Dairy and headaches

A friend from my son's kindergarten class' mom was also a holistic momma and wanted to know who I take my kids to as a pediatrician. I referred her to Dr. Carrie Rittling from East Valley Naturopathic Doctors. Over the summer this child began suffering from headaches and they began to investigate. After her prior pediatrician wanted to send her to a neurologist and then explore medications, her mom decided to take her to our doctor. After a lengthy appointment where her concerns were actually heard and all bases explored, they determined that dairy could be a trigger. After removing dairy, no more headaches.

As a GFCFSF cooking mom, I do have my own weakness, which is dairy. My son get NONE, and I am STRICT on his diet (i.e. fanatical). I don't use enzymes so he can eat regular pizza at birthdays, I don't let him eat gluten or dairy AT ALL, no exceptions. I love enzymes but I am a firm believer there is NO replacement for the diet, period. Immune stimulation and inflammation is still occuring when you give these kids foods that they react to, regardless of what enzymes you want to give them. That is my personal belief. But, I am more loose with my own diet and yet my body continually sends me signals. I am so great at reading my kids but not so great at reading myself.

For years I have suffered from headaches with weather changes. When a system moves in or it clouds over I have a headache for 2 days straight. Not fun. This has gone on my whole life. After a really bad experience with a cheese ball last week I said enough was enough. Besides my last container of greek yogurt, the past week has been dairy free for me as well as wheat free (which I have been very faithful about). As the clouds rolled in yesterday I felt the pressure of the weather changes as usual but there was no PAIN. No headache above my eyes, no throbbing sinuses! I can usually count on this pain anytime we get the monsoons in or anytime the weather goes from clear and sunny to cloudy. This was the first time I had no pain. I could tell my body was still reacting to the changes which is normal but there was no pain associated with it.

So again, I would suggest exploring a wheat and/or dairy free lifestyle if you are suffering from unexplained health issues (gut issues, headaches, etc) as many of these things are closely tied to diet. If I eat or drink anything with excitotoxins like artificial sweeteners or MSG (which also includes autolyzed yeast, natural flavors, maltodextrin, etc) found in so many boxed and prepared foods I immediately get a headache. Sometimes it takes a while to clean out your system but when you do your body is a pretty good barometer of what you should or should not put in it, if we just listen and heed. Clearly I am still working on this one, but getting better at it every day!