Asthma and Migranes

For many years now I've suffered from migraine headaches. In college, I would have one just about every other week. Before I was diagnosed with getting migraines I thought that I was just dying. A migraine isn't just a really bad headache, it involves your whole body: nausea, stomach cramps, confusion, depression, sensitivity to light and sound, irritability.

Since I moved here to NYC I also developed a light form of asthma, so that I only need to used an inhaler 3 or 4 times a year. August is the worst time for this though. The high humidity and heat sometimes bring on an asthma attach so you will most likely find me indoors under an air-conditioner during this month.

And I just got the double whammy! An asthma attack with a migraine. What a week! But it seems from medical studies that asthma and migraines are linked:

From RespiratoryReviews.com by Mimi Zucker, PhD:
"Asthma Linked With Migraines"

Case reports and some epidemiological studies have pointed toward a connection between migraines and asthma. A large matched case-control study recently identified a relative risk (RR) of 1.59 for asthma in migraine patients, confirming the association and suggesting shared etiological origins for the two disorders.

What I do for when I get a migraine is lie in a quiet dark room and have a couple of glasses of white wine. (I feel better about drinking wine than taking any of the toxic FDA medicines that have been approved under this current administration. I don't trust them.)

I also try to avoid certain foods. (I wrote to Pueblo, CO for a brochure when I was a kid and got this list. You are showing your age if you remember when the gov. had that brochure program!)

• yogurt
• granola
• red wine (although red wine without phosphates might be okay)
• peanut butter
• chocolate
• anything with caffeine

i.e. anything you might actually enjoy eating. I must admit lately falling off the wagon on these foods. I paid dearly for this over the last couple of weeks. I'm slowly getting back on my feet. At least it's August when the book world is slow. I hope this information is helpful to someone out there.