Well, I suppose I should detail a little bit about myself and my general state of health now that I’m trying the Bio-Strath Challenge.

I’m a 36 year old married mother of three and I live and work in Northern Ireland. My children are aged 9, 6 and 4 and my days consist of school runs, helping with homework and working from home as a self-employed web developer. In my pre-child life I was an English teacher; however, after the birth of my second baby I decided to become a stay at home mum and over time I’ve somewhat accidentally become self-employed!

Thankfully, I have no major health problems and the only real challenges I face regularly are allergy attacks, painful knees, monthly migraines and never-ending acne!

For my allergies, I use a combination of antihistamines (Piriton and Flixonase) as and when required. I seem to be allergic mostly to grass pollens and house dust but the medications are good at keeping the attacks more or less under control.

Migraines, for some reason, have been becoming more frequent, particularly over the last year and I feel they are both stress and hormone-related. I’ve always been an easily stressed person but as a parent, stress obviously features much more heavily in my life these days! I adore my children but their seemingly relentless bickering and general messiness drives me crazy and definitely contributes to my headaches.

I generally suffer from migraine attacks around a week before my period is due and these can last from 1 to 3 days on average. Thankfully, mine aren’t as severe as others I’ve heard about but they always feature on the right hand side of my head and I often anticipate them as my hearing becomes ultra sensitive prior to an attack. Last month I had my worst ever migraine which lasted 5 days but I believe the fact I had a sinus infection contributed to this. I was pretty much out of action for the duration of the infection with the pain extending into my jaw, which I’ve since learnt is pretty common!

Before you ask(!), I have spoken to my GP about the headaches and was prescribed Propranolol as a preventative measure. To be honest though, I rarely take it as I don’t generally like taking medications and this particular med does slow down your whole awareness and reactions. It is also common to build up a tolerance to Propranolol if it is taken too frequently so I’m also being extra cautious. Instead I tend to take Solpadeine, an over the counter water soluble mixture of codeine and paracetamol, at the first sign of an attack and it seems to do the trick so long as I take it early enough. If I don’t catch it in time and the pain kicks in it can mean up to three days of pain regardless of what medication I try!

Finally, the acne! Acne has blighted my life since I was around 14 years old. I’ve been told I should try a particular oral contraceptive. However, as I’m terrified of blood clots (although I’ve no reasons to be as I don’t smoke, am not over-weight and don’t suffer from any blood pressure problems) I’ve ruled that out for myself.

Fortunately, I’ve had some success in recent years with an oral ointment called Retin-A, a vitamin A derivitive. It usually reduces outbeaks and it does dry out the spots quickly when they do appear but at the moment I don’t seem to reacting so well to it. Typical!

Right, now to natural remedies.

I am a fan of trying natural products as I don’t like taking too many chemical-laden foodstuffs. I eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, don’t eat red meat but do eat fish and chicken. For the past year I have drastically reduced the amount of dairy foods I consume and I prefer to buy organic products when they are affordable and available. I drink very little alcohol as I find it just leaves me in a foul mood the following day! However, when I do buy alcohol I tend to stick to organic red wine and get through no more than two and a half glasses on a Friday night.

I drink a lot of black tea and decaffeinated black coffee, mostly because they warm me up when I’m sitting at my computer working all day! I don’t really have much of a sweet tooth and can take or leave sweet stuff but I am totally addicted to Brazil nuts and have had to stop buying them as I can easily munch my way through 5 or 6 handfuls a day!!! I also totally crave carbohydrates, especially bread and am trying to reduce my intake – but without much success of late!

Because my migraines and acne appear to be hormone-related, I’ve been taking Starflower Oil capsules for a few weeks in the hope that my hormones will settle down/ regulate. I’m also taking a daily capsule of Glucosamine and one of Cod Liver Oil for my knees because, having had a consultation with an NHS knee specialist, he advised I give these a try.

Finally, after reading that Bio-Strath was a good pick-me-up I thought it would do no harm to give it a go as well as I’m feeling a little run down, particularly after my migraine-sinus problems last month and anything that will pick me up has got to be worth a try!

I also like the fact that Bio-Strath can be safely taken during pregnancy and whilst breastfeeding as I run an informational website for pregnant and breastfeeding women, and it would be good to be able to recommend a natural product that I have tried myself and which has no negative side-effects.

Hopefully, Bio-Strath will do what it promises and help me to feel full of the energy and vitality that is currently running very low in my life…

I’ll keep you all posted but don’t fret; not all my posts will be as long as this one!