139. Amanda's Story: From 9 Years Of Suffering To Forgetting When Her Last Migraine Was

Amanda spent nine years having migraines about half the time. Half her week, every week, for nine years.

She went through every triptan. She got on Topamax. She took a day off work to travel to a headache specialist, convinced that this time she would finally get real answers.

She drove home in tears. They offered her more medication.

By the time she found me on social media she was desperate enough to reach out to a naturopathic doctor she had never met, halfway across the country, through telehealth — something she had never done before and no one in her family had ever considered.

She actually got a migraine in the middle of our very first call.

In this episode Amanda shares what working on the root causes of her migraines actually looked like, how quickly things started to shift, what surprised her the most, and what life looks like now, years later, compared to where she was in 2019.

Her words: the migraine used to be the biggest thing in her life. Now it's the smallest.

If you’re ready to address the root drivers of your migraines, you can book a free consultation at the link below:

https://www.drlesliecisar.com/apply

Free Training: 5 Proven Steps to Being Migraine Free (Even if you think you've already tried everything.)

https://www.drlesliecisar.com/5SHMN

Connect with us:

Website: https://www.drlesliecisar.com/

Free Facebook Group: Healing Migraines Naturally, with Leslie Cisar, ND

Ready to try something radically different that actually works? Read more about my approach here: https://www.drlesliecisar.com/map

In health,
Dr. Leslie Cisar

Episode Transcript

hi everyone
welcome to the Healing Migraines Naturally podcast
I'm your host Doctor Leslie Caesar
and today I'm talking with Amanda
who's going to share her healing story with us
welcome Amanda how are you
I'm doing well thank you
it's an good quite an honor to be here
oh well
thank you so much for sharing your story
I'm sure
there are a lot of women out there that are gonna
really resonate
with your
your journey from chronic migraines to fairly rare uh
headaches is that is that a fair statement
it surely is
well good good
and why don't you start us off by
you know what was your life like
when you were struggling with chronic migraines
we actually started working together in 2019
I believe that's true
so what was life like in 2019 for you
yeah that's a great place to start
in 2019 I was pretty desperate
I was very sick with migraines
about 50% of the week actually
I was getting a migraine that was significantly a
what I was able to do during the week
and so I ended up going after many
you know doctors appointments to local neurologist
I ended up going to a headache clinic here locally
I live in a rural New Hampshire
rural area in New Hampshire
and so I traveled to a a migraine specialist there and
and told them I was done taking medicine
and I needed help
and could they help me and um
they just offered me more prescription medication
and so
I was very desperate at the time for another solution
and why why didn't you take them up on their offer
for more prescriptions
yeah I had um
gone through a significant regiment of medication um
before that so
I started on Advil when I was first getting headaches
and then I that didn't work for uh
after a period of time and then I went to Tylenol
and then I went to migraine
Excedrin or Excedrin migraine
um I went through a whole round of um
abortive treatments in the
you know the triptans
I did all the different triptans sumatriptan
um rizatriptan
elatriptan and zolmitriptan
and basically kept going
getting new prescriptions
because they would start off effective
and then
they would not be effective after a period of time
and when I went to that migraine clinic
I was actually on topiramate
which is a anti epilepsy medicine
I think the one of the brand names is Topamax
and I was getting quite a few side effects
from taking that and it also was just very serious
I had to you couldn't miss a dose
it could cause seizures if you didn't take it
and it wasn't aligning with
you know taking all this medicine
was not aligning with my personal values
and trying to live more holistically
yeah so you were struggling about half
half the time with yeah
easily some level of migraine
yeah
and was this affecting your career
how was this affecting your
your life
yeah it was um
it was really affecting my life in a serious way
you know to start with
it was affecting my marriage
because I was sick a lot of the time
and
it's not much fun to hang out with someone who's sick
all the time
it was hard to work and I would get migraines uh
frequently at work
and have to go sleep in my car for four or five hours
and then work later hours to make up for the time
I was really concerned about missing
important events in my life
and so you know
around that time my brother was getting married
and I remember being really nervous
I'd get a migraine and not be able to enjoy his wedding
and it was personal
it was personally like really discouraging for me
it's actually you know
I went from a well person and over time
became more and more sick
and so it was very discouraging to be sick that much
you know that amount of time
and it created
almost an anxiety in me that I didn't previously have
about all these what ifs and so
I just
lived in this world of trying to outsmart my migraines
and trying to do everything that I knew how
to not get a migraine
which sometimes would lead to a migraine
uh huh
the stress of it yeah
the stress of like not wanting
a migraine could sometimes cause a migraine
so it was pretty right it was pretty pretty silly
I I tell you
because when I first started getting getting migraines
it was at work
they would come at come on at the end of the work day
so when you said you would have to leave the office
to sleep in your car you know
I'm like oh you know like oh man
I think that is gonna you know
I like
I I can just remember that horrible feeling right
of being at work and then uh oh right
something's starting here
how am I gonna get home how am I gonna make it back
you know home feeling so sick and so on yeah
so all yeah
so all of this you had done so much medication
you were on Topamax you know
they don't call it dopamax for no reason right
it's a lot of side effects with that medication
for most people
and so then you had gone to sort of like a specialist
you know like a was it a headache center you said yes
yeah yeah
so you know this again
usually when people get really desperate they're like
okay I'm gonna go to you know
where the big guns are where the real experts are
the headache center and you know
they're gonna give me the full work up
I'm gonna get the cutting edge stuff
the latest and greatest that my local neurologist
can't give me but it was really this same old
yeah it was
I was really excited for this appointment
you know
I had to take the day off from work to travel to it
and was really hopeful
like it was going to be the answer
and I left in tears and cried most of the way home
because they're just
they were not offering me anything different than
my local neurologist in fact
you know they continue to reiterate
what my local neurologist said
which is that you'll have migraines
likely until you hit menopause
they're hereditary um
you know my had
I had a grandfather who had migraines
I had a lot of concussions as a kid
so all of these various things they
you know were convinced
were factoring
into the fact that I would be sick for my whole life
yeah I
I personally I've never went to a headache center
but I have heard this so frequently from my clients
that they finally
get that appointment at the headache center
you know like Cleveland Clinic or
you know one of those facilities
and they leave in tears
I hear this so many times because
you know people really aren't getting any
they don't have like this secret
you know pharmacy of
different medication that your local neurologist has
right you know
so you left in tears unfortunately
and then what happened what happened next
so I ended up uh
following like the American Migraine Association
I wanna say I think that's what it's called
and somehow through a wonderful aspect of social media
I ended up coming across your page
which was a healing migraines naturally
which was exactly what I was looking for
and so yeah
I had nothing to lose so I reached out
uh huh and um
did you uh
you know you do not live
you are not local to me
and so what what made you do this crazy thing
to reach out to somebody that you met on social media
not even really met
but just came across their social media presence
what uh
what made motivated you to do that crazy thing
yeah I just
I would like I said I was really desperate
I was very sick
and my quality of life was incredibly poor
at that time so by the time I reached out to you
I had migraines for nine years in a life affecting way
and was spending a lot of time in bed on the weekends
and just really
really struggling honestly to get up every morning
it was just so discouraging to feel sick all the time
and so I checked out your website after I saw your um
post on Facebook and
you know as far as I could tell
it seemed legit like a legitimate website
and so I booked my session with you to
you know to meet and discuss
you know discuss what options there might be
and I remember cause you
you were a member of the Facebook group that I have
and I remember after we did that console call
you actually posted in the Facebook group
mm hmm and
you know you said
you know I
I talked to Doctor Leslie and I actually have hope now
right yes
well so first
it was like verifying that you were a real person cause
uh huh we have to remember back to that time
so in 2,019
telehealth was still pretty new
especially in the area where I am
where I'm really rural so
you know reaching out to a doctor
that's halfway across the United States
you know that's not an MD
you know doing a different type of practice
is not something I had any familiarity with
no one in my family has ever worked naturally
and I was always you know
brought to the hospital and the you
you really are taught that the hospital can help
and in many cases there is good use for the hospital
but in this case it was not serving me well
and so it was actually ironic
the day that we met for the first time
and I had a I got a migraine in the middle of our call
I'll never forget that
and actually it was very comforting
to know that you had a history with migraines
and that you are a woman
both of those things were really encouraging to me
that you
could really understand where I was coming from
yeah yeah
we had to cut that first appointment into appointments
yeah
I think
you had to vomit in the middle of the appointment
or something like that it was pretty wild
and there's a a lot of shame actually
I think that comes with being sick and having migraines
especially
if if someone's never had it before
you know it's like uh
people really blow it off like oh
it's just a headache and like
how could you be this sick from a headache
and you must be weak and so at the time
I had a lot of shame around my headaches
and so I felt like the like
I could be more honest with you and more forthright
both because I didn't know you personally
and because you had had migraines
yeah and I've talked about on the podcast
I've definitely I'm sure I've told you this story too
the number of times I've had to pull over and vomit
right right
at toll booths
in parking lots yeah
yeah I was very prone
if I was driving with a migraine
I was very prone to having to pull over and vomit
so yeah
I'm
I totally understand if people need to take a break
for sure
well good
and what do you think surprised you the most
working with me
and starting to actually restore your health
because that's ultimately
what you've been up to these years
is restoring your health
so that your body isn't generating the migraines
so what was the most surprising thing about
about doing that type of work hmm
yeah that's a good question
as I um
kind of reflect back on that
I remember first starting to work with you
and I was so proud of all the things that I could do
that I was telling my body to do
and one of the things I know we started with was a
a food journal and I remember putting in
you know
I didn't start eating during the day until like noon
and I'm eating dinner at 10 o'clock at night sometimes
you know cause of my crazy work schedule
and I I remember being really proud of that
I was thinking oh
she's gonna be really impressed with how little I eat
and how I can eat whenever I want
and so
so it working with you was an interesting process
because essentially you
we're teaching the foundations of
of how our basically
how our body was designed
and what we need to do to nourish it
so it functions well and it's so foundational
but it's been very lost in our culture
our kind of fast paced culture and um
the self serve culture we live in
it really
is not acknowledging
just the biology of how the body works
so I was most surprised with
the fundamentals that you were teaching
that seem like they should have been obvious
but they are quite radical in today's culture
uh huh uh huh
and um
how how quickly did you notice feeling better
I know it's been a while since oh 2019 no
I remember
haha yeah
when you're yeah
when you're sick 50% of the week
yeah and I
before I guess I answer that
I'll explain that there was
there was some uncertainty about working with you
and even but I remember thinking at the time
if I could even have one
if I could have three migraines a week
that would be an improvement
I was like you know
I couldn't imagine at the time
when I started working with you
that I could have no migraines in a week
that was
that wasn't you know
I couldn't imagine that as a possibility
so that's basically what started to happen though
is that every week
I would start to have less and less migraines
and I would be going a longer distance
between migraines where I
you know
we got to a point where I was having maybe one a week
which was I mean
that was life changing just having one migraine a week
right um
you know the bar I had set for myself was so low but
but it happened pretty quickly actually
I would say in about um
four weeks I started to see real
a real difference
and also
what's interesting is when you're sick all the time
your you actually have
a new bar that's set for what wellness feels like
and so as we were going through the program
I was accessing new levels of health
that I had forgotten existed honestly
and still you know
even out um
to this year's I still put the things into practice
that we worked on together
I'm finding new new highs of of wellness
this is it's so interesting because
you know
it's like we get acclimated to not feeling that well
that we don't realize it yeah
and then when we start feeling better
we're like wow uh
what you know
I never realized that I could feel this good
I didn't realize that I had the brain fog that right
I'm actually feeling is lifting sure
you know I
I have a client that is
right around that four week Mark
and she went over to her grandmother's house
and her grandmother just took one look at her
and was like oh
your color is back in your face
yeah you know
just
and that's what I like to target
around that four week Mark
there's like a noticeable shift
you know you can feel it
you're feeling different you know
people might look a little differently
you're still having migraines
but you can feel the difference internally
and sometimes it's not even
so much that you can put your finger exactly on it
but you're just feeling better
right feeling different
yeah I remember I had um
really big bags under my eyes that were like
starting to disappear
and I um
struggled even
so 50% of the time I was having a migraine
but the rest of the time
I was just having general head pain all the time
and so I noticed that that head pain was
you know underlying head pain just started to dissipate
you know pretty
you know within that four week Mark
and what have you noticed over the years
as far as maintaining your health
because this is
another goal that I have with my clients
you know I
I hope that I can you know
sort of teach people
help people how to maintain their health going forward
sure
yeah I think
the time that we spent together was incredibly valuable
because I didn't have to continue to hire you to
to work the program essentially
is that
you were able to teach me what I needed to know
there was um
I took a lot of notes
but you provided a lot of resources
and so I still try to maintain that program today
and it's interesting
the migraine now has become a blessing
and a warning sign
because I get them so infrequently that when I do
excuse me when I do get one
then I know that that is a trigger
that I'm off somewhere
in terms of how I'm caring for myself
and so
that's a great way to snap me right back into place
to get those fundamentals back on board
and so over the years
I haven't always executed it perfectly
but my quality of life is
you know quite good compared to where I was in 2,019
yeah and this is
you know I
I will say this to a lot of clients I definitely
feel this about myself
you know
the migraines are they
they can be a gift right
and when you're in the
when you're having daily head pain and
you know 3
4 migraines a week
nobody wants to hear that this is a gift right right
this can make people feel very angry
yes when they hear something like this
but
you know that
it is a symptom that your body's generating
to give you a little tap on the shoulder right
it may be more of a push than a tap sometimes
but it isn't
uh we're not getting the migraines
because our body hates us or
you know you're
you're defective I
I have family history of migraines on both sides too
right so it's not that we're doomed and defective
but when not giving our body what it needs
our body doesn't just drop dead
thank goodness it adapts
but there's trade offs
and those trade offs are what we call symptoms
so if we know how to interpret those symptoms
and we know what action to take
and if we're able to take the action sometimes
I mean there's been periods of time in my
life where my health has declined
and I wasn't in a real
great spot to take the action I needed
right per se
but you know
if all if we can take some action
even a a
a small action
that will give our body
a little bit more of what it needs
our body is designed to respond positively to that
right
yeah I was thinking about
you know that statement that I just made is pretty
pretty wild and if I was hearing that back in 2,019
I just I could not
that would not resonate with me
but that is the that's how far I've come
you know in this healing journey that I
I can say that now that it's a gift to have uh
once in a while because it is
that tap on the shoulder that gets me straight
yeah on the straight and narrow pretty quickly
uh huh yeah
nothing motivates you
like having to pull over and vomit
right on the side of the road right right
right
and the thing I'd clarify about that statement too
is that in 2,019 you know
and for that nine year period
I was living in this avoidance scenario
one of the examples is
when it was really sunny out for instance
I would be avoiding that when I
you know
I would be avoiding any concerts that had disco lights
or you know um
so uh
I'm not in a space now where um
I'm avoiding things
because I'm afraid to get a migraine
and so that emotional piece of it
there's actually a very strong
emotional piece to migraines too
that you start to be conditioned to
and start to live in
the fear of getting a migraine that I've
that I've also moved on from
yeah I'm glad you mentioned this
because this is a very real phenomenon
I call it the like the post traumatic migraine response
I definitely experience that too
so part of recovering from chronic migraines is also
regaining trust in your body
that you can actually do those things
you can actually go out in the sun
for more than 20 minutes on a 75 degree day
that used to be my you know limit
so you have to also regain trust in your body
that you can weather those types of stressors
the concerts the sunlight
the travel right um
etcetera changing schedule
I mean it
it the list just goes on and on
about the accommodations that you start to live with
to avoid what you think are triggers
yeah and um
it's very freeing to not have to live that way
there's actually a
you know it's part of that desperation
it's a it
it's very uh
it makes your world very small
yeah it really does
well what's your uh
what's life like now for you
uh yeah
it's um
it's really exciting
I actually had shared with my mom recently that I
can't remember the last time that I had a migraine
and that's
you know that feels just incredible
to start to lose track of when you're getting them
and that when you you know
when I am getting them they're kind of a blip
I get them and I move on and
and it's not it's not devastating and
and um
affecting my system in the same way
so I'm able to just get it
move on
so the migraines were really big in my life
that was like the biggest thing
and now they're the smallest thing
and you know
I can remember there's kind of
different levels that I went through
in terms of my healing and
I remember a time where I was able to leave the house
without bringing you know
four different options of migraine medicine with me or
um if I did forget it
like panicking about it
totally panicking when I'm at work
because my medicine's at home
and I might get a migraine during the day
so that are think those are things that are just like
really small wins but just so impactful
mm hmm mm hmm
yeah that's a big milestone for migraine suffers
being able to leave the house
without the medication kit
without the snacks in the purse
all of these things right
that were you know
we have to turn around I
if I didn't leave if I didn't have snacks in my purse
I turn around and go back in the house and get snacks
yeah sure
if I got hungry and I couldn't eat migraine right
guaranteed migraine right yeah
I was so dependent on my migraine medicine
at a certain point that it was actually scary
I remember um
so I was over I was always over taking my prescriptions
so they would run out
the amount that I think you were supposed to take in a
in a month period was maybe
maybe like 10 or 13 doses
and I was usually doubling that and
you know
begging my pharmacist basically to give you know
release my prescription early and being so desperate
like I would you know
almost like like drug dealer level
that's what it felt like
as I was so desperate to get the medicine
because I was so dependent on it
and I was so afraid without it
so it was a real struggle at the end of the month
I had a lot of anxiety at the end of each month
really being concerned about like oh
I'm gonna run out of medicine
and I'm not gonna have enough
but because I was taking so much of it
it was definitely affecting
I was definitely getting rebound headaches
and I didn't realize that until I started
being able to taper off the medicine
and so that was
something I really
just appreciated about going through your program
is that
you really understood the fear of actually stopping
taking medicine
and also just the
there's actual physical concerns about it
you can't just stop taking topiramate
you know there has to be a taper down process
it's dangerous to do that
so I appreciated your insight about that
and I didn't get more sick taking less medicine
we were able to taper my uh
taper me off to the point where I'm taking no
no preventative
or no abortive medicines for migraine at this point
and I'm actually working
my next task is working on trying to get off Advil
yeah try to stop take
stop taking Advil
so basically stop taking medicine completely
yeah yeah
and just you know
just uh
for people listening
I don't change anyone's prescription
so you worked with your prescribing doctor
what I do is I educate my clients
on different strategies
that they can talk with their doctor about
so I don't want anyone listening to think that I
you know weaned Amanda off of her Topamax
she and her prescribing doctor did that
but with my experience
particularly with migraine sufferers
um I can educate my clients
and then you can go back to your prescribing doctor
and put together you know
the best game plan yep
and what I talked about this on the podcast too
but what I see uh
frequently is that the prescribing doctors
you know if somebody's on Topamax and
and how long were you on Topamax I forget
not an incredibly long time before I
saw you maybe like a year and a half okay yeah
so you know
a lot of times you know
certainly
if you've been on Topamax for a year and a half
your brain chemistry has acclimated to the Topamax
and you know
they they say
don't abruptly discontinue this medication because it
it takes your brain a while to
adjust itself to not having that medication on board
but what I see frequently is that prescribing doctors
oh well
you've been on this a year and a half okay
well for two weeks
cut it in half and then stop taking it
and it's just not enough time for your brain chemistry
to adapt right
to not having the medication on board
and then what happens is people do that
they follow their doctor's advice and then
you know their brain chemistry sort of crashes
they have horrible migraines and they say oh
I guess I need this right Topamax
so you know
what I'm able to do is educate people on what might be
some other strategies
that they can talk with their doctor about
so that they're appropriately
weaning down on medication
because as we know as migraine suffers
like any little thing can tip us any little change
right can tip us into a migraine
we just had daylight savings time last weekend right
and that's notorious amongst migraine sufferers
for causing migraines yeah
those time changes
so any little thing right
you know if daylight
savings time is enough to tip you into a migraine
weaning too quickly off of a preventative medication
can definitely do it yeah
it's a good reminder we um
definitely
went much slower than what the recommendation was
and it worked I was able to get off um
topamax with no you know
I never had a seizure there was no adverse effects
and it you know
it was perfect it went perfectly smooth
so uh
anything else on the horizon here for you
are you looking forward to
to anything yeah
I'm looking well
we're looking forward to spring because it's still
there's still plenty of snow on the ground
here in New Hampshire uh huh
so um
I'm excited about spring and summer
summer has a new meaning for me now
because I don't have to avoid the heat
so that's always like encouraging to me
is that I can fully live into my summer
the way that I want to and that I imagined as a
you know like how I did as a child with
you know no boundaries
and so that's exciting to look ahead for that
good good
and um
anything else you wanted to share with the listeners
yeah I think um
I would just encourage your listeners um
if they're on the fence to
to take a chance
and you know I'm
I know that when I first um
was considering working with you
it really
I was really insecure about it honestly
I wasn't sure what it was going to mean
to how to work with a person in this capacity
and I
you know it obviously went very well for me
I would encourage people to
you know to trust what you're saying because it's true
you know I'm seeing that on the back end
and I'm still
you know this many years later
choosing to kind of dip in and work with you again
to kind of tweak things
and have really appreciated your um
your wisdom and your expertise
and so I'm continuing to get healthy be um
really because of that
and
you know I just
I think it's a I just
it was a very encouraging experience for me all around
I really
really delighted to work with you
and to have found this new way of working on my health
well thanks so much
thanks for sharing your story
very inspiring what our bodies are designed to do
when we give our body what it needs
yes
for sure
so very good
thanks so much for joining us today
yeah thank you