My Story

My Story

Raising two children in itself is a difficult task. However, trying to do it with a migraine just doesn't work. The pain, at times, was so unbearable, locking myself in a dark room was about all I could do. Life during these episodes was not only difficult for me but also for my family.

This pain just takes over your life, and there is no way to rest up from it before it hits again. After so many years of continually working through searing red pain, I was physically and emotionally exhausted and completely burned out.

I have suffered from migraines since I was 4 years old. Doctors told me it was all in my head (yes, it was) and that the pain "couldn't be that bad" (actually, it was worse).

I tried everything I could get my hands on. The Headache Clinic (biofeedback), pain killers, over-the-counter pain relievers, herbs, vitamins, beta-blockers, nerve blocks, massage, acupuncture, chiropractic, sleep, ice packs, heat packs, watching what I eat, avoiding crowds, using unscented products, etc.

These methods treated the physical symptoms but ignored the underlying cause. So once the treatment “wore off”, I was still in pain. I was at my wits end and as a last resort tried “energy medicine”. I was willing to try almost anything to get relief from the debilitating pain.

Figuring Out What's Wrong

I began suffering with debilitating headaches as a young child. My mother tells me from about age 4 I would complain of my head hurting and go lie down and sleep. In school, I often would go to the nurses station and lie down with headaches. In my early 20's I began going to doctors and trying to relate to them what I was feeling before, during, and after these episodes of intense pain. I had a few doctors tell me it was "all in my head and that I was exaggerating the intensity" of the headache. It wasn't until I was in my late 20's or early 30's that a doctor finally diagnosed me as having Migraine headaches.

My Personal Symptoms

I would experience various (what I now know) auras; black spots, sparks, tiny lights, etc. in my field of vision, get suddenly very hot or very cold, usually all color would drain from my face, intense pain usually on the right side of my head, light and sound were always highly amplified, sometimes it would hurt to have kind of covering on my body. I would be nauseous at times. It hurt to talk, walk, eat. Sometimes I would experience numbness or tingling in my face. My right eye would either water or be so dry it hurt to blink. I forced myself to work by taking as much over-the-counter pain relievers as I could and when I got home I'd immediately take the prescription pain reliever and go to bed and sleep. Sometimes it felt like an explosion had gone off in my head and I'd be in pain for days at a time.

After the Diagnosis

Once a diagnosis was determined I began a long sometimes arduous journey of trying new things to "control" the migraines. At one point I was taking fourteen (yes 14) different prescriptions a day in an effort to stop the pain. Though I wasn't suffering from debilitating pain I also wasn't functioning well in such a highly medicated state. My family suffered either way. I had to quit taking all those medications and the doctors told me they had done all they could do and that I would have to learn to live with the agonizing Migraines. I tried herbs, vitamins, a very regimented schedule (as regimented as you can get with a family), acupuncture (most of the time with great success), massage therapy, cranial-sacral therapy, and numerous other things with varying degrees of success.

Alternative /Complimentary Therapy

As a last desperate resort, a friend told me about some guy that did "Qi Gong". I had no idea what that was but was willing to try anything to make the pain go away. At that point I had had a migraine for 6 solid weeks that nothing would help (shots, narcotics, massage, acupunture). I was experiencing numbness on the whole right side of my body, I was in agonizing pain, I couldn't walk very well without support, and I certainly couldn't drive. My husband took me to an appointment on the Monday before Thanksgiving and we left there feeling a sense of relief for the first time in weeks. The numbness was gone and though I was still extremely light sensitive the pain was less. The Qi Gong doctor and his wife told me that over the next few days I should feel complete relief and by Thanksgiving day I was pain free - not even a residul headache.

That sent me on a quest to learn more about Qi Gong and from surfing the web I found Eden Energy Medicine and knew that's where I would find answers.

I didn't want to be dependent on someone else to "give" me relief and Energy Medicine seemed to offer hope that I could take back control of my life with some simple and easy (and yes very effective) exercises. After reading that book, I knew I had to learn more and began attending classes and then the (newly offered) certification program. I wanted to be able to share and teach and help others who were at their wits end learn how to find relief from the vicious cycle of migraines.

(c) 2007-2008, Theda Foster, CEEMP, All rights reserved.
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