Surviving a Brain Tumor and Managing Migraines with Susannah Juteau

SPEAKER_00: So many people think that my story is inspiring.

How I became blind at just 17 years of age.

They always want to know how I've done it and how I've kept smiling all along the way.

Well, I've just chosen to focus my attention on the past and on the podcast.

That's what I want to do for you.

Because no matter what, you may be going through the mind.

I hope to inspire you to focus on the past.

And you know what?

I hope that I can also be a source of inspiration for you to just be fastmatic.

Hey, welcome back to the lowdown with Kevin Lowe.

Super excited to have you back again for what is episode number 73.

If you are new around here, well, welcome to uh this little corner of the podcasting universe.

And if you're an old timer, well, uh welcome back and just consider you part of the family.

So uh go on in and settle down and uh put in those earbuds.

Anyways, I am here today to present you a really awesome interview with a really just beautiful person.

And her name is Susanna Juteau.

And what's really cool about Susanna is she reminded me of this really weird way that the universe has of connecting us with one another.

And, you know, it's so easy, you know, especially with social media, and then even if we want to talk about people on TV, to look at people and think, wow, they're so much different than us.

You know, wow, those people are living such a better life, or they have this going for them or that going for them.

And but in reality, if you ever got a chance to actually sit down one-on-one with those people, you probably end up realizing, wow, we actually have more in common than I ever thought.

And that's what me starting a podcast has done for me, has opened my eyes to, is how connected all of us are to one another.

Now, what I thought was pretty amazing about Susanna is the connection that me and her had related to both of us having a brain tumor, and taking that even more of a connection is horrible migraine headaches.

I suffered from horrible migraine headaches before I ever found out about a brain tumor.

Susanna, her migraine headaches began after she found out she had a brain tumor and had it removed.

Today's episode is kind of cool because it's really going to end up being a conversation kind of going back and forth between the two of us, as we are both kind of in disbelief at the parallels of our life stories.

And I think it makes for a really cool interview.

And I think it's something that's gonna help you.

If you're like so many people who suffer from migraine headaches, well, you're gonna really want to listen up because Susanna Jouteau, she dealt with migraines for a really long time until she finally figured out a way to stop them.

And you're gonna learn about that as we dive into today's conversation.

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Susanna, welcome to the podcast.

SPEAKER_05: Hi, Stefan.

Thank you for having me.

I'm uh I'm looking forward to this discussion with you.

SPEAKER_00: Well, awesome.

Well, I am as well.

And so, first off, where are you coming to us from here on the podcast?

Where are you located?

SPEAKER_05: I'm living in San Jose.

I'm actually originally from Ottawa, Canada, and we'll be moving back there in a few months.

SPEAKER_00: Oh, well, uh, very exciting, Deb.

SPEAKER_05: Uh-huh.

I'm enjoying uh one last uh California summer with sun every single day.

It's pretty great.

SPEAKER_00: Well, that's awesome.

Too cool.

Well, sounds good.

Well, so I guess I would love to start off our conversation today with the kind of ironic parallel of our two stories.

And and what really drew my attention to you was the fact that you had a brain tumor.

SPEAKER_05: Yes, I know.

And you're it was so cool to meet you the first time that we met, and to discuss all of that, to all of our parallels and our journeys have some similarities for sure.

So awesome.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's so cool.

Well, well, so let's start with your story back with the brain tumor.

So so take me back to that point in your life.

What was going on?

What led up to the discovery that you even had a brain tumor?

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so that was uh it was a little over eight years ago.

I had just turned 30, and so I had gone skiing with some friends and kind of hit my head on the ski hill at one point.

And a few days after that, I started getting really, really bad headaches.

So it wasn't actually from the ski accident, it's just the ski accident started like our brain is so resilient for so long that all of a sudden that little hit to the head stopped that resilience, I guess.

And I started having really bad daily headaches that just kept getting worse and worse to the point that I couldn't function at all during the day and I could no longer go to work.

So normally with a concussion, which is what we originally thought it might have been with a concussion, it either stays the same or gets better.

And in my case, everything was getting worse, so that was a real red flag to to my doctors.

And so they did an MRI and found a benign tumor that was pressing on my brainstem, and the the brainstem is that center of life, so responsible for breathing and heart rate and stuff.

So they operated really quickly.

It was the scientists of a pain pond ball, and and yeah, from there things were supposed to get a lot better, and instead they pretty much got worse.

But yeah, what kind of drew me to you is that you had such a a similar story with your with your brain tumor, but and things got worse after as well.

Better in some ways and worse in others, right?

SPEAKER_00: Exactly, exactly.

No, that it is, it's very funny, it's very ironic the the similarities in our story.

But though I I have to sit there and and I think to myself, how kind of ironic life can be of you having that accident while skiing really was a blessing.

Yeah.

Because it led to the discovery of this tumor.

SPEAKER_05: Exactly.

Like in hindsight.

So at the at the time I was thinking, how foolish was I?

One, I went skiing with someone else's skis who was way taller than I was.

I'm only five feet tall, and I borrowed someone's skis who's five foot seven, and I was like, Oh yeah, this is fine, you know, save some money.

And so after that skiing accident, I was kicking myself, saying, you know, what like this was her own doing.

And in hindsight, it was just such a blessing because what if they found it too late?

So, I mean, we really needed that incident to just trigger all of the symptoms to it's almost like I I think my neurologist kind of used this this explanation.

It was like the the cup was full and it was just ready to it just needed some sort of you know, hit to the head or some sort of reason to overflow and all those symptoms to to to become apparent.

And that sometimes that happens too late and people Yes, people don't learn of it.

SPEAKER_00: Of course.

Now, looking back at your life though, now that you realize that you did have this brain tumor, were you having any symptoms whatsoever?

SPEAKER_05: No, none.

No, okay.

Yeah, whereas you had you you're able to kind of look back and be like, oh, no wonder.

SPEAKER_01: Exactly.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, for me, I didn't have anything.

I didn't have headaches.

Uh I mean, no more than the general population.

If I really analyze, I probably had more than the average person.

I was taking, you know, Tylenol and Advil a little bit more than I probably should have.

But that it was effective.

And I did get one or two migraines in that time, but nothing really nothing really ever stood out as as being a problem or anything other than normal.

SPEAKER_00: Of course, of course.

SPEAKER_05: And remind me what your symptoms leading up, because I think I'm sure your listeners could even use a reminder of your case too.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, of course, yes.

So my brain tumor, it had completely encased my pituitary gland.

So it was it was positioned basically right in the crosshairs of my optic nerve, and it was pressing on my carotid artery.

But the the main symptoms that I had basically from the time I was a small toddler were everything from horrible headaches.

I remember when when I was still just goodness, like I said, a toddler, like like four or five years old, I think, was when I was diagnosed with having cluster migraines.

SPEAKER_03: Oh, so awful.

SPEAKER_00: Which, if you those listening, don't know what a cluster migraine is.

I don't know the technical term for it, but I can tell you that it was the most severe headache that I can remember as a kid.

I would literally just sit there and bang my head against the back of the sofa or just what I because the pain was that severe.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, they're also known as uh suicide headaches because they're just like you get no relief and it's just constant and you just can't function.

It they're horrible.

SPEAKER_00: Exactly.

So yeah, so I had those headaches, and then I mean, basically, basically for my entire childhood, I mean, I always had had migraines to some you know degree, always I wasn't growing like I should.

So all these different things, you know, that related back to the fact that the tumor was was basically killing my pituitary gland, which is what controls all of those hormones.

Yeah.

And so, so that's what, you know, when when we found my tumor, you know, it wasn't anything dramatic like, you know, oh, something happened, you know, that did cause, you know, it needed MRI like yours, but it was more just finally, you know, my mom and grandmother finally being sick and tired of my pediatrician just constantly blowing every symptom off.

And they're like, listen, something has to be done.

Like this isn't normal.

And, you know, and so it was basically, you know, changing over to a new doctor finally who who put the pieces together and was, you know, like there's something bad wrong.

SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.

We really need to advocate for our health.

I think I think that's an important message that they kept kept pursuing.

It's like, no, like this isn't, there's something going on.

We need to get to the root cause here.

And that's really important for people to pay attention to.

Like your instincts are are strong and we know when something is off.

SPEAKER_00: They are, and and and you know, as smart as our doctors are, they are not you.

And so 100% I say if it's you, if it's your child, a family member, if there's something, if you're not getting the answers you want, nothing hurts to go get a second opinion.

SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.

And keep searching.

Yeah.

And and searching, I mean, I I'm also of the belief if we absolutely need to run things by the medical system and our doctors, but there's also some natural paths that we can pursue as well at the same time.

Absolutely.

At least if we can't find the answers through the medical venue, then we go to some other venues as well.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, definitely, definitely.

So, so now I'm just curious when you had your surgery, because I know with the type of tumor that I had, there there were two different options.

They the one was which which mine was also was also benign, so we didn't have to worry anything about, you know, a cancerous or anything like that.

But if it had been small enough, they actually would have done a surgery where they would have literally just went through like the bridge of your nose.

They would have cut out there and went straight back.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah.

So mine though was too large in that I now have a scar basically that goes across my my scalp from like ear to ear.

SPEAKER_03: Okay.

SPEAKER_00: Where they literally had to remove like the front, like kind of that top quarter of my skull without getting too gross.

Um you know.

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, the I know there's some different ways to remove certainly the smaller tumors and stuff, like the gamma knife and Yes.

I don't know if it's radiation or but yeah, for me too, they also had to kind of go in there and use the use the scalpels, take out a chunk of the skull to to really get in there.

For me, it's it's the back.

It's more on the occipital lobe that that they went in.

Yes.

Which is also where I was getting the headaches and where I still that's where the symptoms always kind of reside.

It's more in that the occipital lobe.

So the back of the head.

Yeah, my scar goes from kind of the top of my skull down to the nape of my neck.

SPEAKER_01: Okay, okay, yes.

SPEAKER_05: I should have asked how many, uh how many staples went in.

Looks like it looks like about 30 in the pi the one picture that I I saved from that time.

It's so funny.

You go through those surgeries and you don't one, you don't remember much from I mean, I don't remember much even from the first year practically.

But you also while you're in the moment, you don't want to remember it.

You're like, I just want to get through this and forget I went through this at all.

And then now years later, I wish I had a bit more uh, you know, some journaling or some visual evidence of of some of the some of the surgery evidence that was very intense.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, well well, that's that's what me, you know, would when I can remember talking to my my uh neurosurgeon, you know, before surgery and stuff.

And and I I was the one who I kept asking him, like, is there any way we can save the tumor?

I'm like, because you know, all of the, I'm like, can it like me put in like a jar or something?

And and of course my family's like, Kevin, you're so stupid.

No, they're not saving the tumor.

SPEAKER_05: That's so funny.

I I wonder how many people asked that.

I that never occurred to me, so that's really funny.

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: And then well, let me ask you this Did you happen to name your tumor?

SPEAKER_05: No.

No, I guess that would make sense.

Did you name yours?

SPEAKER_00: I did.

Mine, so I think I took it off of that cartoon that was was popular for little kids, like Bob the Builder.

Yeah.

So I named mine Bob the Tumor.

SPEAKER_05: Oh my gosh, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_00: So we we we had literally, before my surgery, we literally had a big family.

It was a it was a going away Bob party.

SPEAKER_05: That's awesome.

I think that's such a great strategy, too, that you like to remove yourself from it too, that you are not your tumor.

And so you can always say, Oh no, that's Bob.

Like, that's Bob's symptoms.

That's not me, or that's Bob's personality.

That's not me.

SPEAKER_00: Exactly.

Well, that's what the I always remember that the night before my uh my surgery, I was, you know, already checked in at the hospital.

And, you know, and and that was a whole story and of itself that I was very upset about.

I didn't realize I was gonna have to stay at the hospital the whole day before.

I thought we just checked in, said hello, and then went on and got to enjoy the day.

No, no, my my my family was right.

I had to stay there.

And but that night, that night I had gotten outback steakhouse for dinner.

And so my my aunt and sister had gone and picked it up and and you know, got takeout.

And so, anyways, now every year on the anniversary, me and my family, we always go to Outback Steakhouse.

And it's always, you know, a big group of us.

And so the the waiter or waitress always, oh, are you here celebrating anything?

And so we have two options.

We can either say, Oh yeah, we're here celebrating the anniversary of when I went blind, which they look at us really weird, or they won't understand.

Yeah, or if we want to be really sentimental and we say, you know, oh, we're here, you know, just celebrating, you know, the anniversary of when my life was saved.

And oh yeah, that's wonderful.

Or the option I prefer is, oh yeah, we're here celebrating the anniversary of Bob's death.

SPEAKER_03: Yes, and they're like and they're like, Okay, okay, moving on.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, moving on.

Yep, this is a weird party.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, exactly.

They're way too happy about Bob's death.

Yes.

SPEAKER_03: Oh, that's great.

SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness.

So, so now I was curious after your surgery, did you have any uh kind of like side effects or anything that that maybe popped up?

I know you said that you don't really remember a whole lot for kind of that first year.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, so definitely for the first so going into the surgery, they told me the recovery would be around four to six weeks and that I would be able to return to work after that four to six weeks.

I was like, oh wow, that seems like awfully quick for a brain surgery.

But suppose that's actually typical and that the brain heals really quickly.

So I was like, okay, well, that sounds great.

Like my life will be back to normal in four to six weeks.

I can handle that.

Soon after the surgery, I I think we all realized that was definitely not gonna happen.

I was I had to sleep basically all the time.

I was up maybe an hour of the day for like the first month.

So just sleeping and recovering and slowly could, you know, you start by walking down the hallway, and then you can start walking a little bit further.

My balance was off for a really long time.

I had a lot of vestibular issues for the first few years.

I mean, I still can't handle something like a roller coaster or anything like that.

Or you know, spinning even some dancing makes me really dizzy, but so that was a lingering symptom.

For for me, the worst was was just the migraine attacks that I that I dealt with.

And as much as I thought the headaches were really bad leading into the surgery, it was post-surgery that they were just as bad, if not worse, but they just never they were relentless.

I never had a moment where I didn't have a headache for many years.

So that was the lingering, the most pressing lingering symptom, along with the facial paralysis, and I lost hearing in my left ear because of the surgery.

So those two are more those are the uncontrollable factors, like that's just something I'll have to deal with the rest of my life.

So I think for that reason they don't bug me as much, because I just you know, you just have to get used to it.

Whereas the headaches, I felt like there was always something I could do more to get to the root of the issue.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, definitely, definitely.

Now, no, before I cause there's so many questions I have that I I want to ask you about all that, but but But again, this kind of back and forth comparison is you know, is is I started you're gonna laugh at this.

I started to to dive into you know what my side effects were, forgetting the fact of, oh yeah, well, I did wake up blind also.

So we will we will get that one out of the way.

But then though I did have weird stuff though that that they've you know certainly don't know either is the fact that I lost my sense of smell.

Oh yeah, so that was really, really strange.

SPEAKER_05: So because of the pituitary plant, because because of where the tumor was?

SPEAKER_00: I honestly I don't know, and I've never gotten really an answer why.

Okay.

I almost feel like it's just been overlooked because of losing my eyesight, you know?

And so Right.

SPEAKER_05: That that's the that's the main mystery that they're trying to figure out why.

SPEAKER_00: Exactly.

And so, but like then I had some weird stuff happen, which a lot of it, I'm sure, is related to the loss of smell.

But there's also just some weird things, like as far as like I I always loved Coke, regular Coca-Cola, my favorite.

After my surgery, I couldn't drink it, it tasted flat.

Any actually any type of carbonated soda was just it tasted flat to me.

Now gradually, yeah, gradually over time, I've you know, I've built back up where it tastes just like I remember and it is perfect.

But other like weird things with my taste and stuff.

I grew up never being a kid who would eat a sandwich.

My mom always said growing up that I was the pain in the most pain in the butt kid to fix lunch for because I wouldn't just take a sandwich.

After my surgery, all I wanted was a sandwich.

What?

That's so strange.

Like, and then like flavors, like they said, all I wanted after my surgery was was strawberry milkshakes.

I never drank strawberry milk.

I always wanted vanilla milkshakes prior.

SPEAKER_05: So just super weird things like that, you know, how those are so, yeah, so many like little odd intricacies that it's not personality changing.

Because when you go into a surgery like that, that is the biggest fear is that you're gonna come out a completely different person.

But changing your flavor preferences, you know, that's something that's okay.

This is odd, but I can live with.

So, but no, no real like mood or personality changes or anything.

SPEAKER_00: No, no, no.

So, but that that brought up you brought up something though very interesting.

And I'm so I'm so glad you just said that.

So, with the surgery you had, was that something?

Did they mention that as a possibility of of the the personality change?

SPEAKER_05: So they didn't.

So, first of all, my my surgery was in Canada, and we have very different approaches to surgeries in that they don't tell you all of like you're not signing your life away.

Like, so in the US, usually you're signing multiple papers, like yes, I know all of the possible side effects.

In Canada, it's the opposite.

They only tell you once it's happened, like, oh yeah, this was so like my facial paralysis, for instance, that's supposedly quite common.

Okay, but I had no heads up about that at all.

So, whereas I think if I had the surgery in the States, that would have definitely been brought up as a possible side effect.

So, yeah, there they don't they just kind of tell you on an as needed basis, I guess.

Yeah, they they didn't give me too many, like, oh, just beware, like this might happen.

Like, even the hearing, I wasn't expecting to lose my hearing in the left ear, and that's another very common thing, just because the in my case they had to cut this the auditory nerve, so I'll never get my hearing back.

They had to cut it in order to preserve the facial nerve because the facial nerve and the auditory nerve are very close together, and both were wrapped around the tumor so many times that they got really stretched out.

So that's why I still have some facial paralysis, and in the meantime, they cut the auditory nerve so that they could just focus on that facial nerve and not damaging it any further.

But in terms of of the personality, that was my biggest fear going into it, and that's mostly because my my bachelor's degree is in neuroscience, so I had studied like all of all of the possible side effects of brain surgeries and so many stories like Phineas Gage, where he got a steel rod in his frontal lobe and he became a completely different person.

So that was my vague fear was that they'd touch something, like something in the surgery would, you know, even if you just touch something wrong, and things can really change.

So yeah, yeah, mood-wise, my my sister definitely swears that I am much less what is it, like fiery, my personal health.

She's like, used to start fights with me about everything.

And she's like, since your surgery, you're the calmest person ever.

So yeah, that could easily just be the fact of, yeah, I've uh, you know, when you go through a surgery like that, you you just change in general.

It might not be because of the surgery itself, but little things don't bother you as much anymore.

So, but yeah, other than that, uh personality.

Yeah.

Personality pretty much stayed the same, other than just the learning experiences of going through such a big experience.

SPEAKER_00: Of course.

Well, and that's where I think it's I was very anxious to to hear your your whole take on that because me myself, that was the one thing that I remember the doctor talking about as a possible side effect that just like you, it worried me the most.

And because the thought that you can go into something, a surgery, and and come out a different person in your personality, yeah, is just it it's really a strange thought.

And and I remember it really upset me.

And and I was really worried about that.

And I know after the fact, you know, my my mom has always said that, you know, she she thanked God so much that he kept Kevin Kevin.

SPEAKER_05: The same person.

Yeah, because I'm sure our families were worried about the same thing, and they also have such a burden on them because they don't really want to share that with you in case you're you know, they don't want to worry you more than you're already worried going into a surgery like that.

SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05: So, but yeah, on both sides, that's that's a huge fear for sure.

Yeah.

You don't want to be a different person, and then your whole life changes.

SPEAKER_02: Yep.

SPEAKER_05: And I mean, yeah, your friends and oh, I just that I mean, that still scares me to this day that something is gonna happen, and and and of course the other fears that something goes seriously wrong and you end up on ventilators or something.

So that was definitely I shared my shared my wishes with my family before before I died.

It's like if it comes down to it, please do not let me live like that.

SPEAKER_00: So oh absolutely, no, definitely.

Now, so now I want to ask you about the headaches because what's interesting is in my situation, you know, the when when we found that that I had the tumor and the tumor was removed, it got rid of those constant migraines for me.

SPEAKER_05: Oh good.

SPEAKER_00: Yes, but for you, you really started with them as you kind of were talking about earlier, is after your surgery is when they got so horrible for so long.

And so do they have any understanding why that is?

SPEAKER_05: No, not at all.

And so I kept going through that neurological route to try to get like there must be something in my brain that's wrong.

And they're like, no, all your scans are fine, like they should have gone away by now, and just lots of shrugging of the shoulders.

And I was like, but come on, there must be more to this.

Like, you need to look deeper.

And it was it was really like once I kind of gave up on that route and started looking elsewhere that I was like, wait a minute, I've had like so many skills like under me this whole time from the nutrition aspect because I had I had a master's in nutrition before I underwent surgery.

So, and I was a dietitian before surgery, so but I was just looking through the the neurological route, like there must be something going on, or you must have touched something during surgery.

Like, why is my head so much worse than it was before?

Like my quality of living went down quite a bit after after the surgery, and I just wasn't able.

I I eventually did return to work, but I couldn't function at the same level that I used to.

And just going through the act, like just working during the day meant that I had absolutely no life outside of work because I had to go home and and sleep.

So it was very debilitating dealing with those those headaches and not getting the answers was super frustrating.

And you of course know all about that because no one understands why you went blind.

SPEAKER_00: Exactly.

Exactly.

Yeah, and you know, and I and I think it's a big, a big life lesson is that we live in a world that everything's fixable.

SPEAKER_04: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: You know, every there's of course there's a medicine to fix this, or there's a surgery to fix this.

Somewhere somewhere in the world, somebody's doing something to fix everything.

But then you come to this point in your life where not everything is fixable.

SPEAKER_03: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: At least, at least not in the way that to fix it, to make it like it was, or to fix it in, you know, in in the way that that we want it, you know, and and we're gonna get to that with you, with is I'm anxious to find out what you finally did, you know, to find this relief for your headaches and and stuff.

But, you know, is but I was gonna say, you know, real quick, if anybody has been listening to the podcast for a while, you know that in an episode earlier on, I talked about finally kind of getting that that answer, my site back in a way totally different through the use of echolocation and you know, being able to, you know, see in a much different way, but to now see through sound.

And and so again, I kind of compare it that to what I'm anxious to talk to you about, is what you've been able to find when the doctor's gonna help you with your headaches.

You kind of, as you were talking about, took what you knew and and went about it a different route.

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.

I think that's such a a good point is that I mean we we do have this notion that everything is figure outable.

Like, and I think that's true to most things.

And then to the things that there's certain parts that it's not figure outable, but you can learn to accept it as well.

So something like you know, my hearing and my facial paralysis, that it's not figure out.

That's the reality.

There's unless some, you know, big scientific discovery of fixing someone's facial nerve, it's not figure outable.

And so at that point you need to learn to accept it and be okay with it.

And then there's other things like the headaches that I was certainly at that point that I was like, okay, well, it's just like this for life, and I'll have to be on all of these different medications.

So I was at that point, and then it was actually with a a neurologist appointment that she said, It sounds like you've developed a migraine condition since your since your surgery.

And that just it was like such a light bulb that went off that it's like, oh, it's a different condition that I should be paying attention to.

Like, it's not about the surgery anymore.

I can start paying attention to this instead.

And that really opened up a lot of doors to me.

So I'm so grateful for that appointment, even though the rest of the appointment was pretty useless in a sense, and that it was like, well, try this medication.

I was like, no, I don't want any more medications.

Like, life skits the bottom of this.

So, but just that the way she worded it, it was like, oh, well, why don't I start looking into migraine research?

Yes.

So that opened up a lot for me.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and I mean, when we when we start talking about migraines is is something that I'm very interested in.

I mean, because not only did I suffer with migraines all growing up, but I live in a family where the the women in my family pretty much all suffer from migraines.

And so I know I know right now they're all starting to lean in a little bit closer to the speaker of the podcast.

SPEAKER_05: Yes.

Well, three times as many women as men suffer from migraine in adulthood.

So, and roughly one in four experience at least one migraine episode in their lives.

So it's huge.

It's extremely it's it's the third most prevalent illness in the world, and it's just not talked about enough.

So, kind of all of what we've talked about leading up to this point has led me to this bigger purpose in life, which so for that I'm really grateful.

And I know for you you've you've felt that as well, that your surgery led you to your bigger purpose in life as well.

SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.

It's at the time when we go through stuff in life, we don't understand why it's happening.

We wish it wasn't happening, but it's really awesome to be able to come to a point though, later on in life to be able to look back and understand it and see how it fit in to kind of, you know, puzzle piece our life together.

SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00: Yes.

So talk to me.

Talk to me about what what you're doing today and what what you figured out.

How did you figure out what was going on and and how were you able to stop it with these migraines?

SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.

So it's definitely um a longer discussion than than anyone can ever have time for.

But to summarize things is once I got that migraine diagnosis, and that was uh, was it like five years later?

Some somewhere around that time.

So at the same time I was on MATLEA with my my second daughter, and I had a bit more time to kind of look into some research and started looking into migraine nutrition research.

I was also really intrigued by intermittent fasting uh because a lot of friends were asking me about it.

And as a dietitian, I worked at a I worked at a community health center, so I was kind of I called myself like a jack of all all nutrition traits.

It's that I knew a lot about different nutrition aspects, but nothing a lot, like no, not a lot about any specific condition.

So migraine was one of those that like it's not addressed in school.

So you really have to leave school and pursue your own knowledge and really like look into the research and stuff on your own.

So that was the case for me, is that I really just started seeing what was out there, seeing what different possibilities were.

And I there was a couple of approaches that were really popular.

So one was a food sensitivities approach.

So removing your food sensitivities kind of lowers the migraine threshold so that you're you're less likely to, when you cut down kind of inflammation in your body, you're less likely to be prone to a migraine attack.

So that was a very popular approach and something that worked really well for me.

Something that I still work with my clients because I find it's the best, like first approach is to identify all the foods that you're sensitive to that are causing inflammation in your body.

And that's not the same as so there's a lot of popular food sensitivity tests out there called IGG tests.

They're not nearly as accurate as the test that I use, which is called a mediator release test, and it measures like which foods are causing inflammation like long-term inflammation in your body.

So that was the first approach and was quite effective.

At the same time, I was also like looking at the fasting research and finding that super intriguing for long-term health, for longevity, for cellular healing, for fixing mitochondria, and just like removing toxins like cell cleanup, basically, was what I was intrigued by by fasting.

And so I started implementing that at the same time and and focusing on when we eat was extremely effective for me.

And it's something that I I still follow to this day, and it's the main reason why I've been able to get off medication and stay off as long as I continue my my my fasting regimen.

SPEAKER_00: Wow.

So when we talk about fasting, that's something that for myself, I always put up a uh kind of a a block wall because I'm like, that seems the to talk about fasting sounds like absolute torture.

SPEAKER_05: And and I used to feel the same way.

I had I had coworkers who fasted for Ramadan, and I was like, how do you survive to the day?

Like, how can you possibly go without food?

And they of course they go f without food and without water, and that's even more difficult.

But to me, I just could not fathom doing that.

I was like, why would you put yourself through that torture?

And then when it came down to it, like trying it for myself, I was like, Oh, this is nowhere near as scary as I thought, especially I only do it twice a week.

SPEAKER_04: Okay.

SPEAKER_05: So it's just long enough to get into ketosis, and that's and then I go back to like there's never a day where I don't eat with my family for supper.

So there's many different styles of fasting.

And this a 24-hour fast is what's often most effective for chronic illnesses or something like migraine because the focus is on ketosis, not on weight loss.

So a lot of the popular fasting out there is focused on weight loss.

SPEAKER_00: Yes.

Wow.

So that's pretty interesting.

So now, so at some point though, so you finally figured out that all these different adjustments you start making started all of a sudden did was it something that you noticed like really quick, or was it kind of gradual, like, oh my goodness, I didn't have a headache today?

SPEAKER_05: It was quite quick.

The first week is really the first week you don't notice much.

If it so if people are doing things properly, it it's hard to figure it out on your own.

It's certainly possible as I as I did.

But the first week is you sometimes symptoms can even get worse.

So you think you're doing things wrong, but sometimes symptoms get worse and then they start getting better, or some people don't notice any difference in their symptoms at all, kind of the first week.

It's usually on the 10th day.

So especially when we're looking at food sensitivities on day 10 to 14, that's when symptoms start improving.

And then it's kind of like a train leaving the station.

It's like once the train takes off from the station, it's slow to get moving, but it starts picking up more and more steam.

So things just start getting better and better as you go and and with time.

So so normally with my clients, within the first 10 to 14 days, there's 50% symptom improvement, and then from there it improves pretty steadily from there for symptoms.

SPEAKER_00: Wow.

Yeah, no, so that's that's really awesome.

So so obviously, you know, kind of skipping ahead is that you had good enough success with this that then you turned it and started helping other people.

SPEAKER_05: Yes, exactly.

I was my own guinea pig, and there's no program like mine out there.

First of all, we're greatly under service for migraine dietitians.

There's only four in North America that I'm aware of that specialize solely in migraine issues.

So given that 25% of the female population deals with migraine episodes at some point or another, there just aren't enough people who are specialized in this area.

So typically they go to their doctor.

Some are fortunate enough to have a neurologist, but that's much more the medical approach of trying different medications and trying to relieve symptoms rather than addressing the root cause.

So addressing the root cause is paying attention to mitochondrial health and cellular health and improving that, improving gut health, removing those food sensitivities that it's estimated that 50% of the population deals with different food sensitivities.

So when you remove those, you just have so much more room in like if you picture a bucket, you've got a migraine, I call it a migraine trigger bucket.

So we've got food as a trigger, we've got, you know, if you don't have enough sleep the night before, that's gonna be a trigger.

If you're stressed, that's gonna be a trigger.

Weather, it could be just the fact that your your genetics make you have a smaller trigger bucket so all these things add up but food is the one thing that we can kind of control more so that's why it can be uh extremely effective to to take that approach and I always just start with the food approach I don't even I don't even go to the the the fasting approach unless necessary because usually the food approach is is all someone needs to get control.

SPEAKER_00: Is there any certain like foods or types of foods that you see most often being a trigger for somebody for migraines?

SPEAKER_05: Yeah so that's a great question.

Most things are more of a like a dose response.

If you have too much of something it may become a trigger but food sensitivities like not all of them are necessarily a trigger.

So for instance if someone is sensitive to chocolate and they eat a chocolate it doesn't mean that they're going to trigger a migraine in that point but maybe another day they might have a lot of chocolate and that could trigger a migraine so or if they have 20 different food sensitivities and they have all of those foods on one day then that's much more likely to trigger a migraine than if you just had one of those foods.

But back to the foods themselves is that it is so bioindividual.

Like it is so different from one person to the other.

So I the panel that I run is 140 foods and 30 different chemicals and never once have I had a report that looks anything similar from one person to the next because they're it's it's just so different.

Some people can be reactive to something that is an extremely healthy food.

So like kale and apples for instance always you know foods that we're told to eat a lot of and maybe in your body they're just not as well tolerated and you're reactive to them.

So I feel like our medical system is moving that direction that we get more individual reports rather than looking at research that's you know if you look at a huge body of evidence of say 2,000 people, 2,000 people will never react to the same foods and that's why looking for migraine trigger foods is so difficult is that you never know which food it is for you and it's a very frustrating process to try to eliminate certain foods.

Like those that are most popular for people to remove are citrus, chocolate, fermented or aged foods like cheeses, gluten and dairy all of those are more common but once someone has tried that approach where they've taken out those those foods and haven't seen any relief then the next step is really to get a good report on on yourself from like what are the foods that you are reacting to as an individual.

SPEAKER_00: Okay interesting interesting now I was wondering so if somebody is interested do you work with people basically anywhere you know in the country in the world or do you only work with people you know in your area?

SPEAKER_05: So I can work across North America.

I don't I don't usually work outside of North America because it's it's a lot of work to figure out where you can get the the tests that I so there's two main blood tests that I I do with each of my clients.

One is that food sensitivity test that I mentioned the mediator release test and then the other one is it's a micronutrient test to see which nutrients someone might be deficient in because often that is a main approach too if someone is low in say B2 or magnesium or coQ10 those are nutrients that are very closely tied to migraine migraine symptoms.

So addressing things from that point of view too.

So it just becomes too difficult outside of North America to work with people.

Yeah but most of the states I'm I'm able to work in it kind of it depends like if they're in a state where someone if there's another migraine dietitian I can refer them to then I do that.

Otherwise I'm able to to work with them because they have no one else is usually the case is like if there aren't other migraine dietitians then you can work outside a state with with certain people.

SPEAKER_00: Of course of course so now I was wondering I mean do you for people to to go through this to really want to dive into you know really figuring out what's the cause and stuff is it a person that you're recommending come to you if they're having I don't know a certain amount of migraines or is it if they've had one migraine it's something that they should check into?

SPEAKER_05: So for most people I think it's really important to try on is try some things on your own first.

So you know like the food approach just even doing a headache tracking journal see what the frequency is if there's any link back to certain foods it tends to be a bit frustrating to to try to do it yourself but it it is very expensive to work with someone and to do all of these blood tests.

So you do want to try some things on your own first and try some of the other alternative medicine approaches like chiropractic or acupuncture because sometimes just something like that can be quite effective.

And then from there it doesn't really matter if you're getting one one time a month or if you're dealing with it multiple times a month it's like is this a debilitating in your life is this problem that you know you want to solve and you don't want to deal with it anymore then I think everyone's kind of at a different stage there when they're when they're ready to work with someone sometimes it's you know what the they haven't even tried anything is like I just want to work with someone

so that I've got this straight the first time and I'm not you know trying to figure things out.

So yeah I I'd say uh all of my clients are kind of in different places around that.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah well well awesome well well so I am curious now that you you discovered you had this this brain tumor you had it removed you you got through that whole the whole process of of after the fact you then went through the you know five years or so of these you know just horrible migraines you finally figured out what was triggering them and you figured out how to stop it.

Now you're working you're helping other people do the same thing what does life look like today for you?

SPEAKER_05: Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: Because I know I know you're a mom and and so I'm just I'm just uh curious how how how life's going today.

Hopefully um much less uh stressful and and a little bit easier going much less stressful absolutely you you know what I I think when you've found your call in in life things just feel like at peace like I know what I want to do I know how I'm helping people and that I can help more.

SPEAKER_05: So I'd say like at this point the the challenge is like how do I reach people and learning the business side of things is much more challenging than actually work when I'm working with clients that's much more straightforward than actually like figuring out the business side of things.

So so I don't know it just it just feels right you know it just I I feel so balanced and joyful.

Yes I guess is probably the best way to put it it's like I have so much more time with the kids I'm I'm less much less you know moody and frustrated because when you are dealing with a headache and trying to have time with your family it's it's just like noise stimulation is always is is something that really bothers me whenever I do get a headache.

So having young kids you know that's uh it's not that doable to to tell them to be quiet all the time.

So I just feel like I'm such a such a better mom because I do have this figured out and that I can you know really help others get to that point too of feeling better and that's really rewarding.

So because of that I just feel like this whole journey has really you know pushed me in this direction and and it's just really all fallen into place and is what it's meant to be.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah no that's awesome.

I love it.

I love it.

And well so if if somebody is listening today and and they're sitting there and they're thinking to themselves that wow maybe maybe they're at a point in their life where they are having migraines or they know somebody who are having migraines and it's standing in the way of them living the life that that they want to be living and they they want to try something new.

They want to talk to somebody like you where can people find out more about the service that you're offering yeah uh the best place is to go to my website.

SPEAKER_05: So it's headache nutritionist dot com and you can see the service the how I work with people one-on-one I only do one-on-one because I feel like group programs just don't quite get to that bio individuality of people and the full description of my program is there and also how to reach out to me is is on the on my website there.

SPEAKER_00: Well awesome well I tell you what I have enjoyed talking with you I think it's super cool to be able to connect with somebody who who you know we live these totally different lives where you know and yet we can have this similarity in so many aspects of our life you know resulting back to to this one thing of this brain tumor and it makes this awesome connection and you know I just it's really pretty cool.

SPEAKER_05: You're the first person I've ever like been able to talk to about this it's it's I mean it's they're so un they're not common so it's to meet someone else who's gone through kind of a a similar a parallel type experience we have different outcomes and everything but I think that's really neat to to be able to to chat with you about that and and to build this friendship.

SPEAKER_00: Yeah exactly well awesome well well listen I want to thank you so much for for being a guest here on my podcast and and most of all for for you who are listening today I hope you enjoyed our conversation and you know I hope if nothing else even if you're not somebody who suffers from migraines if if that didn't really pertain to you I hope that you at least took away I I think a bigger message of the conversation today and and that is to get out and live your life and and if something is stopping you from living the life that that you

were meant to live whether it's something related to you know a medical issue or or anything else you know I want today's episode to be that encouragement for you to make a change to do what you need to do to take action in your life and feature that you start living a life that you know you were made to live and because you know that's that's what this life is about.

The world we live in is meant to be live, it's meant to be enjoyed and that's what I want for you.

So again thank you for being here on the podcast today and hopefully enjoyed and slowdown with Edinburgh.

I hope today's episode inspired you and motivated you and excited you to get out and enjoy life.

No matter what obstacles it maybe staying in the way