Spoons & Stitches

Hello Spoonies! It's time once again to run the updates on the most recent pain management experiments and decide what's happening next. Since last time, I have continued to use regular feverfew and magnesium to prevent migraines. The good news is that my migraines have actually decreased  down to no more than one per month! This is my long-term therapy now and I intend to continue it indefinitely. Since the last post I have also invested in high-quality running shoes that adjust for my wide gait. These have definitely helped my knees, however the chronic knee pain has continued. To add to the fun, my family moved this year into a two-story house. The multiple trips up and down the stairs each day have not been kind to my knees. Since the bromelain experiment did not pan out, I have tried a few other things. The first thing I tried was topical analgesic creams. First was the Voltaren gel (prescription) that my doctor prescribed. While this is okay, it does not help very...

So this time last year I posted about using various herbs and foods to prevent migraines . As a quick recap, I turned to herbs because my migraines do not respond well to any of the traditional migraine treatments. I have tried the triptans, such as Imitrex and the like, and they do not consistently help. The side-effects from Maxalt were overwhelming and Relpax is just too expensive.  Feverfew was quite helpful in cutting down on my migraines and I mentioned this to my neurology specialist at my next appointment. What he told me was that it was a great way to start, but that he would actually recommend Butterbur for even better prevention. I did some research and it sounds quite promising! In fact, the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) has found that it helps with migraine prevention and hay fever treatment! Unfortunately, all of my sources also state that those who are sensitive to ragweed are not good candidates to use it, so that counts me out....