Reply To This Post         Return to Posts Index           VegSource Home

From:	ridgerunner (bbb72-0-177-74.bendbroadband.com)
Subject:	Cure your Migraines once and for all (Really!)
Date:	December 19, 2005 at 7:35 pm PST

In Reply to: headaches posted by Marissa on December 19, 2005 at 12:43 pm:

Dr Joel Fuhrman has been curing patients of Migraines (and many other diseases) for more than 14 years using natural methods and no drugs. In his book: "Fasting and Eating for Health : A Medical Doctor's Program for Conquering Disease" (1995), he dedicates an entire chapter to healing Migraines: Chapter 4: "Headaches and Hypoglycemia: Two Misunderstood Conditions". Here is an excerpt:

   "Taking care of patients with recurrent headaches or migraines is probably the most rewarding patient interaction I experience on close to a daily basis because these patients typically recover very quickly. A couple of examples will suffice, as there is not much to say about headache case histories, except that if the patients do what I tell them to do, their headaches quickly disappear. So often, before the patients have been referred to me, they have seen a neurologist or other physician, who besides treating them with the typical drugs has ordered or recommended an MRI scan of the brain. I typically tell patients to hold off on the expensive tests for a few days while they follow my program and, invariably, they feel well in a short period of time.

   "Kate was a 42-year old woman with a 20-year history of severe and frequent migraine headaches. When she first came to see me she was taking Fiorinal and Repan on a regular basis as prescribed for her condition. She was also taking Deconsal for sinusitis and allergic rhinitis.

   "Kate started the migraine-reversal diet, and at the next visit three weeks later reported that her headaches as well as her chronic sinus condition had completely cleared. She no longer needed medications. She experienced only one further episode, the day after the first visit, and has had no further symptoms.

...

   "Nancy, a 43-year old woman, also had recurrent migraine headaches. They were especially troublesome around her menstrual periods. Her headaches were accompanied by nausea and a desire to vomit. She was using Xanax and Repan as prescribed by her former physician. Nancy started a Phase I diet and was tapered off the medications. Her headaches quickly disappeared, and she has not had another problem with headaches since instigating this program. An added benefit was that her periods were no longer painful.

   "These patients did not have to stay on the Phase I diet for long. Other foods were quickly introduced, and they remained symptom-free.

   "Occasionally, when people's symptoms are very severe and they wish to accelerate their recovery, they can begin with a two-to-three-day fast, followed by the recommended diet. If the headaches do not resolve completely from their lives after following the plan described here, a longer, medically supervised fast for a more adequate detoxification must be considered.

   "Occasionally, a patient with a severe condition may require a more prolonged fast to clear out the retained wastes that are causing the problem. For example, when Gordon came to see me he had already consulted with dozens of renowned physicians for his severe headaches and facial pain. He was taking 16 Percocet tablets (a powerful narcotic) and 2 Klonopin tablets (a tranquilizer) daily. His headache, accompanied by piercing pain, never left him for a minute. If he did not take high doses of narcotics, the pain was unbearable and he had no normal existence. Because of his severe problem, he was forced to leave his job. He and his family were in financial distress. Besides unsuccessfully trying every headache medication in the book, he had undergone facial and sinus surgery, temporal artery bypass, and injections with nerve-blocking medications, all without improvement to his excruciating condition.

   "After starting a simple plant based diet, I slowly weaned Gordon off his medications over a month-long period. His facial pain was very severe without the narcotics and I placed him on a fast as soon as possible. Within a few days of fasting, all his pain resolved. So that he could more completely detoxify, I extended his fast for an additional two weeks. He is now back working and for the first time in 20 years is pain free.

   "Our bodies try hard to keep us healthy. When disease-causing stresses are removed, the natural healing and self-repairing powers of the body begin to work unhindered. This self-repair and self-cleansing occurs most efficiently in sleep and when the body is no longer working hard or digesting food. During these times the system can more effectively devote its efforts to housecleaning and the elimination of retained wastes."

And in his more recent book: "Eat to Live" (2003), he also discusses treating headaches (but the topic is not covered as extensively). Here is an excerpt from Chapter 7: "Eat to Live Takes on Disease":

   "My experience in treating migraine and severe-headache patients with a more comprehensive nutritional approach has shown that 90 to 95 percent of patients are able to remain headache-free after the first three-month period. These patients avoid common migraine triggers, but also in the healing phase they adhere to a strict natural-food vegan diet of primarily fruits and vegetables rich in natural starches like potatoes and brown rice. These patients must avoid all packaged and processed foods, which are notorious for containing hidden food additives, even though they are not disclosed on the labels. They also avoid all added salt.

   "I believe that I obtain such impressive results not merely because of avoiding triggers but because the patient becomes healthier and is able to process toxins more effectively. Additionally, when animal-product consumption is significantly lowered or removed from the diet, the liver is not faced with breaking down this heavy toxic load and can perform its normal detoxification function more effectively.

...

   "COMMON MIGRAINE TRIGGERS: sweets, dairy and cheese, salted or pickled foods, fermented foods, chocolate, vinegar, pizza, smoked meats, alcohol, monosodium glutamate, nuts, food additives, yeast, hydrolyzed protein and baked goods"

I could quote more (describing in detail his recommended Phase I diet), but my fingers are getting tired! I do highly, highly recommend checking out these books (especially "Fasting and Eating for Health"). These fantastic results are not too good to be true. I know from experience, because I have used these methods to cure my life long chronic asthma. Dr Fuhrman's diet is a pretty big jump for most folks, but if you really want to get well, its a very small price to pay.

Migraines are a disease of Toxicosis (and so are many, many other diseases). To get well, you need to clean out all the accumulated retained toxins and stop taking in new ones! An optimal vegan diet is the way to go. You just need to learn what the word "optimal" really means. I strongly believe that Dr Fuhrman has the true answer to that question.

Reply To This Post         Return to Posts Index           VegSource Home