Migraine Heroes
Portrait of Sylvie smiling, with long brown hair and a sleeveless black top against a plain white background.
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Sylvie

46 years old, New Zealand

25 min

Self-reported migraine

At start:

8 days/month

After 5 months:

2 days/month

What changed

Went unpredictable vertigo attacks to going back to a party after resting for two hours.

Join us as we unravel the layers of Sylvie's resilience migraine journey, providing insights and inspiration for individuals facing the challenges of a migraine condition.

Highlights: 💡 Sylvie's Migraine Journey: From the onset during her beach volleyball days in Sydney to the persistent challenges, including blurred vision and the urgency of taking a break in a darkroom. 💡 Battling Anxiety and Disruptions: Her constant fear of migraines, impacting daily life with canceled plans and driving restrictions. 💡 Struggles and Lifestyle Adjustments: Sylvie's efforts with medication, and understanding the importance of staying observant in handling triggers, including alcohol intake. 💡 The Power of Intuition: Exploring the loss of intuition when relying on pills to silence symptoms and Sylvie’s discovery of the ability to reach migraine relief by understanding oneself and intervening at different stages.

00:00
-25:00
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.

[00:15]

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

[00:22]

for those who suffer from migraines.

[00:25]

Bonjour, Sylvie.

[00:28]

Salut, Diane.

[00:31]

Merci beaucoup.

[00:33]

Thank you so much for having me at your place.

[00:36]

Yeah, thank you.

[00:39]

So today we're here to discuss about your migraines and how they started.

[00:42]

Thank you so much for taking the time.

[00:44]

And you know what?

[00:45]

To take the time for women who actually suffer and sometimes have a bit of self-doubt, to

[00:49]

just really share very personally and candidly your experience with migraines.

[00:54]

So let's dive right in.

[00:55]

Where did that migraine journey start for you?

[00:59]

So I remember my first migraine being when I was living in Sydney.

[01:03]

I used to love playing beach volleyball in the morning, and I would go and spend two

[01:08]

or three hours playing volleyball, sometimes not eating or drinking very much.

[01:13]

So you know, I've just been too excited to play.

[01:16]

And definitely I remember that's when it started feeling really ill.

[01:23]

You know, I had terrible blurred vision, and then I would pretty much have to go home straight

[01:27]

away and put myself in a dark room, in a cold room, cold and dark room.

[01:32]

I definitely noticed a pattern that it was when I wasn't drinking, drinking enough or

[01:38]

not having breakfast.

[01:39]

So very, very quickly I started paying attention to that and actually not exercising in the

[01:45]

morning unless I had these two things sorted.

[01:49]

And so these games, you were going every week?

[01:52]

Yes, I used to do every Sunday.

[01:54]

Yeah.

[01:55]

Okay.

[01:56]

Exciting with friends?

[01:57]

Yes.

[01:58]

Well, actually I make friends through it because I just love volleyball.

[02:00]

And you know, I met a lady, we became partners.

[02:04]

She was from the Netherlands.

[02:05]

She was amazing.

[02:06]

We started playing together, yeah.

[02:07]

And so how long did they last for normally?

[02:09]

It would be like, we start at 9am and we finish around 1pm sometimes.

[02:13]

Okay.

[02:14]

Wow.

[02:15]

And then you play and then you stop and then you play and then you stop, you know, it's

[02:17]

not like the whole time.

[02:19]

And so did it become a pattern that you need to stop and go home?

[02:22]

Yeah, yeah.

[02:23]

Pretty much every week really.

[02:24]

Eventually, I would have to go home, yeah, because I just felt awful.

[02:29]

And I knew the headache would come and I would just have to go home and I would have to lie

[02:32]

down for a few hours on my Sunday, which wasn't great.

[02:36]

And so how were your friends responding?

[02:38]

Well, at first she didn't really understand, you know, why.

[02:43]

I think she did notice a pattern and she knew, especially in the summer, it was really hot.

[02:48]

That's what would happen.

[02:49]

And then, you know, a lot of people say it would be you get sunstroke, you know?

[02:53]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[02:54]

So you were like, oh, is it sunstroke or, you know, that's what I thought, you know,

[02:57]

this is my fault.

[02:58]

I haven't drunk enough water.

[02:59]

I haven't looked after myself.

[03:00]

Yeah.

[03:01]

Even though I was always wearing big hats and all that, I was, you know, I was trying to

[03:04]

be sense conscious, but I still, yeah.

[03:08]

And so at that time, did you think of them as a headache or as migraines or whatever?

[03:14]

Yeah, I thought it was just headaches, really.

[03:17]

Yeah.

[03:18]

Dehydration.

[03:19]

I thought it was a dehydration, sunstroke headache.

[03:20]

I just, I didn't really say, oh, I'm having migraine.

[03:24]

It's just I thought, you know, I'm not used to this Australian sun and this is what happens.

[03:29]

Had you been exposed to other people with migraines or not so much?

[03:33]

No, not really.

[03:34]

No one ever talks about them.

[03:35]

My parents definitely didn't, never had migraine.

[03:38]

And my sister, I know since now, I know because we discussed it, that she has a few migraines

[03:42]

in there, but not when we were growing up.

[03:44]

So.

[03:45]

Okay.

[03:46]

Okay.

[03:47]

Very good.

[03:48]

And so how does it continue to evolve or does it stop?

[03:50]

Yeah.

[03:51]

So then I, I remember doing, having the migraines, obviously now it's migraine when I was playing

[03:56]

beach volleyball, but then I went and moved to Hong Kong and then no problem there.

[04:00]

I wasn't exercising as much, I guess it was not as much sun.

[04:05]

So I don't really remember really having migraines there.

[04:08]

And then I had my children, everything's good.

[04:11]

And then just really recently it starts again.

[04:14]

Yeah.

[04:15]

I started noticing that it was definitely a passion.

[04:18]

Yeah.

[04:19]

And then becoming quite anxious about when the next, next one will come or if I have

[04:23]

a very busy day, I'm like, oh my God, I hope today I'm not going to get the migraine or

[04:27]

if you have a long drive or something like that, I've become quite anxious about it.

[04:30]

Yeah.

[04:31]

And why anxious?

[04:32]

Because you know that once it hits you, you just can't do anything.

[04:36]

And I think particularly for me, because I had an experience when I was driving and I

[04:39]

had to actually ask somebody else to drive for me.

[04:43]

And you know, if you have your children in the car and you're driving somewhere for three

[04:45]

hours, I can't ask my 11 year old to drive for me.

[04:49]

And then all of a sudden you're in the middle of nowhere and you, you know, and if you have

[04:52]

a migraine, you actually can't drive because I get the blue vision.

[04:56]

I can't see, you know, it's just, yeah.

[04:59]

So that's become a bit of a problem.

[05:01]

And can you describe the blurred vision?

[05:03]

Yeah.

[05:04]

So first, that's what happens.

[05:06]

You can see little dots coming from my right hand side of my right eye.

[05:11]

I can see and I know, I was like, oh no, it's coming, oh, it's going.

[05:15]

And then, then it becomes more and more so that actually you feel like you need to close

[05:19]

one of the eye because you can't barely see through them.

[05:22]

You wear sunglasses, try to help.

[05:24]

Then very quickly I start having a queasy, you know, it's becoming really painful in

[05:28]

my tummy.

[05:29]

I'm squeezing a queasiness, like I'm going to be, I'm going to be vomiting.

[05:33]

So I know I just have to go into a dark room and just wait it out, which could be, usually

[05:38]

it takes all day and all night and then in the morning you still feel really exhausted

[05:43]

and not a hundred percent yourself, but at least you can function again.

[05:46]

Yeah.

[05:47]

Yeah.

[05:48]

Yeah.

[05:49]

And how do, I mean, does it sometimes happen when you have your kids and how?

[05:52]

Yeah.

[05:53]

I mean, I'm very lucky.

[05:54]

I've got a lady, I've got a nanny.

[05:57]

So fortunately when it happened to me, she was around so she could take care of my children.

[06:02]

But yeah, I just don't know how people have a husband that works and have no help and

[06:06]

no family around.

[06:07]

Yeah.

[06:08]

I don't.

[06:09]

Yeah.

[06:10]

I just.

[06:11]

It's really, really hard.

[06:12]

Yeah.

[06:13]

Especially if you have young children.

[06:14]

Yeah.

[06:15]

I mean, it didn't really happen to me when my children were young.

[06:16]

They're a bit older now, but, and now I know my kids, like I said, you know, sometimes

[06:18]

I want to do something with them and I said, we're going to go and do something.

[06:21]

And then all of a sudden it hits me and I said, I'm sorry, I can't, I've got, I've got to

[06:24]

migrate.

[06:25]

I just can't do it today.

[06:27]

Yeah.

[06:28]

Oh, you're going to migrate again?

[06:29]

You sick again, mom?

[06:30]

And they don't really understand because they never, they never get that.

[06:33]

They don't understand what it means.

[06:35]

Yeah.

[06:36]

No.

[06:37]

I think it's a deaf dialogue.

[06:38]

Yeah.

[06:39]

Yeah.

[06:40]

Yeah.

[06:41]

I find my grandmother has migraines.

[06:42]

And even though everyone loves her in the family, it's like, oh, granny went for a nap.

[06:45]

She has a migraine.

[06:46]

And I think this is quite a stigma, even within a family.

[06:51]

Yeah.

[06:52]

Even within a family.

[06:53]

Yeah.

[06:54]

Even my husband who's had a migraine.

[06:55]

So your, your husband had?

[06:58]

Yeah.

[06:59]

Yeah.

[07:00]

He used, he used to have migraine.

[07:01]

I haven't seen.

[07:02]

Oh, well, one day I was in the office not a long time ago with him and he did say, oh,

[07:05]

I've got a migraine.

[07:06]

And straight away he took like lots of pills and then go and lie down and he's got a cell

[07:09]

phone in his office and he just lies down with something on top of him.

[07:13]

So he's got no light.

[07:14]

Yeah.

[07:15]

And then within two hours he wakes up and then you feel like he can continue his day.

[07:18]

Not great, but definitely that's the way he, he handles it.

[07:24]

So for him, when I started having migraine probably in the last two years, more regularly

[07:28]

he keeps saying just as soon as you see it, it's coming, it's coming to you, just take,

[07:33]

you know, a few pills and then go and lie down and you'll be fine.

[07:36]

Yeah.

[07:37]

Which I tried, but it didn't really work for me.

[07:39]

So if you try, so if, let's say you have that aura and then you need to go in a dark room,

[07:46]

when do you take the medication and what happens?

[07:49]

Yeah.

[07:50]

So as soon as you see the aura, well that's what they say, you take, um, so which I have

[07:54]

now in my car with me because I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm really scared about it to happen while

[07:59]

I'm driving the children or anything like that.

[08:00]

So I've got ibuprofen or norepinephrine and then I've got some paddle and my husband say

[08:05]

just take two of each, which is quite a lot, especially for somebody like me.

[08:09]

I actually don't take any pain relief normally.

[08:12]

Yeah.

[08:13]

Um, so I, yeah, so I've tried that.

[08:14]

He said, as soon as you see it, you feel it coming, boom, you take them straight away

[08:18]

and then you try to get home and lie down.

[08:21]

Um, which I, yeah, as I said, I tried, but it's sure I, maybe it made me go to go to

[08:26]

sleep because I'm not used to take painkillers.

[08:28]

So it definitely sent me to sleep.

[08:30]

But when I wake up, you know, later on, I still have it.

[08:33]

I feel really awful in my tummy and the following day I still feel completely out of it.

[08:38]

Yeah.

[08:39]

So it doesn't really work for me.

[08:41]

Yeah.

[08:42]

You're feeling a bit like medication hangover.

[08:43]

Yeah.

[08:44]

Yeah.

[08:45]

I just, I mean, obviously you're really tired from your having a migraine, but yeah, medication

[08:50]

doesn't really help.

[08:51]

Yeah.

[08:52]

And so then do you need to cancel things then?

[08:55]

Yes.

[08:56]

I have canceled.

[08:57]

Um, well, like I said, like sometimes I'm not there for my children because, you know,

[09:01]

I promised them to do something that I can't, um, I had, I had this instance where I had

[09:07]

a friend that I brought, um, to my, to, um, to type of, you know, to give her a bit of

[09:13]

a nice time.

[09:14]

And halfway through we actually, I start having a migraine.

[09:17]

I have to ask her to finish the travel for me.

[09:19]

I asked her to drive an hour and a half.

[09:21]

She was a bit nervous about that.

[09:22]

Yeah.

[09:23]

And then we got to, we got to destination and then I had this great play, great day planned

[09:27]

for her and I couldn't do any of it.

[09:30]

I said, I'm sorry, I've got a migraine.

[09:31]

I just have to go and lie down.

[09:32]

So that was a real disappointment.

[09:34]

Um, and, and yeah, so recently as well, I just, um, I, as you know, I've, I've lived

[09:40]

in Hong Kong for 10 years and I've got all these amazing friends in Hong Kong who's become

[09:44]

my family and quite a few of us were here in New Zealand.

[09:47]

So we decided to do this big party and had caterers and all that.

[09:50]

It was, I was so looking forward to that night.

[09:52]

I was so excited and, and, and so I went and, and my husband always said to me, I'm a bit

[09:59]

boring because I don't drink enough alcohol.

[10:00]

So I thought, oh, tonight I'm going to, I'm going to have a great time.

[10:03]

I'm going to have a bit more to drink and be a bit silly and, you know, let my head

[10:08]

down and have fun anyway.

[10:09]

So I had a couple of champagne that night and boom, straight away, within an hour, start

[10:14]

having blue vision and I'm like, oh my God, start feeling pain in my tummy.

[10:18]

I'm like, this is it.

[10:19]

It's coming.

[10:20]

And I was just talking to a good friend of mine, which actually is the husband of my

[10:24]

friend.

[10:25]

So I don't usually spend a lot of time with him and we're having this great conversation.

[10:27]

Then all of a sudden I start feeling really ill and I'm like, let's tell him, I said,

[10:31]

I'm so sorry.

[10:32]

Not that I'm not enjoying this conversation, but I'm actually having a migraine and I need

[10:36]

to go home.

[10:37]

And he just looked at me like, okay, the poor guy, I was like, oh my God, I'm so sorry.

[10:42]

And then my husband was just arriving at the party and I said to him, you should take

[10:45]

me home.

[10:46]

I feel terrible.

[10:47]

I've got a migraine.

[10:48]

He looked at me like, he could tell he was so disappointed because we're going to have

[10:51]

this...

[10:52]

Well, now we're roommates and now I'm like, I have to go home.

[10:54]

So anyway, I went home and he said to me, and actually a few people said to me, oh,

[10:59]

take some paddles.

[11:00]

You'll be fine.

[11:01]

And then, and then even my husband took me all the way home.

[11:03]

He says, oh, you want me to get you some new paddles?

[11:05]

I said, no, I'm not going to take anything like that.

[11:08]

And he looked at me, he says, but wow, I said, I think now I know how to handle my

[11:13]

migraine.

[11:14]

So I'm going to have my little tisane and I'm going to go to bed and then hopefully

[11:18]

I will feel okay in two hours.

[11:20]

So that's what I did.

[11:21]

I had, you know, a few little things that I know potentially could help, fell asleep.

[11:27]

And then two hours later I woke up and the aura was gone.

[11:31]

I still felt exhausted because, and I still have a bit of a, um, you know, a headache

[11:36]

at the back, but very mild that I could actually function.

[11:39]

So yeah, I got up and I went back to the party and had a great time with my friends.

[11:44]

That's epic.

[11:45]

Yeah.

[11:46]

I mean, I didn't drink any more alcohol.

[11:47]

Yeah.

[11:48]

So you can, but I, yeah.

[11:49]

But even though my friends, when they saw me coming, it's like, I got to bring you back.

[11:53]

They were all like yelling and all excited for me.

[11:55]

And yeah, and it's funny because I said, see, I just, maybe I just can't do champagne anymore.

[12:00]

Yeah.

[12:01]

And my friend's like, oh, don't be silly.

[12:03]

You'll be fine.

[12:04]

And I said, well, no, because look, I almost missed out on this great party.

[12:08]

Yeah.

[12:09]

Yeah.

[12:10]

And you were soaking to see your friends.

[12:11]

Right.

[12:12]

And I was, the FOMO was weird.

[12:13]

I got home and I had to go to bed.

[12:15]

I was still all dressed up and I think I was like, let's just stay all dressed up because

[12:19]

maybe I'll wake up and I can still go.

[12:21]

Maybe I can manage this one out.

[12:23]

Was it a special moment in your cycle?

[12:25]

Yeah.

[12:26]

It was exactly, I think the beginning of my cycle.

[12:29]

So I mean, I should have known better.

[12:30]

Yeah.

[12:31]

So it was a champagne and that time was an acute champagne or a very expensive champagne.

[12:36]

Yeah.

[12:37]

And it was.

[12:38]

It was very nice champagne.

[12:39]

Yeah.

[12:40]

But yeah, it was silly because I, you know, but that's the thing.

[12:43]

You get to learn more and more about your limitation.

[12:47]

Yeah.

[12:48]

And I think that's great.

[12:49]

I have to thank you because even though I was already, I could see the signs, but yeah,

[12:54]

I think you empower me to listen more to the sign and actually to pay really attention.

[12:58]

I think, you know, maybe you follow me for like three or four months and then, you know,

[13:04]

because every day you're saying how you're feeling and, you know, you're taking all these

[13:07]

things and you can tell how you're feeling about, you know, every day and then you start

[13:10]

realizing, oh, actually it's linked to my cycle and usually it's two days before my

[13:15]

cycle.

[13:16]

Yeah.

[13:17]

So that's when, you know, five days before that, I have to start being very careful about

[13:20]

what, you know, what the things that could add to my diet to help me and, you know, and

[13:24]

the thing at 50 should be drinking alcohol.

[13:27]

Yeah.

[13:28]

Because indeed, as you had sort of studied migraines for two years, this is when we met.

[13:34]

Yeah.

[13:35]

Do you want to quickly comment on when we met?

[13:37]

We haven't talked about that.

[13:38]

Yeah.

[13:39]

So Deanne and I, we're both Belgian.

[13:44]

And as we know, there's not many Belgians in New Zealand, so that was quite cool.

[13:48]

And we met with another Belgian guy who used to come back and forth for work.

[13:52]

And I remember him saying, I can't believe you don't have any Belgian friends in your

[13:56]

life.

[13:57]

I moved here three years ago and I guess pandemic and all that.

[14:00]

I said, I just, yeah, I don't know how to meet them.

[14:02]

Yeah.

[14:03]

And I only had one other from the school, but she's Flemish Belgian, so it's a bit different.

[14:07]

Not in a bad way, but just, we still speak English, so it just became strange.

[14:11]

Anyway, so then he said, I'm going to bring you Deanne.

[14:14]

I think you and, you know, you'll hit off really well.

[14:17]

And so anyway, so you came and then, yes, I think it was so much in common.

[14:22]

Yeah.

[14:23]

The fact that we both lived in Asia, we've been expat for a long time.

[14:27]

We've got children, same age.

[14:29]

And also, you know, you're very interested in, I think we get the same idea about how

[14:35]

to look after our own health and how to try to empower ourselves and actually think that

[14:41]

we can make a difference for our own, you know, and actually look into it.

[14:45]

Not just saying, oh yeah, I wish I could do that.

[14:47]

And then you just wait for somebody to rescue you.

[14:49]

I think I've always had a part where I've always been very interested in what I'm eating

[14:54]

and how can I make it better for my children?

[14:57]

Not taking too much medication if I can't help it, you know?

[15:01]

So all of that.

[15:02]

And I remember, so we sat on your sofa outside and we talked about lots of things.

[15:06]

We talked about your work in jewellery.

[15:10]

And we talked a little bit about my work and we really hit it off.

[15:16]

And then later, I think a couple of days later, or maybe you took the test, I remember.

[15:21]

I don't know how you felt about it.

[15:22]

Yeah.

[15:23]

Because when you mentioned migraine, I was like, I just think the universe is like so

[15:27]

well made, right?

[15:28]

Because I feel the last few years have been like that.

[15:31]

Like I have those migraines a bit more regularly and then, boom, Diane appears in my life and

[15:35]

says, that's what she does.

[15:36]

Yeah.

[15:37]

Oh my God.

[15:38]

Like, and I'm like, this is a sign.

[15:40]

And when you have those signs, you have to look into it and you actually have to think,

[15:43]

OK, maybe there's something into it.

[15:44]

And if there is, there's nothing.

[15:46]

Who cares?

[15:47]

At least you gave it a shot, right?

[15:48]

And that's what I was like, I'm definitely going to follow up on.

[15:50]

You said, oh, you should reach out to me and, you know, see if I can help you.

[15:53]

And I was like, I'm definitely doing that.

[15:55]

So then, yeah.

[15:56]

So I said, I'd love to try.

[15:57]

And then I did the test and, yeah, and then you helped me for a few months, which was

[16:02]

amazing.

[16:03]

Yeah.

[16:04]

And then you start to learn about your body.

[16:05]

And I love that story where you go to a party and you resist medications.

[16:10]

You take a few infusions and you're back to your party.

[16:13]

I think it's finale.

[16:14]

And I remember you saying to me, you'll do this for your migraine, but then actually

[16:18]

it's going to open you up to realizing how good you can feel and you become addicted

[16:24]

to it and you're going to want to look more and more and more into your health.

[16:27]

And it's really that you really open a can of worms.

[16:29]

And I was actually just having a conversation last night with my husband about it.

[16:32]

I was saying.

[16:33]

I'm 42, so I guess I'm quite young, depending on who you compare yourself to.

[16:38]

But I think I've never felt as good in my life.

[16:44]

I mean, I probably did when I was super young, but, you know, I don't have any pain or

[16:47]

ache anywhere.

[16:48]

Yeah.

[16:49]

I recover.

[16:50]

I have heaps of energy.

[16:51]

Yeah.

[16:52]

I don't know.

[16:53]

I just I feel great.

[16:54]

I feel really empowered by that.

[16:55]

And that's why I said to him, I said, you know, it's amazing that, you know, I've

[16:59]

learned all these things and I feel like it's really helped me out in a big way and, you

[17:03]

know, mentally.

[17:04]

And yeah.

[17:05]

So that's.

[17:06]

It's an amazing feeling.

[17:07]

Oftentimes when I meet women, I think of when the first onset of migraine was and I'm like,

[17:14]

OK, let's go and take you back one year before that health wise.

[17:18]

And it's that phenomenon of I can do anything and and I can actually converse with my body

[17:24]

and I can listen to it and I can attend to it and I can get the results I'm after.

[17:28]

And each time I'm doing that once, I'm just learning a little bit more about about me.

[17:33]

I think.

[17:34]

Yeah, I agree.

[17:36]

So no, I have to thank you for that.

[17:38]

Yeah.

[17:39]

The power of food, the power of nature.

[17:40]

You have a beautiful herb garden yourself.

[17:42]

Yeah.

[17:44]

And you really walk your talk.

[17:45]

So it's really nice to see you.

[17:47]

Yeah.

[17:48]

No, I'm passionate about growing your own things.

[17:49]

I feel like we have to take a part in all of that being sustainable, you know, all of

[17:53]

this has been important to me.

[17:54]

So it's just, you know, it's like the full circle of life at the end of the day, you

[17:59]

know?

[18:00]

And it's true.

[18:01]

I mean, how were all these people surviving before we had all these medication for absolutely

[18:05]

everything?

[18:06]

Yeah.

[18:07]

And all the medication, usually the thing that started it was a plant or, you know,

[18:11]

that's.

[18:12]

Yeah.

[18:13]

So I feel like we are losing that.

[18:14]

Right.

[18:15]

Yeah, we are.

[18:16]

And it's not always easy to find the knowledge.

[18:17]

And also, what what will correspond to you, what will relieve you from a migraine can

[18:23]

give a migraine to someone else.

[18:25]

Correct.

[18:26]

And so so that's a complexity to navigate.

[18:29]

But once you know how your body works, that's, I guess, all you need to know.

[18:32]

Yeah.

[18:33]

And I think also we're in a days and age where we go to the doctor and we want him to tell

[18:38]

us what's wrong with us.

[18:39]

And we want him to give the magic pill to us and go home.

[18:42]

And within three days, we're going to be fine.

[18:44]

And actually, this is not how sometimes it works.

[18:48]

And that's what I loved about your work is, you know, it's like it's you know, you you

[18:51]

learn more and more about what works and what doesn't work for you.

[18:54]

It's very empowering in the end when you actually get the right medication, you know, through

[18:59]

the normal health.

[19:00]

Yeah.

[19:01]

Through the plants and supplement, whatever you're going to take.

[19:03]

But that's really powerful.

[19:05]

You have that in your kitchen.

[19:06]

You can, you know, self-adjust.

[19:07]

Yeah.

[19:08]

Yeah.

[19:10]

Yeah.

[19:11]

A lot of women, I find, you know, have lost their sense of intuition.

[19:13]

Like initially you had that intuition when you were on the beach in Sydney, but then

[19:17]

sometimes you find in that moment and sometimes you get a bit lost because, you know, intuitively

[19:22]

things don't make a lot of sense.

[19:24]

That can also happen.

[19:25]

Yeah.

[19:26]

But the recourse to, OK, I'm going to take a pill to silence that noise is, yeah, it's

[19:31]

quite dominant.

[19:32]

Yeah.

[19:33]

What it is.

[19:34]

Yeah.

[19:35]

Especially when it doesn't really work.

[19:36]

You think, oh, is it really?

[19:37]

And you don't know, actually.

[19:38]

If I didn't take that pill, maybe my symptoms would be even worse.

[19:41]

So maybe you think it's working, but no, absolutely.

[19:44]

That is so true.

[19:45]

But, you know, if I didn't work with you and I went to that party a few weeks ago and I

[19:51]

would have come home and take those pills, there's no way I would have come back.

[19:56]

But now I was able to go back and I didn't take anything.

[19:59]

That is incredible.

[20:00]

Yeah.

[20:01]

What I've learned, like working with all of these women, is the ability to stop a migraine

[20:05]

when it starts, like at different stages, it's like you can actually stop it in its

[20:10]

course once you start to really know yourself.

[20:12]

And I love that example because it's really like all of the advice that you received and

[20:18]

that you fought because you know yourself and your instinct to go in your kitchen and

[20:22]

know yourself what to take.

[20:24]

And also why the migraine occurred in the first place.

[20:27]

Yeah, that's right.

[20:28]

Because I had the same thing.

[20:29]

I had a whole band of insomnia for a while, which was kind of similar time where we start

[20:33]

working together.

[20:36]

And I remember having a dinner with a doctor at my house and she's a cancer doctor.

[20:40]

She's amazing.

[20:41]

She's helped so many women with breast cancer.

[20:44]

She's unbelievable.

[20:45]

And herself has insomnia.

[20:46]

And anyway, I was saying to her, oh God, I'm just, I'm at the end of it.

[20:50]

I've got insomnia.

[20:51]

I just don't sleep.

[20:52]

I feel terrible.

[20:53]

And of course, then I'm having more migraine and there's all the other things that's happening.

[20:57]

Remember her saying, oh, well, you know, I'm taking this, what's the thing, the natural

[21:01]

melatonin.

[21:02]

Every night it works a charm.

[21:05]

And she was taking quite a bit.

[21:06]

And I'm like, but don't you feel like you have to take more and more and more?

[21:10]

And is that not an issue long term?

[21:12]

She said, no, it's all natural.

[21:14]

You should do that.

[21:15]

And I remember saying to her, I said, I'm actually really not keen to take melatonin.

[21:20]

And that's another, you know, because I took it when I was much younger and it was a terrible

[21:24]

time in my life.

[21:25]

And I said, I feel like I need to go to the core of the problem because I'm 42 and I'm

[21:30]

pretty much very healthy.

[21:32]

Why am I not sleeping?

[21:33]

And I've got a great life.

[21:34]

I've got a husband who loves me, beautiful children.

[21:37]

No one's sick.

[21:38]

I mean, everything's good.

[21:39]

Yeah.

[21:40]

But I can't sleep.

[21:41]

So there's obviously something out there.

[21:42]

And and I remember her saying, oh, but just take melatonin because actually you need to

[21:45]

sleep and then, you know, the migraine will go because you've been more rest now.

[21:49]

Anyway, she's also have terrible migraine, I think, because obviously she's not sleeping

[21:55]

that well because even though the melatonin make her sleep, probably doesn't make her

[21:58]

sleep really.

[21:59]

And she has migraine.

[22:00]

I told her about you.

[22:01]

And I think she's a very busy doctor and I think she does not allow herself to take the

[22:06]

time to think about it.

[22:07]

Yeah.

[22:08]

It's important.

[22:09]

Otherwise, it catches up with you.

[22:10]

And melatonin, you know, maybe I'll do a podcast just on melatonin and migraines.

[22:14]

And yeah.

[22:15]

Yeah.

[22:16]

I'd say your intuition is right.

[22:18]

Big time.

[22:19]

Yeah.

[22:20]

It's not so much that melatonin is not very natural, but I see that women really struggle

[22:24]

to get rid of it physically.

[22:26]

So my hypothesis is that it stays stuck in the large intestine and therefore creates

[22:31]

more toxicity for the vagus nerve and therefore, long term, permeates into sort of constant

[22:39]

migraine at a minimum, like a light to a mild migraine, which sort of never goes away anymore.

[22:45]

Yeah.

[22:46]

But imagine for somebody like her who's saving lives and she's actually not on top of her

[22:50]

own migraine and she, you know, it's just...

[22:53]

It's really hard.

[22:55]

It's extremely hard.

[22:56]

Yeah.

[22:57]

Yeah.

[22:58]

And so when you think of her or when you think of other women, we've talked a little bit,

[23:01]

like, you know, I take care of women who have, you know, on a scale of one to ten, ten being

[23:06]

the highest, they're at eight or nine every single day.

[23:09]

And these are, you know, women who, they don't, they don't live really, they live a life in

[23:16]

between parenthesis, live a life that are absolutely controlled and governed by migraines.

[23:22]

What sort of messages would you have for these women?

[23:26]

Well, I think if you live like that, I think why would you give it a shot at everything?

[23:31]

And definitely I would, I would just make it a priority to try this because, you know,

[23:37]

what do you have to lose?

[23:38]

You only have something to gain, really.

[23:41]

And I mean, for me, when I have a migraine, it's also probably level eight, but it lasts

[23:45]

12 hours.

[23:46]

And I know every, every time at the end of the day, I'm like, and when it's, when I'm

[23:51]

finally, finally feeling good, I'm like, oh my God, thank God this is just one day.

[23:55]

And I always think about people who are sick with cancer and have sick, all these different

[23:58]

medicine and feel terrible.

[23:59]

And I'm like, I understand what, sorry, I shouldn't say that, but what people and their

[24:03]

life because it's not living.

[24:05]

It's horrific.

[24:06]

Yeah, it is.

[24:07]

So it's really, you know, it's very important to listen to your body and actually try something

[24:12]

like this because it's completely worked for me.

[24:16]

And it's changed my life because I'm not as anxious as I used to be around, around the

[24:21]

migraine.

[24:22]

And yeah, and then knowing as well the power to know that if one comes, I know how to deal

[24:27]

with it.

[24:28]

And, you know, 80% of the time I'll be fine.

[24:31]

Yeah.

[24:32]

And that's pretty amazing.

[24:33]

Yeah.

[24:34]

Yeah.

[24:35]

Yeah.

[24:36]

It does take the anxiety away.

[24:37]

Yeah.

[24:38]

Yeah.

[24:39]

Thank you very much.

[24:40]

Thank you for your time.

[24:41]

And thank you for welcoming me in your life.

[24:42]

Yeah.

[24:43]

Thank you.

[24:44]

Thank you so much.

[24:46]

Sharing is caring.

[24:48]

So share this podcast with your loved ones or whomever it's mean help.

[24:54]

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

[24:58]

And if you yourself suffer from migraines, then visit our website, Mining10Health.com.

[25:05]

All the best.

[25:06]

Stay well, stay healthy and stay happy.

[25:09]

Yours, Diane.

[25:15]

♪♪ music fades ♪♪

Originally published December 2023

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