3 M'S-Menstruation; Menopause; Migraines Part One

I started this post 3 days ago and it really got away from me. The next day I woke up with a stage 10+ migraine which put me totally out of it for 2 days. First day from pain second day for recovery. I am feeling better today but the two days lost will take 4 days to catch up on things that didn't get done.
I am going to re-post a previous entry outlining my migraine treatment and information I have gathered throughout my life with Migraines. For this I will start at the beginning or from where I can remember is more accurate.
I remember starting to have migraines or at the time bad headaches as they were called around the age of 10. The were very infrequent but severe and made me want to stay home in bed crying and throwing up. Unfortunately, I was told by my mother that "It was the meanness coming out of me" so I would go to school like normal and somehow make it through the day. By 12 I had started to menstruate and that is when the headaches became more frequent and more severe. The same mantra was chanted to me and since the only over-the-counter medication available was aspirin. I would eat them by the handfuls on days when it was the worst and usually without water since during class leaving was not allowed. Some days I would spend in the nurses office for a major portion of the day with a cold compress on my forehead which helped as it does now.
From then on my life has revolved around the pain of migraine, what causes it, what stops it, how to muddle through the day (s) while in pain and not be a total vegetable. I have tried all types of different remedies, some legal some inventive some homeopathic some home developed to only come to the conclusion that being in pain at any given time is my lot in life. During my reproductive age the only time I did not have a migraine was when I was pregnant. Yup not a one for 9 glorious months. I did however have severe morning sickness which lasted all 9 months. I traded one illness for another. Which was worse I am not sure since being pregnant was temporary and migraines seem to be forever.
As I write this post I am again fighting back the pain. It has been mild one of those I am here days don't forget me I haven't forgotten you and if I so desire I will bring the full force of destruction on you. I really try very hard to not get into a self pity poor me frame of mind but damn I am so tired of fearing the full blown force of migraine that could come at any time. Of living day to day wondering if today will be a good day a bad day or a just so so day. In fact, I has been so long since I have had a full good day I can't remember what it is like.
I digress.
So from the time I was in my teens until I was in my 30's I mostly took OTC medications, threw up, used iced packs, cried, screamed at times I even would bang my head against the wall literally to counteract the pain from the migraine. In my late 20's the medical world finally gave these headaches a name MIGRAINE. At that time a doctor prescribed cafergot to me. It worked most of the time and I was on it for about 4 years. Unfortunately, I was building up a resistance to it and over time had to take more and more of it to stop the pain. One day during a really bad headache I took 12 in the course of about 6 hours and fell asleep. When I woke up about 6 hours later I couldn't believe what I had done. I went to the drug store and bought my first prescription drug book and found out what was in the pills. Each pill was equal to drinking a full pot of coffee so I had in essence drank 12 pots of coffee and fallen asleep and still woke up with the headache. I immediately flushed the rest of the pills down the toilet and that was the last time I took them. Then I found a doctor who was not only a chiropractor of extreme genius but he was also a nutritionist. He was referred to me by a lady friend who was in her late 60's and like me had been a migraine sufferer for all of her life. I made an appointment picked up the packet of health info to fill out and was astonished to find it was the size of a short story. My memory of it was approximately 40 pages and ranged in questions from what I ate, drank, when I ate, how much I ate and drank all types of liquids not just alcohol how long I had been suffering etc. My first appointment consisted of a full body xray, a 30 minute interview with a nurse and then another 30 minutes with the doctor. His recommendation was extensive. My diet was a wreck, I ate packaged foods, processed meats, salty foods you name it if it was bad I ate it. I also ate good foods things I had grown up on but I was a product of the fast and easy generation and so my diet reflected it. I was told to stop eating all of the above items, eliminating all preservatives, nitrates, nitrites, salt, anything packaged or processed. True to my belief in this doctor and his recommendation I immediately emptied my home of all packaged products foods etc. Needless to say the next day I did some major food shopping since my will power was low I knew I had to not have any of it around me to tempt and weaken my will even more. WOW I thought I was going to starve and it did take me months to get used to not getting the package of hot dogs, bologna, potato chips etc. He also gave me items to use to detox my system. This was a six week program and the first few days was really rough. It was all worth it though because during my short 2 years with him I only had 2 migraines, yup you got 2 and these were minimal on the scale of 0-10+. When I did have pain I could call him and get in that day for a minor adjustment using his pressure punch and the pain was gone and I was fine.
The xray had shown that I had severe scoliosis which had existed since I was a teen and had fallen off of the parallel bars during gym class. The condition was aggravated from poor sitting habits and from carrying my young children on my hip.
I am going to post this now and continue on another day.
Take care and be blessed.