As I sat in pain-staking misery, shielding my eyes from the light of the TV, like you would do as if the sun were shining on a bright Carolina blue sky day I said self?? Yes, self! Why do I keep on getting these awful, miserable migraines?? Hhmm. So, I sat and thought and sat and thought. While sitting and thinking, I was enjoying a cold, fresh glass of Crystal Light Peach Tea, as I do day after day trying to be a good girl; get my water in, keep my sugar down and it is has become a favorite drink. When all of a sudden, "AHA", I said. You see, I was feeling pretty darn sassy that I had finally figured this all out! I am sure you can see me standing there all surprised with the little bubble off to the side and a huge light bulb lit up :-)
It finally hit me. See, I was pretty sick the whole week after Christmas with the flu. I couldn't eat, drink, or really do much of anything for about a week. So my normal routine was thrown out the window. All I was really consuming during that week was Pedialyte, Glucerna, and flu medicines! So my normal eating habits and favorite drink of choice were not working out so well for me. After more than a week of not having any Crystal Light Peach Tea, and the fact that I was back to feeling 100%; plus I was craving my favorite drink so I decided it was time. So with dinner last night I had my Crystal Light Peach Tea. It was GOOD! After partaking in several glasses, I realized a few hours later that I had a migraine! AARRGGHH!! Man, it had been a couple of weeks since I had one so I was pretty put off by it. But I thought no biggie, it is just starting, I will go take 2 Excedrin Migraines and be done with it! Well it lasted for a few hours and on a pain scale of 1 to 10 it was pushing a 12!
That is when the light bulb went off for me! See, since I went in to congestive heart failure (CHF) last year, I have been trying really hard to take care of myself and do what is best for me, follow the doctor's orders, and take care of myself, like I should. Part of taking care of myself and my heart is keeping my diabetes in check. Since I am a diabetic, I do watch my sugar intake and try to use substitutes whenever I can, hence where the Crystal Light addiction came into play. I thought hey, I can kill 2 birds with one stone here. I can stop drinking soda, drink the right amount of water everyday, and keep my sugar in control. So for the past year if not more, I have pretty much gone to an all Crystal Light drinking party! During this time I have also had some of the most debilitating migraines I have ever had and they have progressively gotten worse as time has gone on.
For those of you who already knew this I am sorry. No, I haven't been living under a rock either. I was just really focused on getting better so I thought I was doing the right thing by stopping the sugary drinks and starting the "healthy" drinks, like Crystal Light and diet drinks.
I looked up the correlation between aspartame, which is used in Crystal Light, and migraines and I was pretty surprised to see what I read. " The highly-regarded New England Journal of Medicine conducted studies on the subject and found a link between heavy use of aspartame, especially in diet drinks, and people with migraine headaches. These studies, and one in particular, showed a strong correlation between those who get the attacks and aspartame. Specifically, it found that those studied who did not consume aspartame experienced a migraine on 24% of the study dates; those who consumed aspartame experienced a headache on 33% of those days. Another study suggests that an astounding 90% of all migraines are precipitated by allergic reactions to additives in food or the food itself. His study further suggested that aspartame is the most common migraine-causing additive. One other study found that 10% of migraine attacks are linked with aspartame consumption. Perhaps most significant is a University of Florida study which showed that aspartame increases migraine frequency in 50% of patients. "
Now, this is not to say that everyone will experience the same effect with aspartame as I have. Every one's body chemistry is different, and you can do your own trial and error with foods and beverages. So don't think just because I have figured this out for myself, it will be the same for you!
So my dear friends, I realized one of probably the many triggers of my migraines. I have wondered many, many times about what causes my migraines and I am happy to have figured this out. I am eager to continue along this journey to a healthier me and I hope I will continue to listen to my mind, soul and body. I welcome comments, suggestions and recipes to help keep myself healthy!
