ER Visit Last Night

[mlkirk]

Hi,

Just wanted to share my experience from last night to see if anyone else has had such a severe reaction. Not even sure if this had anything to do with the diet, but I'm thinking it probably did. I basically got a really severe migraine, but when it happened, I was sure I was having a stroke (yes, paranoid). I couldn't see very well out of either eye. Things were blurry, I was seeing weird 'designs' and lights, etc. Then I felt as if I couldn't speak correctly and was jumbling my words, couldn't read correctly (words didn't seem to make sense). And then my right hand and side of my face went numb (this only lasted for a few minutes). It was WEIRD. So off we went to the ER where they told me that, although rare, it was probably a migraine (I'm following up with a neurologist). Apparently you can have optic migraines that affect your vision, and can cause numbness in your extremities, and issues with your speech and cognitive abilities.

I'm fine today, but it was just such an odd experience. I NEVER get migraines, so it's not like I'm prone to this sort of thing. Yesterday, I was craving everything under the sun (I'm on Day 5). Before that, I had been doing pretty well.

I'm assuming my body is having a severe reaction to eating healthy for once in its life. I was a pasta/sugar addict, and always felt bad after having dairy, chronic constipation my entire life (TMI!), tired all the time, etc, etc. One other question - the past two days, I noticed slight itchiness all over my back, head, neck and arms. Just curious if this could be a detox symptom, or if perhaps I could be allergic to something I'm eating (I'm not really eating any 'new' foods that I haven't had before).

Sorry for the novel - just wondering if this could be my body's normal reaction to getting all the junk out of it, and wanted to get some input. Thanks in advance!

[Tom Denham]

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. Maybe the change in your diet has provoked both issues - the migraine and itchiness - but we don't hear reports like yours enough to say.

How far along are you in your Whole30? Are you following the meal template to guide how much you eat? http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Meal-Planning-Template.pdf

[gatork]

I hope you get some answers from the neurologist.

I'm not a doctor, not in a health-related field, but have read a bunch about different headache types because of friends/family. I know, WebMD can make you more paranoid (I start reading and then I can't stop), but have you looked at the different types of headaches to see if anything sounds similar? Thought this might be helpful as well - http://www.headachemag.org/Articles/ExpertQnA/QA-Stroke-and-Migraine

[Xandra]

I'm sorry you had this scary experience.

I have very occasional ocular migraines (the kind where you see the flickering lights and your vision is impaired). I've had only one since changing my eating habits to follow Whole30 about 6 months ago. It happened in the gym during a hard workout. I'm not sure what brought it on and it was mild enough that taking a Tylenol within 30 minutes kept me functional. Do I associate it with Whole30? No. I got migraines years before now and will likely have them again. The typical triggers for me are dark chocolate and red wine, neither of which I'd had in months. I'm guessing it was related to overall stress, and beginning Whole30 can be quite stressful with everything else you are juggling in your life.

If this does ever happen again, I hope you can pinpoint a cause for it. That's very difficult to do sometimes.

[mlkirk]

Thanks everyone. I'm only 5 days in, and I think I'm doing the template correctly. I think my body was pretty unhealthy (despite trying to eat healthy for the most part). I'm taking this as a positive thing - that my body is 'de-junking' and maybe some residual toxins are causing these symptoms. We shall see in the weeks to come! Thanks for your responses!