Hello!
I started suffering from vestibular migraines in 2016. That is the formal diagnosis anyway. I have a lot of weird symptoms that seem to be connected to my inner ear. I was getting dizzy all the time. I couldn’t watch traffic, scroll on my phone or computer without getting dizzy and nauseous. I went and got all the testing available, and they couldn’t find anything. It took two years before I was diagnosed with vestibular migraines.
By this time, I wasn’t working because of the constant pressure in my head and was severely light sensitive. I was constantly wearing sunglasses, lights of any kind hurt my eyes. I had a terrible mind fog. I had a hard time focusing or remembering things. I was pretty miserable. I occasionally had the classic migraine headache, but mostly suffered from the previously mentioned symptoms.
I think the summer of 2018 after I was diagnosed, I had kinda let go of ever getting better. I was trying to self-medicating. I tried the diet recommended for migraine sufferers and saw no noticeable difference. I had done a lot of research on the medicines given to migraine sufferers, and the side effects and risks associated with them looked worse than the symptoms I was experiencing with the vestibular migraines.
We had some friends that wanted to try the keto diet, and they asked if we would try it out with them. I have been pretty paleo since Robb Wolf first published his book so I said sure. I started to notice after being on the diet for a few months, that I felt a little better. It gave me hope. Shortly after this, I listened to the Joe Roe podcast with Shawn Baker and also one with Rhonda Patrick. Shawn Baker talked about the benefits of all meat, and Rhonda Patrick talked about the benefits of fasting.
So in 2019, I decided to focus on fasting and maintaining a carnivore-ish diet. I still liked to eat a hamburger occasionally. After just a month or so of fasting every day for at least 16 hours, I noticed a dramatic difference. I started to feel normal again. The pressure was completely gone. My sensitivity to light had decreased (it continued to decrease so much so that I can go outside without wearing sunglasses sometimes!)
I am not completely healed. I still have symptoms and have to be careful. But I have been able to start working again, and function more like a normal person. I would encourage any else out there that may be suffering from migraines to give fasting a try. It definitely has changed my life for the better.
3 thoughts on “Jane improved chronic vestibular migraines on fasting carnivore lifestyle”
Thats great to hear you’re doing better. I recently got diagnosed with vestibular migraines and have started a strict carnivore diet to try and fix myself. How are things for you today?
Hi Ben! I wonder how did the carnivore diet affected your symptoms and recovery since January? I hope you’re feeling better. 🙂
I started having vestibular migraines back in 2012. I did not get diagnosed with them until maybe 2018. I had and still have all the symptoms you described. VM is so rare that neurologists were unaware that it existed! I found a man herbal supplement called butterbur (Petadolex) is the brand I use, and it dismissed the all day floaty dizziness that I had for all those years, literally after 2 days. I just started fasting about 3 weeks ago and I also stopped the Petadolex a few days ago. Mostly eating keto and no processed foods. I am very interested to see how this will impact my VM. Counter evidence shows that not eating food triggers migraines. I hope you continue to have great results!!