Prior to starting with your Migraine Recovery Cohort, you'll be learning some basics about inflammation, symptom evaluation, and tracking metrics.  

We will use these tracking metrics starting with the first live Q&A to evaluate what that data means about your underlying imbalances.

This week we'll be getting familiar with each other, the program, and your symptom tracking metrics.  We'll begin by understanding what symptoms we should be tracking and why they're important in determining specific imbalances.  We'll also start tracking sugar intake and begin working on blood sugar balancing.

You will also have the opportunity to  review functional labs you may wish to order for the Week 6 review.  These labs are not necessary but are available if you wish to self-order them.

Functional labs we'll be discussing include hormones, neurotransmitters, genetics, food sensitivities, gut health/leaky gut, and organic acid testing/cellular function.  Questions about additional testing will be addressed as they come up (so feel free to ask!).

This week, we'll be discussing an anti-inflammatory/migraine healing diet.  We'll also be discussing food sensitivity reactions vs food allergies, different types of diets (such as low histamine, low FODMAP, low tyramine, etc) and how to tell which diet you should follow (if any).  Finally, we'll be focusing on the importance of gut healing and consider protocols to address the link between the gut and the brain.

While many people have already done extensive dietary work, it's been our experience that there are missing gaps in migraine diet education and workup for the individual.  This includes previous physician's failure to provide you with an actual gut healing protocol to ensure proper gut/brain communication.  We'll cover all of this in Week 2.

Studies show a link between mitochondrial dysfunction and chronic migraines.  If your mitochondria can't keep up with energy demand, that energy deficit can trigger migraines.  

In order to correct this imbalance, we need to ensure the cell is working correctly (proper electrolyte balance) and the mitochondria have the nutrients they need to produce energy effectively.

Cortisol (our stress hormone) and catecholamine (our stress neurotransmitters) fluctuations are known migraine triggers.  Many chronic migraineurs have issues with stress triggering these fluctuations.  

By identifiying how your body responds to stress, we can provide support to boost or decrease levels depending on your needs.  This will include stress management techniques and supplemental protocols to bring balance to the stress response.

We will support healthy adrenal and catecholamine function starting this week.

Studies show a whopping 92% of chronic migraineurs have a deficiency in their most powerful antioxidents - the chemicals responsible for allowing your body to detoxify.

Antioxidents are depleted by exposure to toxins, viruses, medications, and chemicals (in food and the environment).

We want to reduce exposures that will deplete us and then work to actively replete levels with supplemental support.  We have found this to be a key step in migraine recovery.  This area needs to be addressed before we can move on to more specific hormone balancing (a topic addressed in future program offerings).

In our final week, we will review any functional labs or blood work you may have chosen to have done at the beginning of the course.  We'll also spend time reviewing your progress and evaluating your tracking metrics again to see what has changed, what hasn't changed, and what that means about your treatment moving forward.

During this Q&A, we'll formulate your "Treatment Blueprint," laying out the steps you need to specifically address to see lasting migraine control.  This blueprint will differ from person to person; we'll make sure you know exactly what you need to keep working on as you move forward.

We'll also discuss next steps.  Some members will be invited to continue with our 6-month, in depth, Master Your Migraine program.  Others will find the best care with a local provider.  Whatever you need, we'll be sure you have your "treatment blueprint" in hand to know exactly what to do next and who is going to help you do it.

Almost everyone we run into has issues with hormone and neurotransmitter imbalance contributing to their migraines.  Six weeks only allows us to go so deep but we want to provide you with some additional information on how to help support healthy hormone and neurotransmitter balance.  

Our bonus content will give you some next steps in these areas so you have resources to turn to if you decide to continue your migraine work with someone else.