The Migraine Freedom Blog by Debbie Waidl

Unpacking the Price of Instant Relief: Exploring the Hidden Costs of Your Medicine Cabinet

After talking with thousands of women about migraines and the way they try to manage them, it hit me.

Sure, they're reaching for medication to shut down the pain, but there's a much more compelling driver behind that.

The number one reason I've found that women take medication?

It's this fierce determination to get stuff done and go on with their life as normal, regardless of the pain.

It's their unwavering commitment to plow through their to-do list and not ask for help... in their words they want to be ‘a normal person’.

Whether it's a day crammed with work deadlines, running the family's tight ship, or trying to make good on a promise to a family member or friend, they can't afford to be sidelined.

The physical pain is a nuisance, yes, but the real kicker is the heavier emotional pain— that fear of not being able to follow through on their day as planned.

This is tough enough during the quieter times of the year but we all know the drill when the holidays roll around.

Women I've talked to are dead set on not missing any part of their holiday, especially those who have kids or grandkids, for fear of letting them down and missing this time with them.

We all know the saying-they grow up too fast!

I know this feeling all too well—during the holidays, I was massively drugged to keep the migraine at bay, so I could see their faces when they saw the presents under the tree!

The push to keep going is about holding onto those joyful moments, making the memories, and not missing out!

So, when women reach for relief, I understand it's not just an escape route from the migraine pain —it's a ticket back into the heart of life's moments that can't be repeated.

Visiting Santa, baking Christmas cookies, choosing the perfect family tree, and waking up to the joyful excitement of a child eager to see if Santa has arrived!

The reality is that you are trying to enjoy these fun things and take care of the holiday tasks all while keeping your pain at a manageable level….

Full of meds you’re running around shopping for presents, cooking up a storm for family dinners, and cleaning the guest room for company.

For anyone dealing with migraine pain, this whirlwind of activities isn’t just daunting—it can feel downright impossible.

Christmas carols, holiday candles, and twinkling lights are everywhere, setting off migraines and turning what should be happy moments into a series of pain and symptoms to get through.

A lot of women grit their teeth and just keep going when a migraine hits.

They throw everything at it – mixing meds, upping doses, nagging their docs for any new fix, and trying home remedies like ice, heat, essential oils, supplements, and devices…you name it…it’s been tried.

More often than not these quick fixes fail and women end up resorting to crashing into bed or worse head to the ER.

I can’t tell you how many women this time of year tell me they are considering having surgery to try to end their pain-surgeries that come with big risks and not a lot of success. This is how desperate they are.

If you're curious about the actual outcomes of these surgeries, feel free to send me a DM. I'm happy to share stories from women who have tried them alongside their experiences with FFMM. You might already suspect which one brought them the results they wanted.

So whether you are that woman who soldiers on with a bandaid approaches or is out for the count, either way, you are missing out.

If you’re pushing through-you are kinda there, but not really; you’re fuzzy and out of it because of the med fog AND the pain's always there in the background.

And if you are buried under the covers? You’re just lying there, swallowing pills and wishing time away, desperately hoping to bounce back soon and not miss one more thing.

When migraine pain strikes, I remember that instinctive reaction to reach for immediate relief. I have too much to do so I can't be in pain NOW!

It's tough to consider the long-term consequences of those meds when the only thing you can think about is getting rid of the pain right now, especially when you've got a life to get back to or responsibilities you just can't ignore.

But here's the catch—this quick-fix approach can lead to MOH, which stands for medication overuse headache. Some people call it rebound.

It's a nasty cycle: you use meds to end your migraines, but the overuse boomerangs back on you, causing even more headaches. It's a headache from trying not to have a headache, ironically.

The thing about MOH is that it's kind of a gray area when it comes to how much is too much medication. Everyone you ask might have a different take on the magic number of pills you can take, the amount of time in between doses, the combo of meds you take, and what pills cause MOH.

But from working with women in the Freedom From Migraine Method (FFMM) we've picked up on something critical.

It turns out ANY amount of medication can be toxic. This toxicity ramps up inflammation in your body, which is like throwing gasoline on your migraine fire.

While your pill probably serves as an anti-inflammatory, offering short-term lowering of inflammation, its toxicity can significantly increase inflammation over time. Additionally, it places a substantial burden on your liver to manage this toxicity, a task that becomes increasingly difficult with more medication use.

This is to say, yeah, taking medication can sometimes be a necessary part of managing migraines, but it needs to be viewed as a short-term fix not a long-term bandaid.

So while you are trying to decide how to stop using so many pills ... .and you’ve decided you want to start working on reducing the chronic inflammation in your body, the root cause of your migraines…

Let us know if we can help fast-track that for you. You are welcome to meet with a member of my team or myself to chat about what that first step would look like for you.

The first step is getting that inflammation lowered in your body so you become less and less reliant on the medication. It is not about stopping the med first… it's about reducing the inflammation so you don't need the meds to begin with.

We have clients who have gone from taking 5-10 different medications every single day to just 1-2, and some have even eliminated the need for daily medications altogether, like me.
There are cases where clients have transitioned from relying on heavy-duty meds like Sumatriptan and Topiramate to only needing something as mild as acetaminophen, and that too, only occasionally, maybe just a few times a month.
Several clients have managed to completely wean off their daily preventive medications and now use natural remedies and lifestyle changes to keep away their migraines successfully.
One notable case includes a client who used to be on daily doses of a strong addictive prescription med and is now thriving with the occasional use of over-the-counter options for the rare times when a migraine slips through.

It's essential to treat medication usage with the seriousness it deserves.

While reaching for medicine has become almost second nature, this doesn't negate the inherent risks involved.

Even a simple medication such as acetaminophen comes with its own set of potential side effects.

Moreover, while all medications include a list of possible side effects, it's common for individuals to overlook this information AND not consider the consequences of taking multiple medications simultaneously.

For instance, there's no studies on the combined effects of taking five different medications at the same time and how this cocktail could affect your heart, liver, or kidneys.

What about those who take medications for migraines, gut issues, sleep disturbances, and anxiety all at once? Has there ever been research on the combined effects of these medications on someone? The answer is no.

Therefore, it's wise to keep medications available for emergencies such as ibuprofen in my house- but prioritize natural remedies and lifestyle changes to prevent the recurrence of pain-which is always my first go-to before popping a pill.

Medications should be considered a backup plan, used sparingly while focusing mainly on natural prevention strategies.

Adopting this approach will not only promote overall health but also reduce the severity, duration, and frequency of your migraines—a bonus being the alleviation of brain fog, insomnia, weight concerns, constipation, and various other health problems frequently associated with medication side effects.

If you're concerned about relying too heavily on medication this holiday season to manage your tasks and enjoy the celebrations, let's begin addressing the underlying issues now and bid farewell to those debilitating migraines.

You still have time to make a difference. Every change you make gets you one step closer to freedom from your migraines!

Are you ready to learn how to balance the migraine instigating hormone to start your Migraine Freedom?

Join the challenge today, we start on December 2nd.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Debbie Waidl is the Owner of In The Balance Health Coaching LLC, and Founder of The Freedom From Migraines Method™ & The Migraine Freedom Protocol™
She supports busy moms living with Migraines.

Debbie will uncover what is holding them back from migraine freedom so they can live their life pain and symptom free, work productively, spend the time they want with family and friends, and stop missing out on the things they enjoy.

A message from Debbie:
"I was once right where you are now. 100% believing there was NO WAY to end migraines and my only option was to learn how to live with them or find that magic pill that maybe would work for a while. If anyone told me back then that I could end my pain once and for all, I would have called BS and popped another pill!

Skeptical times 10 was my middle name for sure because when you try it all and everyone tells you they can help you and they don’t. You stop believing… you lose HOPE!

I now realize I was approaching my migraines all backward.

I was trying to cover up symptoms versus trying to end my pain."

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