Latest / Everyday Ancestral with James Barry / Why Do Migraines Happen and What Actually Helps | Dr. Amelia Scott Barrett

Transcript

Why Do Migraines Happen and What Actually Helps | Dr. Amelia Scott Barrett · Everyday Ancestral with James Barry

• 0:00
  I don't think the diagnosis matters as much as we used to think it does.
• 0:05
  I think the biggest mistake people make is with this pop a pill and power through mentality.
• 0:11
  There are nearly 200 different genes linked to migraine.
• 0:14
  Just because the pain isn't there right now does not mean everything's fine.
• 0:18
  Migraines aren't new.
• 0:20
  Descriptions of severe one-sided headaches with symptoms that sound remarkably similar to migraine appear in medical writings going back thousands of years.
• 0:29
  My guest today, Dr. Amelia Scott Barrett, is a Stanford-trained neurologist who has spent decades trying to understand why migraines happen and what we can actually do about them.
• 0:41
  Amelia, if humans have been dealing with migraines for thousands of years, what does that tell us about why they happen?
• 0:50
  I think it confirms that there is some deeply ingrained biology behind this process.
• 0:57
  You know, it's not just a product of the modern world with our stress and our sleep disruption and our blue light.
• 1:04
  You know, this is something that is truly biological.
• 1:09
  And I think what's absolutely fascinating,
• 1:12
  Fascinating is what we've learned about the biology behind migraines through DNA research.
• 1:17
  So we're finally, finally starting to get some real answers about what's going on.
• 1:24
  Modern life is actually helping to discover new facets of why these happen and how we can help people with them.
• 1:32
  Yeah.
• 1:33
  Yeah.
• 1:33
  You know, this stuff was not available until we understood the human genome, until we had computers that could crunch, you know, billions upon billions of bits of information and come up with the answers for us.
• 1:46
  So this is all very new stuff.
• 1:48
  For someone like myself, I've never actually had a migraine.
• 1:51
  I rarely get headaches.
• 1:53
  And honestly, it's been living with someone who gets migraines that help me understand it.
• 1:57
  But I have to imagine most people out there don't actually even understand what is the difference between a migraine and a headache.
• 2:04
  Yeah, let's talk about that.
• 2:05
  And then...
• 2:07
  And then I'm going to say something that might ruffle a couple of feathers, but I'm going to do it anyway.
• 2:11
  So first of all, what is migraine?
• 2:15
  You know, it's usually a headache that's on one side of your head.
• 2:19
  Doesn't have to be, but it often is.
• 2:22
  It tends to be pounding or throbbing like your heartbeat.
• 2:25
  It often gets worse when you do any kind of exertion, even something simple like bending over to pick something up off the floor.
• 2:32
  That's enough to make it worse.
• 2:35
  And they are often associated with nausea, sometimes vomiting when it's bad, although it can be as subtle as just, yeah, I'm not eating dinner tonight.
• 2:45
  People also get sensitive to light and sound.
• 2:47
  And again, you know, it doesn't mean you're stuck in a dark room and can't come out.
• 2:51
  There are millions and millions of people powering through.
• 2:54
  They've just got five pairs of sunglasses in their car because they know that.
• 3:00
  They don't want to have to go somewhere and be feeling kind of sensitive to light and have that be so irritating.
• 3:07
  So that is the pain experience that we typically think of as migraine.
• 3:12
  And then the thing I'm going to say that's going to ruffle some feathers is, I don't think the diagnosis matters as much as we used to think it does.
• 3:21
  And this is coming from a girl who spent hours and hours memorizing all the diagnostic criteria for all the headaches in my training at Sam.
• 3:29
  Right.
• 3:30
  So, you know, and part of the reason I say that is that the biology is showing us that there are such similarities between migraine and other types of headaches once you dig a little bit deeper.
• 3:42
  And I think that over time, what's going to matter is not so much the description of your pain, but what is going on for you biologically under the surface.
• 3:52
  That's the relevant feature.
• 3:54
  That's what you've got to focus on to get to a place of lasting relief.
• 3:58
  So why does someone get a migraine and another person doesn't?
• 4:03
  Is there clear data on that?
• 4:06
  Absolutely.
• 4:07
  So we've done these amazing studies looking at the DNA on 100,000 people with migraine, comparing them to people who don't.
• 4:15
  And we said, all right, what do these people with migraine have in common with each other that these people with migraine don't?
• 4:22
  So this is really, really accurate information.
• 4:26
  And so what we know is that there are nearly 200 different genes linked to migraine, and they regulate four different systems in the body.
• 4:34
  So the first of those is brain chemistry.
• 4:37
  This is also related to things like anxiety or insomnia.
• 4:41
  The second is inflammation.
• 4:43
  This incorporates things like gut health and how our inflammatory response works.
• 4:50
  The third area is energy production inside cells, inside the little batteries in our cells, the mitochondria.
• 4:57
  And that can be impacted by things like toxins, which is a product of the modern world that's definitely making people worse.
• 5:05
  And then the final area is vascular, and that incorporates things like methylation, blood sugar, lipids.
• 5:14
  So these four different broad categories are the underlying biological drivers for people once you know what it is for you.
• 5:22
  that's when you can start honing in on the specific solutions that are going to really move the needle for you and get you to lasting relief.
• 5:32
  Okay, so that's really great.
• 5:34
  There is a solution to a degree.
• 5:36
  There is something that people can do.
• 5:39
  You spent 25 years practicing conventional neurology.
• 5:44
  I did.
• 5:45
  Why did you leave?
• 5:45
  Why?
• 5:46
  It's because people kept saying, fine, I'll take this pill.
• 5:52
  But why is this happening to me in the first place?
• 5:54
  I just want to know why my migraines are getting worse.
• 5:57
  Why do these happen to me?
• 5:59
  And there are no great answers to that in mainstream medicine.
• 6:03
  I get migraines, too.
• 6:05
  So do my daughters.
• 6:06
  So does my mother.
• 6:07
  So does my aunt.
• 6:08
  So, you know, it's had a huge impact on my world.
• 6:10
  And honestly, it has a huge impact on women's lives.
• 6:13
  Right.
• 6:14
  So I got very interested in functional medicine and started finding answers there.
• 6:20
  And then I think it really took it to the next level for me in early 2020s when some of this new DNA research came out and I immediately recognized that.
• 6:33
  Oh, this is this is the answer.
• 6:34
  This is what, you know, all those thousands of people who asked me, why?
• 6:40
  Why is this happening?
• 6:41
  What's going on?
• 6:42
  What can I do about this other than take the pill?
• 6:45
  You know, this is their answer.
• 6:48
  So that's really why I got so fascinated by it.
• 6:50
  I want to, you know, give women and men to, of course, but it affects our lives more.
• 6:56
  I want to give them the solutions that they need to go live the beautiful lives they want to live.
• 7:01
  I've never actually heard that before.
• 7:03
  So why do migraines affect more women than men?
• 7:08
  You know, I think part of it's hormones.
• 7:10
  So we definitely outnumber men three to one.
• 7:12
  And, you know, there's that increase in migraines right before our cycle, menstrual migraines.
• 7:19
  We often get worse migraines around menopause when estrogen is all over the place.
• 7:26
  So I think those are some of the reasons.
• 7:28
  And I'll be honest with you, I think part of it is...
• 7:32
  And, you know, not to be stereotypical, but but the ways that many women choose to behave, we choose to put other people's health above our own, we choose to make other people a priority.
• 7:41
  You know, we volunteer to stay up late and get that work report done.
• 7:45
  So, you know, maybe some of that is just ways that we are conditioned to behave.
• 7:52
  Maybe it's the way we naturally are.
• 7:53
  I don't know.
• 7:54
  That's fine.
• 7:54
  probably a topic for another podcast.
• 7:57
  But I think that some of these factors are the reasons that women have such a hard time saying, all right, that's it.
• 8:03
  I'm having migraines.
• 8:04
  I'm out.
• 8:04
  I'm done.
• 8:05
  Like nobody asked me to do anything.
• 8:08
  People usually don't do that.
• 8:09
  They put, they try to pop a pill and power through, you know, they want to follow through on their commitments and not saying men don't do that too.
• 8:15
  But I think that some of those pressures can be greater on women.
• 8:19
  So, and
• 8:22
  Yeah, yeah.
• 8:23
  But I do find that fascinating, though, because I think there is a stereotype that, oh, headaches or even migraines are a sign of repressed emotions, you know, or that you're holding something in.
• 8:35
  Do you think that energetically that that is true from your experience of working with all these different people?
• 8:41
  Yes, and here's why.
• 8:43
  It's because of what we've learned about the brain chemistry of people who tend to get migraine, the nature of those brain chemistry abnormalities.
• 8:51
  So these are neurotransmitters and other chemicals.
• 8:54
  And what we know is that the overall pattern makes us experience things, especially trauma, that's,
• 9:01
  more intensely than other people do.
• 9:03
  So let's say we're in a car accident with somebody else.
• 9:06
  You know, the other person might be like, okay, well, everything's cleaned up.
• 9:09
  Let's go to lunch.
• 9:10
  You know, the person with migraines like, are you kidding?
• 9:14
  I'm never getting in a car again.
• 9:15
  You know, I mean, it's just, you know, it's the way our nervous system is made that we're
• 9:22
  you know, things can land more deeply and imprint more deeply and powerfully for us than they do for other people.
• 9:29
  So for example, we know that PTSD is more common in people who have migraine.
• 9:32
  Why is that?
• 9:33
  It's because of how our nervous system is wired.
• 9:36
  And I think once you know that, and you know the nature of those abnormalities, exactly which pieces of your biology is it for you, it's incredibly empowering because it gives you permission to take care of yourself, to understand
• 9:50
  okay, I'm experiencing this at a 10.
• 9:52
  Everybody around me is experiencing it at two.
• 9:55
  I'm not wrong, but I need to go take a half an hour by myself or whatever it is, you know, whatever that looks like.
• 10:02
  I think just understanding yourself opens up all sorts of solutions for that deeper level of healing, for understanding, you know, my life may have accumulated inside me
• 10:13
  differently than the next person who doesn't have a migraine brain.
• 10:18
  So yeah, I think you're absolutely right that there can be more stuff going on under the surface, you know, and all of those issues combined with this pressure to pop a pill and power through, minimize is just a headache.
• 10:29
  You can still get dinner on the table and get the kids to soccer.
• 10:32
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• 10:38
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• 10:42
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• 10:53
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• 10:55
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• 10:58
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• 10:59
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• 11:02
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• 11:09
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• 11:12
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• 11:15
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• 11:22
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• 11:25
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• 11:35
  So you mentioned that in your previous kind of conventional neurology, it was pill popping.
• 11:40
  That was the focus.
• 11:41
  Just get someone some medication.
• 11:44
  So what's different about how you work with someone now?
• 11:47
  Well, I don't prescribe anymore.
• 11:50
  And what I focus on, I actually, my favorite way to do this is to start with genomics testing.
• 11:55
  So I developed a genomics testing panel based on everything we've learned about migraine, the things that are most relevant, in my opinion, of course.
• 12:04
  And we check this panel.
• 12:06
  We get a good idea of how these biological systems are wired.
• 12:11
  And then we bring in a support protocol.
• 12:15
  And this is very, very extensive, updated against currently published literature on PubMed.
• 12:22
  And we give people a recovery protocol.
• 12:24
  And that is everything you need to get better.
• 12:26
  It's which medications are the best fit for your biology, which ones are going to give you side effect, which ones are you going to tolerate better.
• 12:33
  That alone saves people years of trial and error with their doctor.
• 12:38
  So that's an incredibly important piece of information.
• 12:41
  We can also help people out with the other thing that migraine sufferers struggle with, which is food.
• 12:47
  What the heck do I eat?
• 12:48
  I mean, you have some migraine influencers who are saying, eat keto.
• 12:51
  And then you've got some influencers who are saying, eat carbs every two hours.
• 12:55
  And like, what's right?
• 12:58
  And the answer is there is no single right.
• 12:59
  Both answers are right for different subsets of the migraine population.
• 13:03
  But we can tell you what's right for you.
• 13:05
  so that you're not going through elimination diet after elimination diet, trying to figure this stuff out on your own.
• 13:11
  We can just tell you straight up, okay, yes or no.
• 13:14
  How do you process tyramine?
• 13:16
  How do you process histamine?
• 13:17
  How do you process MSG?
• 13:19
  Are those things you really need to avoid?
• 13:21
  How about lactose?
• 13:22
  Do you make the enzyme to digest it?
• 13:25
  How about gluten?
• 13:26
  Is your body wired to react to it?
• 13:28
  So we can answer a lot of questions and put you on a protocol to help your biology.
• 13:35
  start getting supported.
• 13:39
  And then, you know, as these systems start to heal, then people stop having the experience of migraine be provoked by whatever needs are unmet within their biology.
• 13:50
  Are there different types of migraines?
• 13:53
  Absolutely.
• 13:54
  So I have stratified them according to what the DNA research has shown us.
• 13:59
  So one type is brain chemistry.
• 14:01
  One type is inflammation.
• 14:03
  One type is energy production.
• 14:05
  And the last type is vascular.
• 14:07
  And we see very, very different patterns.
• 14:09
  People don't have to have just one.
• 14:10
  They often have, you know, one driver and then one or two secondary drivers.
• 14:16
  I don't think I've seen two sets turn out the same.
• 14:18
  Yeah.
• 14:19
  it's not like someone is just DNA wise wired for one people can cycle through all of them.
• 14:26
  Yeah, they can have, like, say, for example, maybe brain chemistry is your primary driver, but then you've also got difficulty clearing toxins and oxidative stress.
• 14:36
  So, you know, those are two very different sets of solutions.
• 14:39
  You need a little of both.
• 14:41
  And I think the thing is when you get these complicated recovery protocols that have like two dozen different pieces, you're never going to find this through trial and error.
• 14:51
  You're just not going to come up with the magic combination that your biology needs.
• 14:54
  So I think the data is really essential.
• 14:57
  Now, you mentioned you do DNA testing, which obviously, as you mentioned, is helping people get specific to what their body, how their body reacts, what their body needs.
• 15:06
  Are there some through lines?
• 15:08
  Are there some commonalities that we could share with the audience here that they can just bring awareness to maybe stop doing those things or changing their diets?
• 15:17
  Are there just common tools that apply to everyone?
• 15:22
  Sure.
• 15:22
  I mean, I think every headache type needs good sleep at night.
• 15:26
  And, you know, one very concrete piece of advice I can offer people, you know, I mean, we all know we're supposed to sleep at night.
• 15:33
  That's pretty generic.
• 15:34
  But, you know, to give one specific piece of advice, you need to track your deep sleep with a device.
• 15:44
  Don't just think, oh, I think I sleep well.
• 15:47
  I got a pretty good night's sleep last night.
• 15:49
  Take a deeper look and track deep sleep.
• 15:51
  It's not about your sleep score.
• 15:53
  It's not about your REM sleep.
• 15:54
  It's not about any of that.
• 15:55
  It's about improving your deep sleep.
• 15:58
  That's when your migraines are going to get better, regardless of what other biological factors are going on.
• 16:04
  So I think that's a fantastic place for people to start.
• 16:08
  Is there, I don't actually know the markers for deep sleep.
• 16:11
  What are we looking for when we want to improve our deep sleep?
• 16:14
  Are we looking for like two hours a night for, is there something specific?
• 16:18
  Oh, the more the better.
• 16:19
  Oh, okay.
• 16:20
  So when I first started tracking my deep sleep, gosh, maybe four years ago or so, I was getting like 15 minutes a night and I thought I was sleeping well.
• 16:30
  Like I thought I was doing all the things right.
• 16:32
  I went to bed at the same time and I woke up at the same time.
• 16:37
  Like all the things you're supposed to do and I kind of felt like my sleep was good.
• 16:40
  I was so wrong.
• 16:42
  I had no idea how...
• 16:45
  how good I could feel once I nailed that metric.
• 16:49
  And I would say consistently, I'm at an hour and an hour and a half right now.
• 16:54
  And I am so happy with that.
• 16:55
  You know, on the nights when I get more, I feel even better.
• 16:58
  But, you know, sometimes there's just random day to day variation.
• 17:01
  But, you know, definitely the more the better.
• 17:04
  And I think really use yourself as a control wherever you are now.
• 17:07
  Try to make it better.
• 17:09
  Really, in a sense, not getting sleep is a trigger, right?
• 17:11
  Can be for some people.
• 17:12
  So are triggers the problem?
• 17:13
  Or is that why people keep getting these migraines or headaches?
• 17:18
  Yeah, really good question.
• 17:19
  So sort of.
• 17:22
  And here's why I say that.
• 17:23
  I really envision triggers as like things that fill up your migraine bucket.
• 17:29
  Like if you've ever taken a kid to a water park, you know, and the water fills up the bucket slowly, slowly, and then it tips over and, you know, kids are all screaming and stuff.
• 17:37
  Yeah.
• 17:38
  The tipping over is kind of like the migraine.
• 17:40
  The filling up is kind of like the triggers.
• 17:43
  And so sometimes you identify something as a trigger.
• 17:46
  You know, it's the last thing that happened before the bucket tips over.
• 17:50
  Other times you can tolerate that same trigger and it doesn't tip you over into a migraine because your buckets only have full.
• 17:57
  So I think that's the key insight there, that all this stuff is filling up your bucket.
• 18:03
  You want to do everything you can to drain your bucket so that you are living from a very resilient place.
• 18:10
  And it takes a lot to tip you over into a migraine.
• 18:13
  Because I'm not saying this is a magic wand cure or anything like that.
• 18:18
  But I have seen it happen hundreds of times that you can get to a place where migraines don't interfere with your life anymore.
• 18:27
  You might get one, you know exactly which pill to take or which treatment to do.
• 18:32
  And a couple hours later, it's gone.
• 18:34
  It doesn't, you know, change your plans with your friends.
• 18:37
  It doesn't, you know, prevent you from being there for your kids.
• 18:40
  It doesn't interfere with your ability to get that important work project done.
• 18:44
  I mean, to me, that's migraine freedom.
• 18:46
  That is a reasonable thing.
• 18:47
  You know, like I said, it's not a magic wand.
• 18:49
  It's not a cure.
• 18:50
  It's not like you're never going to have them again.
• 18:52
  But you can get to a place where they really don't impact your life.
• 18:55
  That's doable and reasonable.
• 18:57
  Can the way we treat migraines make them worse over time?
• 19:01
  Are people doing it wrong in your judgment?
• 19:03
  I think the biggest mistake people make is with this pop a pill and power through mentality.
• 19:10
  And my whole goal is to just find the right pill, you know, make the pain go away.
• 19:15
  And if the pain is gone, everything's fine.
• 19:17
  Well, just because the pain isn't there right now does not mean everything's fine.
• 19:22
  You know, whatever biological systems are out of whack under the surface,
• 19:26
  They still need some attention and love to improve, to make those better.
• 19:30
  Because as we all know, root causes have multiple downstream symptoms.
• 19:35
  Migraine is only one symptom.
• 19:37
  You know, maybe some of those other downstream issues are, you know, the inflammatory bowel syndrome that you've been having, the anxiety or insomnia you were diagnosed with, the long COVID you were diagnosed with because your cells have no energy.
• 19:50
  And unfortunately, we do know that, you know, the long term consequence of some of these vascular issues is things like stroke and heart attack.
• 19:57
  We've known for decades that those things are more common for people with migraines.
• 20:01
  So I think, yes, the you know, if you're focused purely on eliminating the pain and finding the right pill, yeah, that that is the wrong approach.
• 20:10
  And it absolutely can do more harm than good.
• 20:13
  Where do medications help?
• 20:15
  I love that question.
• 20:17
  I think medications are great for acute treatment.
• 20:19
  There is no herb.
• 20:20
  There is no supplement that's going to make your migraine go away in an hour.
• 20:24
  They're just, I mean, there are ones that say they will.
• 20:26
  Honestly, I just don't think they work as well as the prescriptions.
• 20:29
  So I love prescriptions or even over-the-counters for that occasional migraine.
• 20:35
  If you get one, take your pill right away.
• 20:38
  Make it go away.
• 20:40
  Go back to functioning and living your own life.
• 20:45
  And in my definition, that's if you're having more than two headache days a week, then it's time to do something more.
• 20:52
  At the same time as you're, you know, taking your pill, you have to simultaneously say, all right, what am I going to do to fix this problem?
• 20:58
  I can't just like suppress the pain forever.
• 21:01
  I've got to get to the underlying issues here.
• 21:03
  Put out those fires so that not only are my migraines better, but my overall health is better.
• 21:08
  So that's what I think the pills are good for.
• 21:11
  Also, they just give you the bandwidth.
• 21:12
  Yeah.
• 21:13
  You know, instead of instead of being stuck in bed for three days with a migraine, if you take it on day one and it goes away in three hours.
• 21:20
  OK, now you have three days back to go and figure out.
• 21:23
  All right.
• 21:24
  What what's happening here to my body?
• 21:26
  Why is my body doing this to me?
• 21:28
  there's the flip side of what happens when you take these pills too much, right?
• 21:33
  Is your gut gets messed up, right?
• 21:35
  Or I don't know.
• 21:35
  I feel like I've heard that about taking Advil, for example, that your gut lining gets messed up.
• 21:41
  So is there a middle ground?
• 21:44
  Is there something people can do that can not only alleviate the migraine, but also support their health?
• 21:52
  First of all, you're totally right.
• 21:53
  Yes, of course, taking NSAIDs too often will absolutely contribute to leaky gut.
• 21:57
  Leaky gut is a huge cause of migraine.
• 22:00
  We tend to be more prone to it genetically, and we also tend to make a stronger immune reaction to that leaky gut than other people do.
• 22:10
  So it's a huge problem for us.
• 22:13
  So you're absolutely right on that.
• 22:15
  I think you have to view medications as...
• 22:17
  I'm going to do this short term, but it's not my long term answer.
• 22:20
  I'm not done.
• 22:21
  There's not success.
• 22:22
  There really isn't a great middle ground.
• 22:24
  I mean, there are new drugs out, G pants that are amazing, that don't cause rebound.
• 22:29
  They're fairly safe.
• 22:30
  They don't contribute to leaky gut.
• 22:32
  You know, go to your doctor, get one of those.
• 22:34
  Sure.
• 22:35
  Take take whatever you need to take.
• 22:37
  I think that, you know, the real thing you need to tell yourself is don't stop there.
• 22:42
  Yeah.
• 22:42
  So when someone works with you, is it possible that you mentioned earlier that you could potentially, you won't never have a migraine again, but you might make it so it's very rare.
• 22:53
  Like, is that what you find with a lot of the people that work with you?
• 22:56
  Yeah.
• 22:58
  So we see on average, and remember, I tend to work with the most severe, right?
• 23:03
  People have tried everything else.
• 23:04
  They've been having headaches every day for 10 years.
• 23:07
  You know, this is our average person.
• 23:09
  You know, we see a 50 to 60% reduction at three months, which is stunning.
• 23:14
  You know, these are people who have been through every medication, not once, not twice.
• 23:21
  And for them to get better, it's nearly miraculous, truly.
• 23:26
  I've had headache experts in various parts of the country call me up and say, what's your magic?
• 23:31
  And I'm like, it's the biology.
• 23:33
  It's not me.
• 23:34
  It's just showing this person their biology.
• 23:37
  That's really all.
• 23:39
  So the results can be amazing.
• 23:41
  I'm not saying it's everybody or 100% or anything like that.
• 23:44
  Obviously, individual people vary, and we don't know all the science yet.
• 23:49
  Um, so I think that, you know, in the next decade in particular, we're going to see some just absolutely phenomenal advances in this field.
• 23:58
  Um, but that, yeah, people do get amazing results.
• 24:02
  And I think in some level, we all know that lifestyle matters.
• 24:05
  Like, of course it does.
• 24:06
  It's not just all about finding a pill.
• 24:08
  We all know that, you know, you've got to get a good night's sleep.
• 24:10
  You can't out medicate that.
• 24:11
  You can't, you know, eat Cheetos all day long and take a multivitamin and think everything's okay.
• 24:16
  You know, we all know lifestyle matters.
• 24:18
  I think what frustrates people is just that they work so hard on lifestyle and don't get any results.
• 24:22
  But that's just because they're not doing what their biology needs.
• 24:25
  You know, again, like we've got people saying eat keto and eat carbs.
• 24:28
  Like you've got to know which one your body needs you to do before you're going to see results.
• 24:35
  Because what I hear you saying is like, okay, the ancestral kind of pillars, you know, movements, low stress, sleep, what you eat are important.
• 24:45
  And of course, they're going to be drivers and support your longevity.
• 24:49
  But the modern technique of like DNA and understanding, like being able to know how your body responds to these stimuluses, that's the power of where we are at in the technology and in the awareness around this now.
• 25:03
  You see a lot of the people who have tried everything.
• 25:06
  So for someone who is in that place where they've tried everything, where should they start or where do they start?
• 25:12
  go to theheadachequiz.com.
• 25:15
  Super simple, free quiz.
• 25:16
  It will connect you with a ton of resources based on your biology that you can start with.
• 25:22
  And if you wanna take it a step further, go read my book, Decode Your Migraine.
• 25:26
  It's on Amazon, everywhere.
• 25:29
  And that will really give you even more tools and help deepen your understanding of this biology and how you take action.
• 25:37
  And then if you wanna jump in and get some testing done, we've got several different programs
• 25:42
  to help you through that, you know, very budget friendly, all the way up to one to one guidance.
• 25:47
  I think that, you know, when you're in the place to be ready to get more data, that's definitely where we see the biggest impact.
• 25:54
  The other steps are kind of just, you know, first level DIY stuff, not gonna necessarily take you down to, you know, one migraine a year.
• 26:03
  But you do need data for that level of a specialization.
• 26:06
  But there's truly something for everybody out there.
• 26:10
  And for the people that aren't ready to just commit to working with you, are there just some practical tips that you have that people can just apply to their everyday lives, their homes, their relationships that will support them in feeling better?
• 26:23
  Yeah, absolutely.
• 26:25
  One thing I'll mention, there are nearly 200 different studies showing that magnesium helps for migraine.
• 26:32
  So I think if you're going to take just one supplement, that's a really good place to start.
• 26:36
  I think it's so important that I put it into the migraine multivitamin that I developed because I think everybody needs a little bit more every day.
• 26:44
  I mean, you probably encounter this in your work that we're low on minerals and magnesium is uniquely positioned to help with some of the brain chemistry abnormalities that happen with migraine.
• 26:55
  So I think that's a good place to start.
• 26:57
  And I love just the multivitamin supplements.
• 27:00
  approach.
• 27:01
  You need something to support inflammation.
• 27:03
  You need a low histamine probiotic.
• 27:06
  You need omegas.
• 27:08
  Lots of people with migraine have troubles with histamine, so you need the low histamine type of probiotics, so I put both of those in my multi-
• 27:16
  You know, they need help with energy production.
• 27:19
  So they need methylated B vitamins.
• 27:23
  They need a little bit of NAC and acetylcysteine to help clear out toxins.
• 27:28
  They need some antioxidants to help stabilize everything.
• 27:32
  To me, this approach makes a lot more sense to really support specific pathways in your biology with your multivitamin, as opposed to some of the
• 27:44
  You know, one of the most studied supplements in migraine is vitamin B2 or riboflavin.
• 27:50
  But in order to make those results happen in those randomized controlled trials, they had to give people an entire year's worth of riboflavin every single day.
• 28:00
  I get it that the data is there, but does that make sense biologically?
• 28:03
  I would say no.
• 28:04
  No.
• 28:05
  Instead of supporting one step of our B vitamin pathways in the body, maybe we just give them all a little bit of support.
• 28:13
  Let's study that and see if that works better.
• 28:15
  I kind of come back to it based on what's biologically plausible.
• 28:21
  I think that matters too.
• 28:23
  Do you find there are certain foods that just either pulling them out of the diet seem to help?
• 28:28
  I heard you mention gluten earlier for some people.
• 28:31
  And then are there certain foods that you find help to ensure they're in their diet?
• 28:35
  Absolutely.
• 28:36
  So I think for so many years, migraine food recommendations have been about what not to eat.
• 28:42
  And I'll tell you what bothers me about that is the very high incidence of eating disorders in migraine.
• 28:49
  Oh, specifically with people that have migraines.
• 28:51
  Yep.
• 28:52
  They're working.
• 28:53
  I mean, I just feel terrible for these people.
• 28:55
  They're working so hard to get their pain gone that they get themselves into what is honestly a very deadly mental health disorder.
• 29:03
  More people die from anorexia than any other mental health condition.
• 29:07
  Yeah.
• 29:07
  And so I am not a fan of avoid all the foods.
• 29:11
  So I instead think we should eat to nourish our brain.
• 29:16
  And so I recommend what I call the food triangle, which is sort of gently poking fun at the food pyramid.
• 29:23
  And then the three corners of the triangle are protein, fiber, protein.
• 29:29
  and phytonutrients from colorful plants and vegetables.
• 29:32
  So I think it's helpful to focus on, all right, how do I give my body all the tools it needs to do its job really, really well and make me feel amazing?
• 29:42
  We mentioned at the top of this that migraines have been around for a very long time, thousands and thousands of years.
• 29:48
  You've been in this industry for a few decades now.
• 29:53
  So do you find even just during your lifetime with it, is it getting better or is it getting worse?
• 29:58
  Yeah.
• 29:59
  I mean, in mainstream medicine, 100% the medications are better, no doubt.
• 30:04
  You know, the first drugs to be developed were triptans.
• 30:07
  Those helped a lot of people.
• 30:08
  The newer drugs, the G-pants, the CGRP monoclonal antibodies, they help a lot, absolutely.
• 30:14
  But, you know, there are the limitations of that mask the pain approach.
• 30:19
  So certainly life is better.
• 30:21
  But I guess I'm more referring to are more and more people getting migraines?
• 30:26
  Like, do we see just kind of migraine issues increasing or is it just it just is part of humanity and it's just always there and we're not we don't know?
• 30:38
  I see.
• 30:39
  And unfortunately, yeah, it is getting worse.
• 30:42
  So here's what we know.
• 30:45
  Migraine is actually the leading cause of disability in women under 50.
• 30:49
  That's according to the Global Burden of Disease Report.
• 30:52
  So this is multiple parts of the world.
• 30:54
  It's not just our crazy American culture.
• 30:56
  This is happening to a lot of people.
• 30:58
  28 million American women have migraine.
• 31:02
  That's a lot.
• 31:03
  And even more disturbingly, the American Migraine Foundation estimates that only about 5% of people who really do have migraine have, you know, been to a doctor, been diagnosed and gotten meds.
• 31:16
  Now, part of that's access to care, right?
• 31:19
  You know, that could be part of the reason that it's such a small percent.
• 31:22
  Still, that's a lot of people listening right now who have migraine and don't know it.
• 31:28
  And their bad headaches, their sinus headaches or, you know, tension headaches, whatever it is that they're calling them.
• 31:34
  Those are actually migraines.
• 31:36
  Yeah.
• 31:37
  So that's interesting.
• 31:37
  You're bringing up the point of like, can you be with something for long enough or have it be so systemic that you don't even realize that there's help out there beyond, you know, just popping a pill?
• 31:50
  That's why in so much of my work, I refer to migraines and other chronic headaches.
• 31:55
  And I know that sometimes people with migraines get upset by that because migraine is its own diagnostic category and it is a separate deal.
• 32:03
  But we have to understand that those lines do blur when you look at the big picture of headaches in general and understand how many people are undiagnosed.
• 32:12
  And there are certainly tools available to help them, too.
• 32:16
  Now, why do you think it's increasing, though?
• 32:19
  Yeah.
• 32:19
  Crazy modern life, staying up too late, not sleeping, more fragmented social connections.
• 32:26
  I mean, we don't sit around the fire with the people we love in the evening anymore.
• 32:32
  So I think those are part of it.
• 32:34
  And unfortunately, I think toxins are a much, much bigger issue than most people realize because of their effect on mitochondria and because toxins.
• 32:43
  So many people with migraine have trouble clearing out those toxins and also managing oxidative stress.
• 32:49
  I mean, that's me.
• 32:49
  That's my migraine type.
• 32:51
  I have the energy type.
• 32:53
  It takes a lot of work in terms of lifestyle change to address that issue.
• 33:00
  And I think that we're going to be hearing a lot more about that in the next decade.
• 33:05
  I think that's a bigger issue than people realize.
• 33:07
  Is that why you move towards neurology and why migraines are our focus?
• 33:12
  Is it something you've suffered with in your lifetime or is it something a parent did?
• 33:17
  Yeah, no, absolutely.
• 33:19
  All the women in my family have migraine.
• 33:22
  That's definitely true.
• 33:24
  But on the other hand, I was always interested in the brain.
• 33:26
  So it's not necessarily why I chose it.
• 33:29
  I mean, I was a very geeky little kid sitting around playing with clay and making human brains.
• 33:34
  I think I made my parents nervous.
• 33:36
  You know, like, why is she playing?
• 33:38
  Why is she making brains?
• 33:39
  That's weird.
• 33:40
  But anyway, I did end up being a neurologist.
• 33:44
  So, you know, there was something there that was meant to be.
• 33:46
  Yeah.
• 33:47
  Neurology isn't necessarily the study of migraines.
• 33:50
  That just became your focus over time.
• 33:53
  Right, right, yeah.
• 33:54
  Lots of other stuff within the field as a whole.
• 33:57
  Thank you so much for being on the podcast.
• 33:59
  Where can people get your book?
• 34:01
  Where can they start working with you if they're inclined?
• 34:05
  Everything is on my website, ameliaskottbarrettmd.com.
• 34:10
  Excellent.
• 34:10
  And if they want to find you on socials, are you on socials?
• 34:13
  Same, same name everywhere, no matter the platform.
• 34:16
  Yep.
• 34:17
  Nice.
• 34:17
  I just made it easy.
• 34:18
  Yeah.
• 34:20
  Okay.
• 34:20
  So final question.
• 34:21
  I asked this of everyone.
• 34:22
  If you could wave a magic wand, bring back one ancestral practice, what would that be and why?
• 34:28
  That's a really good question.
• 34:30
  Oh, I want to take a minute to answer this carefully.
• 34:35
  I think tribal human communities with no technology.
• 34:41
  Like there's nowhere you can go to find that in our modern world.
• 34:46
  I don't think anyway.
• 34:47
  I haven't discovered any.
• 34:49
  But if there were some way where people could go to choose to live in
• 34:54
  technology free for, I don't know, even a month or a week or six months or a year and live with a community of people.
• 35:01
  I mean, I know it's not the same as like the community you were born and raised and you're going to die with.
• 35:07
  But I just I just love maybe I over romanticize it.
• 35:11
  I don't know.
• 35:11
  But that just sounds amazingly nourishing and just like something that would just really hold our souls.
• 35:18
  Yeah.
• 35:20
  Yeah, it's tough because those of us that remember life before we had these supercomputers in our pockets, we have that contrast.
• 35:27
  But many people in these younger generations don't.
• 35:32
  They've been living with it since day one.
• 35:34
  Yeah.
• 35:35
  Well, thank you so much, Amelia.
• 35:36
  I appreciate your time.
• 35:38
  This is something, as you mentioned, so many people are living with.
• 35:42
  And I am so happy that you are bringing some solutions and some different perspectives and hope to those people that are chronically experiencing migraines.
• 35:52
  So thank you for that.
• 35:53
  Yeah.
• 35:54
  And thank you so much for letting me be here, for letting me help your community understand that, you know, there really are new solutions that are changing people's lives.
• 36:05
  Thank you.
• 36:06
  And thank you all for coming with us on this ride.
• 36:09
  As usual, remember, stay curious and be well.
• 36:13
  Thank you so much for joining me on Everyday Ancestral.
• 36:17
  If you enjoyed this episode, hit subscribe so you don't miss the next one.
• 36:22
  You can find the show notes, links, and resources mentioned at eatpluck.com.
• 36:27
  That's E-A-T-P-L-U-C-K dot com.
• 36:33
  And hey, if you know someone who'd get something out of this, share it with them too.
• 36:38
  Stay curious, live well, and keep it ancestral.
• 36:42
  Thank you.