Kosher For Clothes - SALE

It has been a really good 2 years, but time is something that I no longer have much of due to having a 14 month old son and recently I have become the treasurer of a local charity.  All of this means that it is time to move on and so I have putting the domain name www.kosherforclothes.com up for sale.  Please contact me on shop@kosherforclothes.com if you have any interest in purchasing the domain name.

The domain name "Kosher For Clothes" is up for sale.  It is perfect for a modest shop to use as it already gets over 100 hits per week and has the capacity for so much more.  It also has the catchy acronym KFC.  Contact me via email for more information and to show your interest.

Please note that the hosting site is currently down, but this does not effect the domian name.

Modest Swimwear

Let's bring this blog back to what it started with.  MODEST CLOTHES.  All that talk about migraines has now been moved to a home of its own here... http://anothermigraine.blogspot.com/.

We have just introduced a brilliant idea in modest swimwear.  Not only is it modest, but it is stylish, convenient and protects you from those harmful UV rays as well.  Check it all out in our newly openned department:

http://www.kosherforclothes.com/swimwear

I will be adding more lines very soon so keep checking the web site out.  We are importing these from America so the postage charged is slightly higher than we would usually charge.  But, looking around, it still gives you a fantasticly competitivly priced piece of clothing

We are always on the look-out for more great modest ideas, so drop me a line if you have any ideas.

Physiotherapy and migraines

I now knew that I had migraines, which was a big plus, as I could now find some real help.  This lead me to discover the world of triptans which meant that most headaches lasted only an hour or so rather than up to 3 days.  But that wasn't enough for me.  I wanted more!  I was on a quest to discover a cure for my migraines.  There had got to be someone, somewhere, with a cure for migraines.  Feverish searching on-line and would you believe it? A new migraine research programme was being carried out just down the road from where I worked.

The research was based on physiotherapy to the upper neck.  The top of the neck is where your spine starts.  The disks in your spine, from the top down are called C1, C2, C3 etcetera.  This research was based on applying specific pressure to one of the discs.  This pressure would induce the migraine and then remove it.  The idea was that it would reprogramme your body into not having migraines anymore.

I was in for quite a ride as I walked up the stairs to my first appointment, with five more stretching into the distance.  A nice lady introduced me to the concepts and took down all of the details of my migraines.  Then we got down to business.  I lay face down on the bed looking at the floor through the hole wondering why they couldn't put a picture on the floor for me to look at.  The physio started to size up my neck with her thumb and forefinger.  She then pushed down with her thumb on my C1 and asked whether that hurt.  Nope, nothing.  A slight change in the direction of her thumb prompted the same lack of response. 

She then moved down to my C2 and as the pressure was applied, I felt a similar pressure spread across my head.  "Is that your migraine" she asked eagerly.  It wasn't.  The pain was too dull and at the back of my head not the front right where I normally get them.  Her thumb moved slightly and the pain moved with it.  It was as if she was controlling the pain with a game controller (I was going to say joystick, but does that age me at all?).  A different strange feeling, but not my migraine.  She took her thumb off to consider my neck in all of it's complexities and decided to change her angle of attack to the other side.  YOW, that's the one!!!  That's my migraine.  "Good" she said and continued to apply the pressure.  "Tell me when the pain stops".  The pain didn't stop, but time did.  Not only had I a really bad migraine, but I had someone pushing with all of their might on my neck.  The pain surged up from my neck, through my head, bounced around my eye socket, down my cheek and back down to my neck.  I got the pain induced giggles.  I couldn't help it.  The pain started to lesson after about 3 minutes and then a minute later it stopped. 

As I lay there, face down and exhausted, I realised that I had another five weeks of this.  "That was just a preliminary check", the physio said.  "The pain might get worse next week, but it should then get harder and harder for me to find your migraine as the weeks progress until I can't find it anymore.  That means that the treatment has been a success and you shouldn't get migraines anymore."

I will tell you how it went and whether I coped in my next post.  Let me know if you have had a similar treatment, how it worked for you and whether you coped with it!

Triptans

There are so many different types of alternative medicines that is can be difficult to decide which one to go for first.  It is also easy to forget that there is an alternative to the alternative.  Good old fashioned doctors.  So I made an appointment and went along.  They confirmed that I was suffering from migraines.  It was nice to have it confirmed after so many years of suffering exactly what the pain was and that I wasn't going to collapse at any minute.  Their first piece of advise was that I take over the counter drugs as these quite often work.  I had already worked my way through all of these from paracetamol, to nurofen, to sinus cures and none of them touched the pain.

The docs then introduced me to the world of triptans.  There are about 8 or so different triptans on the market and no way of telling which one will work for you.  This came as a bit of a surprise to me.  Surely the doctors would know how the drugs work and which one would be best for me?  But, no.  It is a case of simple trial and error.  So off I went on an unknown adventure into the world of triptans.

Triptan 1 - I can't remember the name of this triptan as I only took a few of them.  There was no change to the pain and no side effects.  This wasn't the best start, but I persevered.

Triptan 2 - Zolmitriptan (Zomig).  I wasn't expecting much.  After all the first triptan hardly set my world alight.  This triptan was different.  This triptan was evil (please note that this triptan does work for a lot of people so please don't let my experience put you off).  The effects were startling by their severity.  About 1/2 an hour after taking the tiny tinsy tablet my whole world ground to a halt.  My head started to spin, my vision was blurred, my movements were hampered like I was walking through treacle.  Somehow, I had just driven and parked outside of the Synagogue where I was learning that evening and luckily I was a bit early.  I lent my head back on my chair to try and clear the muggy feeling and half an hour later, woke up.  The worst of the pain had gone but my tongue felt furry and twice the size and the world was still slightly sluggish.  There was a stark similarity to a hangover.  There was even a slight sicky feeling.  Zomig had got rid of my migraine, so that's good.  But, the side effects were not overly desirable which was very bad.

3 - Rizatriptan (Maxalt).  Not perfect, but definitely the best yet.  You have to take a triptan as soon as the symptoms appear.  This is because a migraine will slow your metabolism so waiting too long means that the tablet would not be digested properly and thus might not be as effective.  It took me a while to get past the "it's just a small headache and the pain will go soon" stage.  Taking this route means missing the window of effectiveness for the triptan and it won't work.  But did Maxalt it work?  No and yes.  The no is because immediately after taking the tiny little tablet, the pain gets a lot worse as the stabbing pain in my head increases.  But within an hour, the pain has gone.

So I have found the miracle cure to my migraines.  Yay!  No longer will I have to suffer the pain and disruption in my life.  Sigh... If only it was a simple as that.  I will tell you why in my next blog entry.

Does Reiki Work?

Continuing the trend of alternative medicine I stumbled upon an opportunity to try out reiki.  A friend of mine was training to be a reiki practitioner and wanted someone to practice on.  The fact that she was rather attractive didn't sway my decision to help out at all.  No really... not at all.

I am a huge skeptic when it comes to alternative medicines.  Especially following my laughable exploits with allergy tests.  But, I also have an open mind and I really want some of these therapies to work.  That way life would become that little bit more magical.

For those of you who don't know (from wiki), reiki uses a technique commonly called palm healing as a form of complementary and alternative medicine.  Practitioners believe that they are transferring healing energy in the form of ki through the palms. Localised reiki treatment involves the practitioner's hands being held on or near a specific part of the body for a varying length of time.

My friend get's to my place and we turn the lights down low and put on some relaxing music.  If I recall it was a rain-forest version of Pachelbel's Canon.  At least I can have a relax.  I lay down on my back on the floor and she kneels next to me.  She started by placing her hands over my forehead.  Then on the back of my head and to the sides.  She says that I have a strong chakra which I thank her for without really knowing what she means.  Her hands move down either side of my right arm.  Her hands always hovering above my body and never touching it (except the back of my head which she had to hold up).

By this point I was starting to realise that this so called treatment wasn't really up to much.  I don't know what I was expecting to feel.  I was in my late 20's and fairly fit and healthy at the time.  There was no tingling.  No spiritual uplifting.  No veil being lifted.  I didn't even consider my headaches an issue at the time and never mentioned them to her.  It was purely for her to practice on me.

Then her hands hovered over my stomach and it rumbled viciously.  "They always do that," she says.  Something to do with the energy transfer.  But I wasn't convinced as my stomach had a history of grumbling.  Her hands continued their floating journey past each limb and joint.  Then she got to my right knee.  She stopped to focus on this joint.  I felt it warm up.  I glanced down and she was definitely not touching my knee.  One hand was over my knee and the other was palm down on the floor.  This is to ground the energy if it starts to build up to much.  By now my knee joint was burning and I had a strong sensation to bend my leg as if the tendons were being tightened.  Her hands moved on and so did the feeling.

Working her way around my body the same thing, albeit slightly less sensational, happened to my left knee.  After the treatment I got up and only then realised how good my knees felt.  I had (and still do but to a lesser extent thanks to this treatment) a habit of sitting with my knees bent with my legs folded underneath my body.  This put a huge strain on the joints and they always ached when I got up. 

So what is my conclusion about whether reiki works?  After the treatment my knees felt great for a good 3 or 4 months.  A real and definite improvement.  This was a double blind test as neither I nor my friend knew that there was anything wrong with me.  She managed to trace and fix a problem which could have got a lot worse (he says uncrossing his legs).  It's simple...  Reike really does work.  And the world is a little bit more magical for it.

Do Allergy Tests Work?

I know…big delays so thanks for those who have stuck with me!  The baby is getting bigger and it's amazing how much time they take!  Anyhoo, where were we...

So what happened next? I gave up with conventional methods and went down the route of alternative therapies. The first thing I tried was an allergy test. You are what you eat so I was sure that the pain must be caused by something I was eating. Remember, I still didn't know that they were migraines.

I was ushered to a low couch in a room behind a chemists and told to undress my left foot. A strange start, but what the hey! I was given a metal bar to hold whilst the specialist, and I use the term sparingly here, held my foot on her lap. The metal bar was connected to a strange contraption containing test tubes of clear liquid. A wire connected to a metal pen completed the contraption. Each vial of liquid in turn was placed into the main hole. For each one, she moved the pen down the inside of my big toe as if she were drawing a line from top to bottom. Each stroke would emit a whining sound which would progressively get higher. The degree of change in sound was dependent on the resistance between my hand, the vial of liquid and my toe. The higher the whine, the less resistance which was good (I think). If the whine petered out before reaching it’s zenith it meant that there was something in my body that blocked the signal. That would be what I was allergic to.  Or it could just mean that she didn't move the pen as far, thus giving the impression of an allergy (I know, I must stop being a cynic, but I just can't help myself).

It didn’t go that well and I did feel a little bit sorry for the specialist as it didn't go as smoothly as she would have wanted. The first item of resistance was pork. Bad start as I am Jewish and therefore have never eaten pork. I could see the quizzical look on her face as one eyebrow lifted slightly. however she hardly paused for breath before moving onto the next vial. The next low whine was caffeine. A problem there as I don’t drink coffee, or tea, or coke.
“Are you sure?” she asked, hoping that I might have forgotten about a recent caffeine binge. Nope, not a drop. The next one was grass seeds. She got me there! I do have hey fever. But then so do a lot of the population so that was a safe win for her.  There was one other spurious reading but I can’t remember the details as it happened about 12 years ago.

She perked up a bit at the end as she slipped into automatic mode almost forgetting the questionable results.  She advised that I go on a wheat free diet for one month and keep a food diary. I left the little room and entered the chemist on the way out.  As I left I heard another, much older, couple chatting about which wheat free items would be best for them. I wonder how many people which how varied ailments she advised to go on this diet.  I tried the diet. It wasn’t as difficult as it seemed. But it made no difference to the migraines.

The diary was a help though. It identified that I have an intolerance to dairy which I never knew about before. I just thought that I was a naturally flatulent person! Cutting out cheese also seemed to help reduce the frequency of the headaches. So maybe the treatment was worth the money after all!
Martin

Migraines at a young age.

I am pretty sure that I have suffered from migraines since I was a kid.  They were only self-diagnosed as such 4 years ago, but I know that I suffered with them for a long time before that.  The memory does fade slightly as to when they started.  I remember going to the doctor with my mum as a kid as I had jaw ache a lot.  Mum thought that maybe I had too many teeth all vying for space or that there was a problem with the alignment of my jaw.  The doctor we saw was a doctor from the old school.  A very old school.  He was like an old, kind, but misguided wizard.  After sitting behind his large wooded desk and listening to our story, he turned to face a plethora of ancient books, some without names, which covered the entire wall behind him (at least that's how I remember it as a kid).  From one shelf behind him he dragged out a particularly large book, blowing the dust from the top before opening the cover.  He moistened his index finger and thumb by licking them with his parched tongue, which looked as old as the books.  Peering over the top of his glasses he slowly turned the large pages.  By contrast, my current doctor googles for answers, although I am not commenting on which is the better method.

His conclusion was that I grind my jaw at night and would need a mouth guard to stop this from happening.  I knew that I wasn't grinding my jaw but was so in awe of this caricature of himself, that my mouth refused to budge from being tight shut.  Thankfully, whilst driving home, my mother listened and we never did get the mouth guard for me to wear at night to stop this mythical grinding from taking place.

Fast forward a decade or two. I can't remember getting much pain after that until I was in my 20's.  By then I just thought that I was getting headaches.  Must be too much work, or too little sleep.  The childhood jaw ache was long forgotten about.  Over the counter drugs never even dented the pain.  I wasn't the sort to go to the doctors, but in hindsight, that is exactly what I should have done.  It got to the stage where I had more days in pain than not.  I learned to deal with it and get on with my life.  I worked my way though many kooky methods to attempt some sort of clarity.  Run to the top of the stairs and grab hold of the banister. Swing up and down and round and round to stretch my shoulder joints and pull out the pain.  Bang my head against the wall to knock the broken bit back into place.  I used to have an old computer where you had to hit the side of it to make it turn on.  I guess that I was applying that same logic to my head.  Needless to say, these methods never worked.

The worry was that it might be more than a simple headache.  I would analyze myself for other symptoms.  My vision was always clear, although it did hurt to re-focus from near to far.  My hearing was always clear and noise never made the pain worse or better.  No tingling in my fingers or toes.  Heart beat strong and unwavering.  Fitness level as good as it ever had been.  I was stuck in limbo, waiting for the pain to go, or something else to go wrong.  Always scared to visit the doctors again.  They might tell me something that I don't want to hear. 

What I did do was visit alternative health experts.  I use the term expert sparingly and will explain why in my next blog...