, like, incredibly puzzling and frustrating.
[45:45]
And so, yeah, so triggers are not forever.
[45:50]
There are triggers in that moment, in that state of being.
[45:54]
Yep, that was just another little fun thing I tested out during the end of this.
[45:59]
I thought, I'm just going to try, so.
[46:02]
Really good, really good.
[46:07]
Well, thank you so much for all of that, Cher.
[46:09]
Thank you for everything.
[46:10]
I so appreciate this, and I appreciate what you're doing for all the women
[46:14]
who need help, because there's lots and lots and lots of us.
[46:18]
And I think a lot of us who suffer with migraines have tons of friends who also
[46:23]
suffer, you know, so it's really, really hard.
[46:27]
I wish you, and I wish this podcast, you know, eternity to help women in pain.
[46:35]
Thank you so much for everything.
[46:38]
Thank you, Amanda.
[46:40]
Remember, sharing is caring.
[46:43]
Share your story with me.
[46:45]
Take my free test, and let's connect to help you gain a deeper understanding
[46:50]
of your migraine profile.
[46:52]
Learn about the underlying imbalances that could be contributing to your
[46:56]
genetic predisposition for migraines.
[46:59]
Join our community of migraine heroes.
[47:02]
All the links in the description below.
