"Fasting for Post-Traumatic Brain Injury Headache"
An uncontrolled and unpublished study purported to show a beneficial effect
of fasting on migraine headaches, but fasting may be more likely
to trigger a migraine than help it. In fact, skipped meals
are among one of the most consistently identified
dietary triggers of headaches in general.
In a review of hundreds of fasts at the TrueNorth Health Center in California,
the incidence of headache was nearly one in three, but TrueNorth also
published a remarkable case report on posttraumatic headache.
The CDC estimates that more than a million Americans sustain
traumatic brain injuries every year, and chronic pain
is a common complication, as in like three-quarters
suffering such an injury.
There are drugs, of course, to treat it. There are always drugs.
And if that doesn't work, surgery: cutting the nerves to your head
to stop the pain. Well, what about fasting and plants?
A highly debilitating condition, difficult to manage,
a 52-year-old woman presents with unremitting,
chronic post-traumatic headache.
And when I say chronic, I mean chronic---pain for 16 years---
but who then achieved long-term relief following fasting,
followed by an exclusively plant-based diet, free of added sugar, oil, or salt.
Before then she had tried drug after drug, after drug, after drug,
after drug with no relief, suffering in constant pain her entire life.
Started out in constant pain, but then after the fast,
the intensity of her pain was cut in half, and though she was still having
daily headaches, at least there were some pain-free periods.
Six months later she tried it again, and eventually her headaches
were mild, under 10 minutes, and infrequent,
and she continued that way months and even years later.
Now, of course, it's hard to disentangle the effects
of the fasting from the effects of the whole food plant-based diet
she remained on those ensuing years.
You've heard of analgesics---painkillers. Well, there are some foods that may be
pro-algesic: pain promoting, such as foods high in arachidonic acid,
which includes include meats, dairy, and eggs.
So the lowering of arachidonic acid, from which our body makes a range
of pro-inflammatory compounds, may be accomplished by eating
a more plant-based diet. So maybe that contributed
to the benefit in the fasting case.
Whereas many plant foods are high in anti-inflammatory components.
So in terms of migraine headaches, more plant foods and less animal foods
may help, but you don't know until you put it to the test.
The researchers figured a plant-based diet may offer the best of both worlds,
so they designed a randomized, controlled crossover study
where those with recurrent migraines were randomized
to eat a strictly plant-based diet or to take a placebo pill.
And then the groups switched. During the placebo phase
half said the pain got better, half said the pain remained the same
or got worse, but during the dietary portion they almost all got better.
During that first block, the diet group experienced significant improvements
in headache number, pain intensity,
days with headaches, and a reduction in the amount
of painkillers they needed to take. In fact, it worked a little too good.
Many individuals were unwilling to complete the study
by returning to their previous diets. Remember, they were supposed to
go back to their regular diets and take a pill instead,
but they felt so much better that they were like, "No way, José."
And we've seen this with other trials, where those trying plant-based diets
felt so good, they often refused to abandon them, screwing up the study.
So plant-based diets can sometimes work a little too well.