Remember my migraines?

Okay so... Many of you know that I have been plagued with weekly migraines for years -- over a decade, actually. I'm 34 now, and it was in my early 20s (22 maybe?) when I began getting these awful headaches right in and between my eyes. They would begin slowly and then just grow in intensity until I couldn't even think straight. Many times they've brought me to tears.

In my mid-twenties, a neurologist diagnosed them as atypical migraines, because I did not experience the more typical symptoms (nausea, sensitivity to light, aura, temporary vision loss, one-sided pounding pain, etc...). He gave me migraine medication samples, and they worked! For the first time in years, I could defeat the pain! It was wonderful. Of course, migraine meds have side effects, which I've gotten to know well over the last decade. They make my thinking fuzzy and slow my reflexes (it's dangerous to drive after taking them). Often they just knock me out. At one point I went on a preventive medicine taken daily (which didn't even prevent them entirely), and that made me lose weight to the point where I looked gaunt.

For whatever reason I seemed to average one headache per week. At some times of my life, they came as many as 4 or more times a week! I figured out some foods that triggered them: chocolate, some dairy products (especially parmesan cheese), caffeine, alcohol. Some other triggers I put my finger on were hunger, not drinking enough water, emotional stress, physical strain, strong smells, hormonal changes, being in the sun for a long time, changes in sleep pattern or just not getting enough sleep, air pressure changes (obviously something beyond my control)..... I felt like I had to handle myself with kid gloves!! And even doing that, I still got the headaches sometimes for reasons I couldn't figure out!

Of course my year in China didn't help. I ended up having to cut my second year there short because of almost-daily migraines - caused, I think, by the stress I experienced there (as well as MSG-laden foods). But while the headaches got better when I came back, they did not go away. My life was often interrupted by them - because even when I took medication for one, it often would take a couple of hours for the pain to recede; and even then I was a groggy mess.

All this while I've been praying for healing... researching how to avoid migraines... watching my diet... and the migraines still came -- about one per week, sometimes more.

Enter Margie Lung.

Margie is a friend from Blue Ridge Bible Church and a godly older woman. She and her husband, Steve, have 7 children - 5 biological and 2 adopted. They met while under the teaching of such theologians as John Piper at Bethel University in Minnesota. They're rock-solid believers; we were in the same home group for a couple years and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them.

Margie also happens to be an alternative health practitioner; she has helped many people through something called Quantum Reflex Analysis, which has something to do with the electrical system in your body. (That's pretty much all I understand about it! It makes sense when she explains it, but I can't seem to retain a good understanding of it - not enough to explain to others, anyway.) The process she uses is called muscle testing, and by it she determines what areas of your body are off balance and what herbs and such will bring those areas back into balance.

Sounds a little weird... I know. If it was some Joe Schmo who did this, I would be highly skeptical; but Margie is a mature, godly woman, and I trust her. When I approached her about my migraines, she was confident she could eradicate them. I was not quite so confident (having put up with them for as long as I have), but hope won out and I entrusted myself to her care.

I've now gone through several months of two different kinds of detoxification. I'm not quite finished the process, but I'm almost there. BUT... even at this point I am essentially migraine-free!! I haven't had to take migraine medication in a month and a half!!! I still get headaches from time to time (basically the same kind), but they're not nearly as intense, and they go away much more easily.

THIS IS AMAZING, PEOPLE.

After I'm finished the detox process, I should be rid of them altogether. She even believes I'll be able to eat chocolate again!!! Who wants to do the Happy Dance with me?!??!! Let's have a chocolate party!!!!

I have also experienced another major kind of pain relief through this detox process (by "accident" - it wasn't something we were targeting), which was a wonderful surprise. She's also confident to tackle my depression/anxiety issues, and we'll begin that shortly.

Through her influence I have come to a greater understanding and appreciation for my need to respect my body and the influences I allow in from the world around me. (I now buy organic food, grass-fed beef, and free-range chickens and eggs -- and I clean our food thoroughly. I also avoid MSG -- and its aliases and cousins -- like the plague. I'm doing other things too, like getting rid of toxic chemical household cleaners and instead using more natural products.)

I can't tell you how thrilled I am that God brought Margie into my life. And I'm so grateful that Jeff, despite strong skepticism, has supported me in getting her help.

:)