What I Learned After Being Let Down by the Healthcare System (Again)

The Turning Point I Didn't Know I Needed

On March 11th, I visited the Mayo Clinic in Arizona, carrying so much hope that they would finally be able to help me with my four-year-long battle with status migrainosus — in other words, a four-year-long migraine.

I made the journey all the way from Virginia to Arizona, flying across the country while being off all of my medications (as directed by Mayo) in preparation for a week of testing. I endured the long, painful flight thinking it would be worth it. But when I got there, I was immediately refused care because I was “out of network” — a mistake that was later confirmed to be entirely on Mayo's end. Regardless, I was wrongfully turned away and forced to fly home the very next day.

After everything I had been through just to get there, it was devastating.

When I got home, I had a realization that honestly changed everything for me: nobody is going to care about me the way I care about myself. I was exhausted from suffering because of hospital systems and doctors who made mistakes or simply didn’t care enough. For four years, I have bounced from specialist to specialist, still living in daily, debilitating pain with no clear answers.

That day, I decided enough was enough. If nobody else was going to fight for me, I was going to fight for myself.

Since medications haven’t worked for me, I decided it was time to seriously look at what I was putting into my body. I chose to go back to the Vestibular Migraine Diet, also known as the Heal Your Headache (HYH) Diet — something I had briefly done when I was first diagnosed four years ago. Back then, I had worked with a nutritionist and eliminated all known migraine trigger foods. But I figured, maybe things have changed since then. Maybe my triggers are different now.

In addition to restarting the HYH diet, I also committed to two other daily goals:

• Drinking 4L of water every single day, with half of it containing electrolytes (this was actually a recommendation from the one neurologist I was able to briefly meet at Mayo before being denied care).

• Walking for 10 minutes a day, no matter what.

As I’m writing this now, it’s April 26th. I have been consistent with all three goals — every single day — since I was denied care at Mayo. And here’s what I’ve learned:

I discovered I was unknowingly eating foods that were triggering my symptoms.

Specifically, cheese that wasn’t approved on the HYH diet, yogurt, and bananas have all been clear triggers for me. I was eating these foods almost daily without even realizing they were making my symptoms worse. Since cutting them out, I have seen real improvement in the severity of my migraines.
(For now, I haven’t reintroduced any foods yet — I want to be 100% sure that everything is fully cleared out of my system before I even attempt it.)

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I am genuinely proud of myself for setting a goal and sticking to it.

Four years of feeling powerless made me forget what it feels like to be proud of myself. Sticking to this plan, even on the hardest days, reminds me that I am capable of taking care of myself in a real and meaningful way.

Journaling every night in The Balanced Babe has helped me identify new triggers.

Tracking my symptoms daily has made a huge impact. It helped me realize patterns I hadn’t connected before — things like noticing how certain types of weather affect me.

Speaking of weather — I now know that stormy days completely wipe me out.

Before tracking everything, I knew weather changes affected me, but now I see just how intense the impact is. When storms roll in, my body feels it on a whole different level, and I can plan more rest around those days now.

Overall, I am so proud of myself for staying committed to this journey and giving my body the love and attention it deserves.
I won’t be starting food reintroductions for a few more months to make sure my system is totally reset, but when I do, I plan to document the entire process and share updates along the way.

This whole experience — from the disappointment at Mayo to the small daily wins I’m seeing now — has taught me something really powerful: my healing is in my hands, and that’s not a burden, it’s a gift.