The Bucket Theory Archives - Migraine Strong

Charleston, Diet, Episodic Migraine, Heal Your Headache, Medication, Migraine, Rebound, Sleep, Supplements, The Bucket Theory
Minimizing Migraine Attacks: What I wish I knew…
January 16, 2020
There is so much I wish I knew about minimizing migraine when my frequency of attacks was ramping up a few years ago. I would have avoided chonifying and been so much healthier had this blog site been available to me just a few years ago. I know you don’t feel lucky to ONLY have episodic migraine, but count your lucky stars that you haven’t “chronified.” Social media, has changed the way people educate and help themselves today. You have so many more resources to help you get better. I assume you have episodic migraine that is worsening and you are here trying to figure out what to do to…
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Danielle No Comments
Chronic Migraine, Episodic Migraine, Medication, Migraine, Rebound, The Bucket Theory
4 Steps To Tackle Migraine Headaches
November 21, 2019
For as long as I could remember, I considered myself a headachy person. At some point the headaches progressed to migraine. Fortunately, for most of my life I had infrequent episodic migraine (EM). An attack would start, I’d treat it with ibuprofen and I was better in an hour. I sought treatment when I began losing a few days per month to terrible attacks that didn’t respond to over-the-counter (OTC) remedies. Over time, my frequency of attacks increased and I “chronified” while under the care of my well-intentioned primary care physicians. Differences Between Chronic and Episodic Migraine I was diagnosed with chronic migraine after seeking help from a headache specialist. …
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Danielle 2 Comments
Migraine, Parenting, The Bucket Theory
How to Manage Light and Sound Sensitivity With Migraine: Part 2 – Concerts
October 26, 2019
Photo Credit: Eileen Zollinger Light and sound sensitivity are two of the most consistent problems I have with migraine (read Part 1 here). And not just during an attack but between attacks as well. I have found I need to have some tools in my toolkit to be able to enjoy certain events such as baseball games, movies and especially concerts. For The Love Of Music I love music. It feeds my soul in so many ways. One of my biggest regrets is that I don’t play an instrument (I know it’s not too late). I sing in my car with the best of them. There is nothing like your…
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Eileen Z No Comments
Chronic Migraine, Diet, Migraine, Science/Research, Sleep, Supplements, The Bucket Theory, The Treatment Pie
What Is The Root Cause of Migraine
October 17, 2019
Back in my early days of episodic migraine I didn’t give much thought to the root cause of migraine attacks. It wasn’t until I had chronic migraine (defined as 15 or more days per month with migraine symptoms) that I started to wonder what the heck was causing my once full life to get smaller and smaller. Once I was satisfied that it was “just” migraine and not a brain tumor or aneurysm ready to blow, I wanted to know what was wrong with my body so I could fix it. What was my root cause of migraine? The Question of Why? What is MY Root Cause of Migraine? My interest…
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Danielle 7 Comments
Migraine, Motherhood, The Bucket Theory, Wine
Wine Without Migraine: Try PureWine
October 3, 2019
With the weekend coming up, wouldn’t it be nice if you could have a glass of wine without migraine? Imagine enjoying a glass of red or white wine while enjoying a mom’s night out without suffering from wine sensitivities? How about drinking a cold beer with a few co-workers at a happy hour without any side effects? Sounds too good to be true? Thanks to PureWine, it doesn’t have to be! Alcohol Alcohol is a well recognized migraine trigger. According to American Migraine Foundation, alcohol can trigger a migraine attack anywhere from 30 minutes to 3 hours. People with migraine are also more susceptible to hangovers. Leiden University Migraine Neuro-Analysis…
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Migraine Strong 2 Comments
Anxiety, Migraine, The Bucket Theory, Wine
Migraine Attack Free While Being Stalked by a Hurricane
September 5, 2019
A Turtle Named Dorian Staying migraine attack free while fighting off stress and a hurricane is tough. A fellow Floridian posted a funny meme while Florida waited for news about hurricane Dorian. Something to the effect of waiting on hurricanes was like being stalked by a turtle. We all felt like we were being stalked by a turtle that would likely be a very serious threat to life and property in the coming days. However, this stress is very different than the colossal stress I have had over the past few months. The Stress Is Real Just to name a few stressful things I have dealt with – we decided…
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Danielle 2 Comments
Diet, Migraine, The Bucket Theory, The Treatment Pie
How to Recognize Migraine Baseline and Reintroduce Foods After an Elimination Diet
June 20, 2019
The migraine brain is said to be hyper responsive to its surrounding environment. We respond with migraine attacks to things that people without migraine wouldn’t react to at all. The Bucket Theory was developed as a way to explain how difficult to control triggers (like hormones, stress and weather) fill up a portion of our bucket each day. While these triggers are hard to manage, the ones that we have some control over are the ones that we eat and drink each day. What Is An Elimination Diet? An elimination diet is a short term modification of diet that allows us to remove the ‘commonly known’ migraine triggers. These triggers…
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Eileen Z 6 Comments
Diet, Migraine, Science/Research, The Bucket Theory
Diet – Show Me the Science!
March 7, 2019
You know what used to really irk me? When people would say, “there is no science to support changing your diet to help reduce migraine.” It doesn’t bother me much anymore as I have experienced the powerful effect of diet for myself as well as witnessed countless examples of diet helping people get significantly better. As a licensed professional (registered dietitian), I pride myself on only using evidence-based approaches to help people, but there are few studies to point to and say “A-ha!” I’m bummed that I have no solid response to the demand, “show me the science!” but I don’t let it get to me anymore. Diet Studies So,…
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Danielle No Comments
Diet, Migraine, Mindfulness, The Bucket Theory
The Bucket Theory
November 7, 2018
THE BUCKET THEORY – WHAT IS IT? We are always trying to come up with new ideas for how to manage migraine disease. The Bucket Theory developed out of a desire to explain how complicated migraine triggers could be and why something could feel like a trigger one week and not the next. The following is the Bucket Theory illustration of how the migraine mechanism is tripped. It goes something like this…each day we start out with a bucket that isn’t empty but contains things that we can’t avoid (ie. hormones, stress and weather). These things fill 1/3 or maybe even 2/3 of the bucket depending on how much is…
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Eileen Z No Comments