Hello wonderful chicks,

I have avoided this group for I think a few weeks. As I've mentioned before, I have a horrible problem with chronic daily migraines. Well, over the last few weeks, I've been stuck in a vicious cycle where my pain is much worse so I eat horribly and then my pain is even worse. I can't seem to get out of this cycle and I've just weighed myself this morning and saw that I've gained 12 lbs. This made me so sad....and rather than pulling myself together and getting back on track, I binged again. I don't see an end to this cycle and I'm so scared that I'll gain all of my weight back. I wish I could stop and every night and every morning, I'm determined to do better but I just can't do it. During that moment when I know I'm making a decision I'll regret, I just can't think straight and I binge to numb the pain. When I'm more on track, I can binge and then get back on track the next day but this has been going on not just at night but all day long for quite some time now.

Does anyone have any ideas for me? I know that when I'm on track and I read posts like this, I almost find it hard to relate to them because I feel like anyone can just get back on track if they want it bad enough, but really, now that I'm in the midst of this debacle, I feel that I'm drowning in desperation and feel completely out of control. The chronic pain with no end in sight, coupled with my responsibility of taking care of my kids (one of whom has special needs and requires a great deal of care) makes me feel like I just won't be able to do it this time. Please...if any of you have any ideas at all...please help me out here. Thanks so much chicks

YOU CAN DO THIS!!!!

I know for me, I feel better when I have less sugar and refined snacks. Try to eat more fruit to take the edge off some of the sweet cravings. How is your caffeine intake? If you are a coffee drinker and maybe aren't getting enough, that causes headaches too bc of withdrawal.

I"ve had what I call "food hang-overs" similar to drinking ones. A good night of binging makes me feel the same in the morning as drinking does. It's a vicious cycle. What helps me is if I feel like I am going to binge (always at night after a whole day of eating GREAT) I will either avoid anything that could trigger it as in NO SNACKING AT ALL and chew gum or eat a little of something to fill me up and WALK AWAY. It's hard. It's something I struggle with. I feel like a hyprocrite bc I am on my own children about eating healthy and all, then I become this whirlwind. It is getting better and I use my goal to help. As in, is this cupcake/chip/etc worth NOT getting into those pants?

I still have problems staying OP. But, I have tweaked my hrs eating a meal (a little later to push my snacking witching hr back too). It helps. Sometimes, I have problems with binging. It just isn's all the time now. Either not buying trigger food or putting them up too high makes it easier to resist temptation.

Good luck hon. I have faith in you.

My suggestions may not be what you want to hear. First, you should see your doctor ASAP. And, if the pain is that debilitating, you could also go to an emergency room or walk-in clinic for help. Eating is not the solution to a migraine. You need medication, not binge eating.

Second, I would get a referral to a therapist or registered dietitian who specializes in eating disorders. You need some intervention with this. I wish I could give more advice, but I think you need more than nonmedical opinions...

I hope you get some help and feel better!

Jay

Jay took the words out of my mouth. There is medication these days which can ease migraines - one of my former staffers used to get an injection for her migraines. Your doctor or a walk-in clinic will be able to help.

Secondly, ask for a referral to a therapist or dietitian. You need professional help. We can offer sympathy, but we can't fix your problems.

And thirdly, be kind to yourself. You have a lot to deal with right now.

I agree with JayEll and RedPanda.

And don't wait! It seems as if you feel out of control now, and if you can't get out of that on your own, you will regain your weight (I am speaking from experience). You CAN stop this, though, with the right help.

I'm sorry to hear you're going through such a rough time. Chronic pain issues are really a challenge to deal with. Have you tried a specialists for headaches or a pain clinic? There might be treatments available that you haven't tried yet!

I wish you all the best.

Agree. Go see a doctor about your migraines, and if the first one you go to says there's nothing s/he can do, go to another one. Probably a neurologist. You need to make sure they are just migraines and not something life-threatening. I don't mean to scare you, but my aunt died young from a brain aneurism which was misdiagnosed as just being severe stress headaches.

Also, if you don't have the insurance/money to see a doctor AND see a therapist about the binge eating, you may want to consider a group like Overeaters Anonymous. IMO you need to take care of your physical health first (the migraines) and your mental health second, but obviously others might disagree. I am not a doctor or a psychologist.

I'm first going to send you lots of , and then second a lot of suggestions already made. Have you sought medical treatment for your headaches in the past, or treatment for binge behavior? It sounds like both have escalated to the point where you need professional attention - not that we will not be here to support you, but we aren't professionals. It sounds like you have two separate problems and need to seek separate treatment for each. Hang in there and let us know your progress.

Thank you all so much for all of your caring advice and support. As always, I find so much comfort and inspiration from this group and I'm so touched by it.

I am now onto my second neurologist. My first pretty much just gave up on me. I've had lots of tests done and have an abnormal MRI that actually shows bright spots on it, which is really an image of my migraine. Luckily, it's not a tumor or anything scary like that so I do feel blessed in that sense. I think this pain was triggered by the intense stress in my life. The medications don't help me at all and I've tried quite a few. They only give me negative side effects that are so unpleasant that I'd rather just have the pain. The pain is not debilitating, but it's constant (at a level 8 right now) and so the no end in sight thing is what really exhausts me. I do believe that I will find a solution and I am working on it, but sometimes, these things do get the best of me. There are some people who have debilitating migraines where they can't get out of bed and meds don't help. I'm just grateful that I can still function.

With regards to therapy, I've had therapy and it was more than I could tolerate. I've had some past trauma and I wasn't ready to deal with it. I will one day, but I just can't go through all that until I figure out the pain.

The great news is that after I posted here yesterday, I actually started to gain some control. And today, I've been very much in control, despite the ongoing pain. I'm really feeling proud of myself for that because I happen to know how tough it is.

So, thanks fellow chicks for everything. I will keep you posted on my situation and I thank you again from the bottom of my heart for your kindness.

Hugs to you.
I had chronic headaches for over a year and saw every specialist under the sun. They were called atypical migraines and many other things. The only thing that worked for me was sinus surgery as they found I had sinus problems. Have you seen an ENT? I still get headaches but they are occasional and not the debilitating ones I used to get.

Michele, did you have your pain all over your head or in your sinus region? I have absolutely no sinus related symptoms that I'm aware of, so is it still worth exploring? I'm willing to try a lot of avenues. I have a list of things I'm going to pursue.

I am not dealing with the chronic pain you are but I understand what is happening with you emotionally. In August, I hit a wall. I started eating and eating and convincing myself it was "reward time" for all the hard work I put in losing 50+ pounds. Now I'm up 10 pounds. Every day for the past few weeks I told myself that I am going to get back on plan but it never happens. I don't binge like I used to but I can't control the urges to order pizza, chinese food, eat mexican, buy that bag of chips to go along with the meatball hoagie. I just tell myself, "One more day eating like this won't hurt. I will start tomorrow". Never happens.

So I half relate to your post and I wish you the best of luck. And I am so sorry for the migranes you are experiencing. I am sure it exasperates things so much for you. Hang in there sweetie.

ShanIAm, thank you SO much for your wonderful encouragement. I so appreciate it. I also want to say that I think I would have had this happen even without the migraines. The certainly are a wonderful excuse but really, I do have a deeply misguided relationship with food. The key is to just get back on track. Today is my second day and I'm feeling a lot better about myself. I absolutely can't stand that out of control feeling with no end in sight. The thing that helps me is to post here as I did and to just have one good day. If I can just hold it together for one day, I can then turn that day into another, and so on. I'm not sure if that sort of thinking might help you today, but I thought I"d throw it out there in case it does. Even though we all share a common issue, we are all so different and what works for one may not work at all for another. In fact, what sometimes works for me often times changes, so just when I think I've figured things out, the house of cards comes crashing down. Don't give up. I hope to read that you've managed to get back on track soon.

I've never had a migraine, but my dad had them due to work stress. He went to bed with an ice bag on his head. That helped him.

My neighbor went to a pain clinic for hers. But she was eating almost a bushel of apples a month. Apples trigger migraines in some people. She refused to give up her apples.

My son had terrible headaches triggered by a sinus problem. A couple of spoons of yellow liquid Triaminc would cause them to go away in a few minutes.

My grandmother had migraines. She would drink just 1/2 cup of coffee every morning. (1/2 measuring cup.) Then she did not get one that day. That was all the coffee she drank throughout the day.

My next door neighbor would bite her lower lip until the pain went away.

Best of luck to you.

When one approach is not working to reach the desired goal, that's not a reason to abandon the goal.
Instead, it is time to devise another approach.
~ Ralph Marston ~

ShanIAm, when I had a problem trying to start dieting again earlier this year, I found LoseIt.com where I could log everything I ate. That got me back on track again and I have lost over 20 pounds since. It figures out my daily calories and draws up a lot of nice charts.

There are other sites where you can post your daily diet also.

You must begin to be today what you hope to be tomorrow.