Dear S.,
I'm so sorry to hear about your headaches. I've had migraines all my life, and that's what your headaches sound like to me. they can be very closely tied in to hormonal changes. No matter what I did, nothing seemed to prevent them.
My life long best friend's sister is an integrative M.D. In other words, she is an M.D. who also studies homeopathic and holistic treatments. She was a pediatrician for years, specializing in children with behavioral and learning disorders. The children in her practice ranged from kids with minor ADD issues to the severely retarded. She really didn't like the idea of pumping her patients full of medication at such young ages, so she began to learn about a more natural way of healing.
For over 30 years, Sandy (the doctor) told me that I should stop eating all wheat, sugar, and dairy products. I thought she was crazy. Last February I had a health emergency and no insurance coverage. I went to see Sandy to get some kind of help (she worked out payment arrangements with me), and she asked me to please try her dietary advice for just two weeks. She said, "If you don't feel better after two weeks, then it's not the plan for you." I was so sick, and had so many chronic problems, I decided to give it a try. I had no choice.
In the first week, I felt deprived, and wondered how I would ever be able to follow her advice. Wheat and dairy seemed to be everywhere. By the middle of the second week, I felt so much better, I knew this was the plan for life, for me.
I had migraines and other serious headaches at least twice a month, and more often than not, I had them once a week. No other treatment had ever worked for me. I had other pain issues, too, but I won't go into that now.
I haven't had a migraine since I began Sandy's plan. Not one. Even my old triggers don't cause them any more, and I had a lot of triggers. Like you, certain scents (perfumes, incense, ~ plug-in air fresheners were the worst!) would start a full blown migraine that would last for days, with or without pan medications (including narcotic meds).
If you are interested in giving the Dr. Sandy Plan a try, I'll be glad to give you the information about it. We are now working on a web site for the plan, where patients and other people who follow the plan will be able to share recipes and give each other tips about working with the diet.
Just send me a private message if you want to know more about this, and I'll be glad to send you the information, including the reason why certain foods compound so many physical problems.
As a footnote, one of the problems I had turned out to be a kidney stone that was too large to pass naturally, so I had to have it taken care of surgically. In a follow-up visit with my urologist, I told him about my new diet, and he told me that if all his patients ate and lived like I do, he would have to find a new specialty.
One more thing ~ Sandy puts every one of her patients on this plan, and her whole family has been on it for over 35 years. Her father is now 101 years old! she says it's the healthiest way for anyone to eat, whether they have health issues or not. The big bonus is that I have lost 40 lbs that I hadn't been able to lose no matter how hard I tried. The plan encourages your body to find its ideal weight.
Let me know if you want to find out the details. I'm not selling anything, I'm just trying to help people find the same kind of relief I did with this plan!