Dr. Meg Mill: Headache Hacks: Simple Functional Medicine Tips for Lasting Relief

In today's episode I'm joined by Dr. Meg Mill  a functional medicine expert who specializes in helping women manage and overcome headaches and migraines.

Join us as we delve into the importance of understanding the root causes of headaches, how conventional approaches differ from functional medicine, and the interconnectedness of diet, environment, stress, and hormones in contributing to this common health issue.

For the complete show notes and transcript visit: inspiredliving.show/142

Creators and Guests

Host

Julie Howton

What is Inspired Living with Autoimmunity?

The podcast for high achievers who want to stay sharp, focused and full of energy despite their diagnoses. Those who know there has got to be something better than simply accepting decline.

Hosted by Julie Howton, a National Board Certified Functional Medicine Health Coach who used to suffer from crippling Rheumatoid Arthritis until she learned the tools and strategies to take her power back from autoimmunity.

In this podcast, Julie brings you interviews with thought leaders in the Functional Health and Wellness space. You will get actionable recommendations to Take Your Power Back and catapult your health. No fluff, just concrete, useful steps to improve your health!

mold can be invasive to
so many parts of our body.

One of the things that mold can do is
actually stimulate the mass cells to

release histamine and that's one of the
other problems with the hormonal migraines

is estrogen can also stimulate the mass
cells to release histamine and histamine

can be one of the triggers of migraines.

So, what is in your environment.

Welcome back to the Inspired
Living with Autoimmunity podcast.

I'm your host, Julie Michelson.

And today we're joined by Dr.

Meg Mill, a functional medicine
practitioner, best selling

author, and the host of the A
Little Bit Healthier podcast.

In her virtual functional
medicine practice, Dr.

Meg works with patients worldwide to
heal the root cause of their health

struggles through advanced diagnostic
testing and personalized support.

Meg is particularly passionate about
helping people end headaches and

migraines, increase their energy,
and restore mental clarity without

drugs or overwhelming protocols
with her proven EAT method.

In today's conversation, we are talking
about identifying the causes of headaches

and migraines and some of the contributors
that are common across the board.

Dr.

Meg, welcome to the podcast.

Thank you so much for having me.

My pleasure.

I'm so excited for this conversation.

Um, because I think it's, it's
something that impacts most people,

at least in certain phases of life.

Um, and, and definitely a big
crossover with autoimmunity.

So, but I would love to find
out like, why are we going to be

talking about headaches today?

Share a little bit of
your journey with us.

Yes.

Yeah.

So I come from, I was just telling
you more of the conventional side.

So I got a doctorate in pharmacy.

I did a residency, was a clinical
pharmacist, worked in hospitals

and was seeing, you know, people,
we're putting them on certain

medications, certain protocols.

And what I was kind of having two
different things happen at the same time.

One, I was seeing a lot of people
just on a lot of medications,

but not feeling better.

So, you know, we're just sustaining,
we're not actually getting better.

And then at the same time, really what
led me to this change was that I was

having my own personal health issues.

So, I was ha you know, I was a kid
that had a lot of antibiotics, had

terrible allergies, and then, you
know, I'm in my early 20s and I start

to get so many GI issues, I couldn't
even eat, I was getting anxiety.

I had all of these different things
that started, you know, I would

get headaches sometimes, but that
wasn't at that time my main symptom.

Um, but I would, we moved around
and I would go to a different

gastroenterologist and they'd
say, you're fine, you look great.

And I'm like, no, I can't,
like there's something wrong.

And it wasn't until I
found functional medicine.

That I was really able to get those
answers and it really changed my life

and, and one of my connections, um, is
histamine, which we can get, and this is

an issue for people with headaches too,
is histamine, um, that kind of connected

a lot of my different symptoms, but we
were, you know, really getting to the

root causes of these, and so I opened,
I have a virtual functional medicine

practice where I see people all over the
world, and I work mostly with women, and

when I, um, Um, and I was starting to
see people, you know, people are coming

into me and I saw two patterns happen.

One was that so many women were dealing
with migraines, um, that, you know, so

many people had headaches and migraines.

And, and then the second pattern, so
they're either coming to me for that, or

the second pattern I noticed were that
people were coming to me for other things.

And when I do this very detailed
intake questionnaire and when I'm

asking them questions, they're
saying, Oh, you know, I have weekly

headaches or I have weekly migraines
and it's like not a big deal to them.

And it's like, right.

They don't have to.

Yeah.

This is not necessary.

And so we'd work together and they would
say like, Oh, my headaches are going on.

I can't even believe it.

I had these my whole life.

My mom has it.

My sister had like, they just
think that they're just doomed

with, with headaches or migraines
and it would be life changing.

And I thought, Wow.

People need to know this.

I mean, we need to spread
awareness that this is something.

So, you know, I started talking a lot
about it and then I got a lot more people

and we've just made these huge, I mean,
it's so impactful because you can make

these huge differences and in the way
people's feel on the quality of life.

Absolutely, absolutely.

And, and, you know, there's a
difference between what you're

used to and what's optimal.

So I love that.

I find I was giggling because I find
the same thing, you know, people are

coming in for whatever their driver is.

And they have like, you know, all these
other things that are not okay and

don't need to be, you know, a day, a
daily part of life or a monthly part

of life, whatever that may look like.

So let's talk a little bit about how the
functional medicine approach, I mean,

you kind of already gave us the, I know
from personal experience, I suffered

from migraines when I was in my late
twenties, early thirties neurologist.

Meds all, you know, just none of it
really helpful, um, it's not a problem

anymore as again, as I went after the
autoimmunity, all the things I learned

about the drivers of my inflammation
magically made my migraines disappear.

But so the, you know, let's talk a little
about the two approaches because I'm, I

would imagine this is certain, certain.

Symptoms or, or illnesses.

There may be a little bit of
an overlap in like Western

approach, functional approach.

Um, and then some are
like completely different.

And I'm guessing this is going to be
one of the ones that's very different.

And you're not just
throwing meds at people.

So, yeah.

And that's the thing.

The, so the, the, The conventional medical
approach is to really decrease the pain.

So we're saying, you know, okay,
you have this, you're a migraine

sufferer, you have constant headaches.

You know, so what are we going
to do to decrease your pain?

And so, you know, while that provides
you relief, it really does nothing

to establish why you're getting this.

So people are, okay, well, I have
to, you know, take my medication.

Either all the time or when I'm getting
the headaches and I'm just living on

that and I have to save my not because
I only get nine pills a month with my

insurance and I have to make sure I keep
them and you know, I remember at one

point I, I was on one that I think
each pill was like, I don't even

remember, maybe 60 or something.

And, and one drops in between
the car seat and the console.

And it was like, yes.

You know, that's kind of the

approach, but it's symptom
management then at that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, and so what we're doing is we're
really flipping that upside down.

So we're saying, okay, you know,
yes, you have the pain and you

can still take that medication if
needed, when you have the pain.

And I don't say stop that right away.

Or, you know, we work on
actually really looking at why.

So, so the way I work with people is why
are you getting the migraines and another

thing sort of about our conventional
medical system is we're bucketed into

specialties and we can see why because
you know you want that's a heart surgeon

to know everything about the heart and
learn you know that is their specialty

but When we're looking at this, a
lot of these things like headaches

and migraines are full body issues.

You're actually getting the pain in
your head, but it's signaled from

something going on in your body.

And it's not just a head issue.

And so we're taking all of these
connections and we're saying, okay, what

it's almost like a, I drew out a web
one time and I'm like all these things

and how they connect with each other.

And, and actually, cause it
was just like in my mind of, I,

you know, visually seeing it.

And, um, you're really putting those
connections together and once we

unravel, like unspool that web, then we
start to see these migraines go away.

And so what I often see the pattern is
first the severity will go down and then

we start to see the incidence go down.

So usually it's like, okay, well, I
could still get it, but it's not as bad.

I'm not having to reach
for that pain medication.

I can.

live through it.

And then it's like, oh, wow,
they're starting to go down.

And it's really, yeah,
it's really amazing.

So we're just taking all of the things
which we can get into, and we're looking

for the root causes and what we can do in
order to bring your body back into balance

and decrease that threshold of pain.

Which is, again, life changing and
so empowering because once you can,

once you get to those root causes,
then we get to be in charge of our

body and, and make decisions and
know what, know what to expect.

So let's talk a little bit
about common root causes.

Um, again, I know we're all bioindividual
and I'm guessing you see a lot of

what I see, which is a lot of overlap
and it's never just one thing,

not, or not usually just one thing.

Um, but there, I'm sure.

Some things that are a little
more common than others.

Yeah.

So one of the things that can be
complicated when we're talking about

headaches is diet because there are,
there's kind of two buckets when

it comes to diet in, in this case.

And so we're seeing, we know there are
common foods that can trigger headaches.

So we want to look at those
foods, which we can get into.

And then we also have individual
food sensitivities, which are our.

IgG antibodies, which are
different for every person.

And so we kind of have to look at
it, this in this two prong approach

now, when we're looking at all
of these food sensitivities, the

thing that can be difficult is some
of these foods are healthy foods.

So I mentioned histamine foods, so
histamines are You know, things like aged

cheese, fermented foods, and, you know,
those, like, things even like avocados,

bananas, things that are Phone broke!

Yeah, yes, you're thinking, okay,
everyone's adding avocados because

they're a good healthy fat, but
those could be triggering you.

We have Tyramine containing foods,
which are, are like cured foods.

So we're looking at things, even
salicylates can bother some people.

That's citrus.

We have nitrates, MSG, aspartame,
caffeine can help sometimes, but

too much caffeine can, you know,
be something that triggers you.

So we're looking at all of these foods.

And then we're also where
it gets confusing is we're

also looking at combinations.

and threshold.

So when you think of migraine, you
want to think of what's putting, you

think of like blocks stacking on top
of each other and what's actually

putting you over that threshold.

So we're always trying to
lower the threshold and

sometimes it's a combination.

So it could be That's why, again, I'm
going to use wine as an example because

that's a big trigger for a lot of people.

And so sometimes people could have
it say, well, I don't think it's

wine because I can, sometimes I get a
terrible headache, but other times I

can have a glass of wine and I'm fine.

Well, you know, are you
having that glass of wine?

When you have maybe some also some
aged cheese or at a time when your

estrogens higher or different You
know, maybe had more stress or less

sleep or what are all the other?

Circumstances around that that
actually put you over that threshold.

So that's where it can be tricky We
have to actually really become health

detectives and I think I have things
in place for people to do that, but

it's really actually just sort of
starting to look at, okay, what are

my triggers and what are my patterns?

And then we can start to really
see some significant differences

once people can identify them.

And, and, and you can, I mean, it really
becomes enlightening when people start

to see like, Oh, Wow, lemons bothered
me and I never thought about that.

Right.

I love, I had a feeling we were going
to be so aligned, um, because especially

this audience, um, you know, once we have
autoimmunity, we know we have leaky gut.

We know there's food
sensitivities at play.

And typically they are those
things that are healthy because

people are trying, right?

I'm eating lots of leafy greens.

I mean, whatever, whatever it is,
the healthy food, you know, Um, and

I love that you say that that your
explanation right there reflects my story.

And, and again, other than just reducing
inflammation, I could never understand.

I had cyclical migraines
as an older adult.

Once my.

You know, RA symptoms were out
of, you know, I, I was a decade

in, I think, you know, on 10
prescriptions, and not doing well.

Uh, but I, oh, I had, because
when I was younger, I, they were,

I had cluster headaches that
were way more, you know, often.

Um, but these really
would follow my cycle.

And I did just what we
were just talking about.

Like, yeah, you know, it's follows my
cycle, just hormonal migraines, you

know, chalk it up to that's just life.

They disappeared when
I stopped eating corn.

And it's because just because
of what you're talking

about that threshold, right.

And, and, you know, no, I didn't know
back then anything about estrogen

dominance and, um, You know, I, I can
understand in hindsight what was going on.

Um, and honestly, I don't eat corn,
so I don't know if I were to eat corn.

I don't.

I'm menopausal.

So I don't know if it
would trigger or not.

I'm not, I don't, you know,
there's no value for me in

even trying to play with it.

That's that control piece though.

Right.

That empowerment.

And so corn for you.

So corn is not one of our migraine
trigger foods as far as like

those foods, but it would be an
individual food sensitivity for you.

And that's where it, yeah, that's
where it's like, okay, everyone's,

I had someone who was Um, I
run a group called headstrong.

So for people like we go through this
and one of the women in that group Um,

said one time we do a food sensitivity
and so she was eating, she was taking

pea protein, vegan protein, because you
know, dairy is a common food sensitivity

and we're so educated, it's wonderful,
but you think, okay, I'm going to avoid

dairy, so I'm going to get the vegan,
which is a pea protein, well, we did her

food sensitivity test and peas were her
highest food sensitivity and switching out

of that pea protein shake, And it really
made such a huge difference for her.

You know, it was one of those things
of you would never think though,

that that protein shake that you're
actually trying to drink, to be

healthy, to not avoid dairy, which a
lot of people say, don't eat dairy.

And so those things, but that was
actually triggering her migraines.

And so it's exactly what you're saying.

It, it's really enlightening.

Once you start to figure
some of these things out,

It is.

It absolutely is.

And the.

Because, you know, we're about
positivity and inspiration, but if

you think of it as the, the stacking
the blocks and the threshold.

Right.

It's the same.

I don't know what, what popped
into my mind when you were talking

about that was toxins, right?

Like we're never not gonna, we're
always going to be exposed to toxins.

There's always going to be a top, uh,
some load depending on, you know, who

you are and it's just reducing it.

You don't have to be perfect.

It's getting to where it's
below your tipping point and

it's not driving inflammation.

So I love that if there
are several factors.

that play into the migraine pattern,
you know, maybe you don't have

to perfectly hit all of them.

I don't know.

Yes.

Yeah.

Well, it's different.

I guess that would be, it's
different for everyone.

So, you know, there's, there's
just so many different levels.

It's, it can't, people say like,
okay, well, what is the, the formula?

And then the formula is unique
to, you know, we have systems

in place to figure that out.

But, You may have, you know, I can
do, I use a dutch test for hormones

and I can do a dutch test for someone.

We, like you're saying with hormones, we
can get some of those pathways figured out

and they, there's some common pathways.

I, you know, patterns I see hormonally
with migraines, we get some of that

and you're like, wow, never, you know,
the headaches are gone or we could find

a food sensitivity and there could be
those like one off, like it was just

that for, for a lot of people though.

There's more pieces to that puzzle.

And it's really putting all of those
connecting things together that

really start to see that change.

So it just depends on your unique
situation and how, how many

pieces that you need to get really
back in place before they go,

you know, Which is individual.

Sure.

Absolutely.

And I love that, you know, but I do
testing up front with my clients as

well, including food sensitivities
because people want results, you know,

I used to do testing like later on
because you could hit, you can get

improvement with, like you're saying,
you know, like, you know, I can give

you a protocol and, and maybe, you
know, most people will get improvement,

but everybody wants improvement.

And so that's where that
having that individual data.

And, and lifestyle, um, you
know, understanding what people's

lifestyle is, is really important.

Yeah.

So speaking of lifestyle, let's
talk a little bit about how

stress can play into migraines.

Yeah, so I like to call this the chain
of pain because Because the thing is

when you think about stressors we think
about our like our life and our to do

list and things like that and those are
stressors and so we need To work on all

of the things that bring our body back
into the parasympathetic nervous system,

but pain in itself is actually a stressor
because stressors can be biological too.

So it can actually become a cycle where
your headaches are painful and because,

you know, you, you get the headache
because you're stressed, it's painful,

it's causing stress on your body.

We can increase cortisol.

High cortisol can actually release
another hormone called prolactin and

prolactin can increase pain sensitivity.

So you're getting more pain
because you have more cortisol

and it just becomes this.

I'm going to talk about what's happening
in the womb and how to do the massage.

Um, and the reason we do it is
because we're still in this, this

sort of cycle of, of stress and pain.

And so we need to do things
that bring us out of that cycle.

So what can you, you know, and some of
these are things you can do at home.

You know, I have a lot of things in
place where we do different exercises

and different things to really bring
our body back into that parasympathetic

nervous system, but even starting to
do some deep breaths, you know, take

a few minutes out of each day and.

You know, sit in your chair
and do some deep breathing.

You can start to see if,
you know, meditation is

something that works for you.

I find personally that when I, I love
meditation, I think it's a wonderful tool.

But when people are already very stressed
and stressed and distressed, it's hard

to jump right into something like that.

So it's really finding what resonates with
you and what you can do and actually get

value of into it and kind of build upon.

I think that's so important.

Um, because yeah, it's
and meditation is great.

I have a practice.

I love it.

It was really impactful
in my healing journey.

Um, but I wasn't always in the place
where that would have been effective.

I wouldn't have been able
to be consistent with it.

Um, I had one client who I think hadn't
visited the parasympathetic state in so

long that when she started a breathing
practice, just a really simple breathing

practice, She actually got a, like
it would, in the beginning, it caused

stress response in her because it was
just such a, I think her body was like,

Whoa, you know, um, this is, this is
a really odd feeling, but she, she

stayed consistent for, it only took
maybe like a few days, but I remember

the first time she did the practice,
she was like, Oh, I felt so tense, you

know, I was like, just keep with it.

So I love, I love that it's, you
know, there's so many different

things we can do to incorporate
into stress management routines.

Um, that I love that you said,
you know, it doesn't have to be.

It's just like there's not one trigger.

There's not one stress management
routine that's better than

another or, or technique.

So yeah, absolutely.

You have to build the basically
like the muscle memory, you

know, you have to teach it.

You're saying with your client
that wasn't able to get back in the

parasympathetic nervous system while
you have to practice, because if you're

just doing this, when you feel stressed,
you're not going to get the same kind

of benefits as if you're practicing.

on a regular basis where your
body can realize, Oh, that's

how I feel when I'm calm.

Oh, that's what I feel.

And then you teach it to remember, okay,
that's what I feel like when I'm calm.

And then you can get there.

Even when you're stressed, you can use
your tools to get back to that place.

Yeah.

Uh, so such good advice there.

I love, and it is swipe.

These are called practices, right?

Like we forget like, Oh, it, all
of it is a practice, you know?

So that's what are, what are some
of you mentioned breathing and,

you know, if someone's ready for
meditation, what are some of your

other favorite kind of entry level?

Yeah, I think, I think that really
working on this, the, the deep breathing

probably is the most entry level.

I am actually certified in
something called hypnobreathwork.

So we do some breathwork while
we're doing some hypnosis work too.

Oh, nice.

It helps to do some reprogramming of
neural patterns and things like that.

A lot of people find that very helpful.

Um, vagal nerve exercises, things like
that, that, you know, and there's, there's

even devices, you know, you can get,
I was just gonna ask you heart math.

You can get a v you know, there's
like something that's called a sto

that's a vagal nerve stimulator.

So there's different things
that people even depending on.

What you, everyone's a little bit
different, you know, in what resonates

with them, but there are even devices
out there that can help assist you.

And there's apps, you know, there's a
lot of apps too, that you can follow.

I'm glad that you gave that.

That was what popped in as
soon as you said vagal nerve.

I was wondering how you felt about
some of the, the stimulators or the,

you know, there's some good technology
out there that can be helpful.

Um, and then again, to
get you just visiting.

Parasympathetic state so that
then you can build on it.

So

yes, I

love that.

And that's hard to look if you're
like in the middle of a migraine.

Mm-Hmm.

,
you're not gonna sit and meditate,
, you're, you know, so I love No, but

you, the more that you p Yes.

So that's kind of where that practice,
the more that you practice, the more

control you gain over that response.

And so you have more, you know, you have
more power and, and so that, yeah, that

adds and, and like we said, the stress.

can cause the migraine too.

It can trigger the migraine.

So it's one of the, you
know, one of the triggers.

And so it's, yeah, it's working
on all of those things together.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I know it's, I, and we are so trained as a
society, not listeners because they know,

you know, But all of us had spent however
many decades in the, you know, the, the

magic pill, you know, the quick fix.

And, and it's, we're just, you
know, we're complex beings.

So these, we need to hit things
from different angles as well.

So I've heard you say this before
and I want you to share with

listeners how and how surroundings
can contribute to headaches.

Yes.

So you want to look at your environment.

Now we even know that certain heavy
metals like lead and cadmium, we

know that, you know, mold can be
invasive to so many parts of our body.

One of the things that mold can do is
actually stimulate the mass cells to

release histamine and that's one of the
other problems with the hormonal migraines

is estrogen can also stimulate the mass
cells to release histamine and histamine

can be one of the triggers of migraines.

So, You know, we're looking, but
going back to the environment,

you know, we're looking at what,
what is in your environment.

Are you, you know, are you
using endocrine disruptors?

Are you getting, you know, I'm
sure that your audience knows

endocrine disruptors, but, you know,

changing out your, your products.

You know, looking at using glass instead
of plastic because of the BPA, looking

up all of the using E, you know, EWG.

org.

There's an app called Yuca.

There's so many, you know, resources
now, luckily that we, I have a list of

actually 25 different apps that I send to
people that you can use to check products.

And so we're so lucky that we're
getting more aware and there's just

information people can use now, but
what are you doing in that environment?

So.

You know, sometimes we do do testing
to see do you have mold exposure?

Do you have heavy metal exposure?

Do you have chemical exposure?

But you can just do things like,
you know, switch to organic,

decrease endocrine disruptors.

Get a water filter on your water get air.

I like to say air filters in the
bedrooms because I know it can add

up But if you spend think almost half
your day or you know in your bedroom

So if you can think of a place, well,
that's the place to start So put some

some sort of air purifier to clean
the air I was at a conference and they

actually just recently and they had
air Purifiers that you wear around your

neck, which was an interesting concept.

You know, you don't want to necessarily be
walking around with your own air purifier.

Maybe, but at the same time, if
you are in an environment like,

you know, that sometimes I work
with people that don't have control

over all of their environment.

So maybe you can do that in your
home, be going to work and you

can't control the environment there.

That's like, I was like, that's a really
innovative product, like a product

to be able to put around your neck,
you know, and, and clean your air.

So it's.

It's great.

And a lot, I know a lot of people I work
with, and I'm sure a lot of listeners

as well are, um, and not necessarily
diagnosable chemical sensitive people,

you know, but sensitive to fragrances
and which I actually, you know, like you

talked about seeing patterns correlates
as toxins being a really big player in

a driver in the autoimmunity anyway.

Um, and so that is always one of my,
you know, it's like, well, how are

you with the fragrance or chemicals?

Oh, so, you know, I, I've had so many
people say, oh, it's, it's, as I've

gotten older, I've gotten more sensitive.

And I'm like, well, you've
accumulated more toxins.

It's not actually age related.

Um, and so I love that idea.

You know, I, I came to functional
medicine through biohacking.

And so we'll do some really
weird stuff to protect our body.

Um, and I, I would be one of
those people that would be

happy, you know, I wouldn't care.

I, it was, it's a great
conversation starter, right?

Can educate people.

It's called Respiray is
the name of that product.

So if someone's interested, yeah,
you know, I tried it on, it's

actually very comfortable and you,
you know, can put that on your, yes.

Like, because it is, you're thinking,
okay, I can control my home.

We're never going to eliminate
toxins from our life.

We just can't.

So it's like, what can you do
to control your environment?

Although you don't have control
always over every environment.

So that's thinking of, okay,
when I'm in this situation,

what can I do when I'm here?

What can I do?

How can I protect myself?

Because we do see toxic exposure.

We see heavy metals.

We see certain things that are, you
know, really accumulating that can be

a, one of the contributors to getting
regular migraines and headaches.

I love that you brought that up.

I know people are probably
like, Oh, gosh, all roads lead

to toxins, but they really are.

They're a player in any kind of
issue you're having in your body.

I promise.

And I love that you said, I say this,
I do, um, toxin panels in my programs,

but I always say, you know, I, everybody
needs to work on toxins and you don't

have to do a toxin panel to do just
what you said, you know, create that

haven in your home and start there.

So I love that.

Absolutely.

Yes.

And you know, this isn't just something
I was thinking as you were talking.

So think about like this scenario.

So a lot of times women start to
have more headaches or hormonal

migraines or what, during.

perimetopause because you're
becoming more estrogen dominant

if progesterone goes down first.

So here you have more estrogen
dominance Another thing that happens

is your bones start to change and
like some, uh, lead is one of the

things that can cause migraines.

So your bones, as you have bone change
can start to, lead is stored in bones.

And so sometimes you can have lead
exposure as a child that you've been

storing in your bones, your bone
composition change, you're releasing lead,

you're estrogen dominant, you have all.

And so it's like looking at all of
these symptoms, things that start

to happen That it's like, Oh, wow.

And like you're saying, okay,
now I'm so much more, you know,

I had this, I was under control.

Now I'm so much worse.

And so that's not always the case, but
we do see those kind of patterns happen.

And you can see why it happens.

Yeah, I'd love that.

And, and again, that's that time,
you know, the traditional medicine

will say, you know, well, your
perimenopause, like the headaches,

maybe it'll go away once you've
been, you know, go through menopause.

And it's like, well, wait, what years?

Yeah.

So You brought it up.

I'm guessing you have a little more to
say about hormonal migraines for women.

And, and I don't know at, at this point
now I'm like suspect even with hormonal,

you know, is it really hormones?

I definitely estrogen dominance
can, can be a bear, um, as somebody

who lived with it for a long time
until she found functional medicine.

So, um, but any advice for women
out there that have been told like,

Oh, you know, it's just hormonal.

Well, I do.

So yes, I definitely do.

There is definitely a hormonal component
to migraines, especially if you're a

woman who's having them like you're
saying at that same time each month,

you know, if you're like, okay, every
month at ovulation I get a migraine

or every month right before my period
or during my period I get a migraine.

Well, you know that there is pattern
to that that you look at you want to

look into hormones and we see some
different Common hormonal patterns.

Now, when you think of estrogen,
you want to use it and lose it.

You want to have enough estrogen
that you have it in your body, but

then you need to metabolize it.

If you're not metabolizing it, The right
way then you can have some of these

metabolites that are even stronger in your
body that are creating these estrogenic

effects So we don't you know And this
is where it's tricky because if you went

in and you told your doctor that they're
gonna do a blood draw of estradiol

Well often I'll see low estradiol.

It's not always an estradiol issue.

Estrone.

I would imagine.

Yeah Yeah, it's it.

It's an it's often the metabolites
and so it has to do with the way

you're metabolizing You your estrogen.

And so we need to look at all of those
factors and see in order for you to

make sure you're actually clearing.

your estrogen out of your body.

So think of it like think of
your estrogen like a bathtub.

This is an analogy and I liked it.

Um, you know, so you have two phases
of metabolism liver and one in the gut.

So you have to make sure you know,
it has to be nicely packaged.

It connects to bile and go out.

So if you if you have that drain
clogged and you know, you're not

going to the bathroom daily, you
have high beta glucuronidase, you

have issues with your gut health.

Maybe you're not even
excreting the estrogen.

Maybe your liver is metabolizing it
fine, but it's just getting reabsorbed.

So we have to look at that aspect.

We have to look at, are you
methylating, you know, how

are you processing phase two?

And then we need to look at, okay,
what pathways are it's going down?

So we need to really look at all of
these things and make sure that you're

metabolizing your estrogen, that
you're balanced with progesterone.

You know, some another, like I've
been bringing up histamine because

estrogen can actually release
histamine from the mast cell.

Histamine can be a trigger.

Progesterone actually helps
promote DAO, diamine oxidase,

which helps break down histamine.

So we're just, there's, there's a
lot of intricacies here, but, and

that's where I feel like if you,
you know, sometimes it is worth it.

to do the test, not guess approach
when it comes to hormones, because if

you're getting the right testing, we can
just say, okay, look at this pathway.

Look, I can help you move the things
the way they need to be done to

get that, to get it to metabolize.

And it can just make
such a huge difference.

And I love, thank you for explaining
that because so often, you know, if a

woman goes to her PCP, like you said,
they're going to do a blood test.

They're going to, you know,
even if they looked at.

more than just estradiol in, in
range doesn't mean in balance.

And so they're going to
be like, no, you're fine.

You know, estrogen dominance doesn't have
to mean you have high estrogen levels.

Um, it could be, you know, I,
I joke when I comes to toxins

and used to be estrogen too.

I'm a, I'm a collector.

I like to keep everything.

Um, and, and so, you know, and, and, and
sometimes it can be like really simple.

Right.

Like for me, you know, a little
bit of dim was went a long way.

So I love that approach of like, okay,
let's see what's really going on.

Um, and the whole point is you're
not stuck, you know, there's this is.

It's almost training that starts
as girls with like, Oh, that's

just part of being a woman.

Oh, that's, you know, no, you don't
have to have migraines related to cycle.

It doesn't have to be that way.

It's a, it's a symptom that
something's out of balance.

It is.

It's a sign you're you.

If you have that, you need to
think why am I having this pain?

And so, and what can I do to stop it?

Cause it's your body.

It's really your body
giving you a message.

Right.

Right.

And there's that question again,
that you, that you ask and

answer, which is why, right?

Why?

Yeah.

I love it.

Oh, like what is one step?

This is sometimes can feel like
a trick question, but one step

that listeners can take today to
start to improve their health.

It could be headache related.

It could be not whatever
magic you want to lay on them.

Yeah, I can give an easy one when
it actually comes to headaches.

So that's good.

That's an easy question.

So I would say drink more water.

Dehydration is an independent
risk factor for migraine.

And so we want to make sure we're
staying hydrated and we want to make sure

we're staying hydrated on a sunny day.

cellular level.

So you want to drink your
water throughout the day.

You don't want to just drink
like, okay, you know what?

I'm so thirsty.

I'm going to chug water.

A lot of that could
actually pass through you.

So we want to just keep you
hydrated and kind of have that

glass of water or that water bottle.

I'm not saying the plastic water bottle,
but whatever glass one that you use

right beside your your desk or you know
with you and make sure you're sipping

water through the day because that's
an easy thing to do that can actually

be something that can be affecting
your headaches if you're dehydrated.

I love that.

And it is the, that's the best, I
think that's the best advice ever.

What?

There's so many things to choose from.

Um, but we had this conversation,
uh, you know, and kind of giggled

about it a lot, but it's such a,
it's so essential and so basic.

And, you know, we're talking about
headaches and migraines and, and like

you said, it can be just singular cause.

But also so many other things,
constipation, you know, fatigue,

like pretty much you name it,
dehydration could be a factor.

Um, and it's often overlooked and, you
know, people are looking for the, what's

the, the popular saying, you know, if
you hear hoof beats, don't think zebra.

Um, you know, but we tend to always
be looking for the zebra and sometimes

it's just like, oh my gosh, you know,
water, water, water, water, clean

water out of a glass bottle or glass.

Love it.

Absolutely.

Uh, before we wrap up.

Where is the best place for people
listening on the go to find you?

Yes.

Well, I actually have a podcast
too called a little bit healthier.

So on that podcast, we talk about
all sorts of different ways you

can be healthier in your life.

And then I'm over on
Instagram at drmegmill.

It's just D R M E G M I L L.

And my website is megmill.

com.

So on that website, It's a way if
you, you know, I do offer free calls

to talk through your health issues.

So if you want to connect, and
there also is a program that I

have going called headstrong.

So it has all of the education
around headaches and migraines.

So you can head over there and you
know, I have articles on headaches

and everything's resources over there.

Lots of

resources.

I love it.

Oh, Meg, thank you so, so much.

You gave us amazing gold today.

Well, thank you so much for having me.

For everyone listening, remember
you can get the transcripts and show

notes by visiting inspiredliving.

show.

I hope you enjoyed this
episode as much as I did.

I'll see you next week.