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  • Food for avoiding migraines.

    I had my first migraine about five years ago. I was dizzy, nauseous, and I thought I was going blind. I went to the emergency room where they scanned my brain and told me that it was just a migraine.

    What brought on the migraine, as far as I can tell, was a change in my diet. I had had my cholesterol checked for the first time ever, and was told that I had borderline high cholesterol. So I radically altered my diet, lost some weight, and lowered my cholesterol significantly. But then the migraines started coming.

    Migraines, for me, begin with these fuzzy little caterpillars of brilliant light popping in and out of my field of vision. They start very small, but if I go into full migraine, they can get huge and cut down my vision to near pinpoints. By that point I take a lot of drugs and go to bed and hope that it will get better by morning.

    If I catch a migraine early enough, I can usually avoid the full migraine. This means that I have to eat something. So I down a cup of OJ (quick sugar) and then eat something with high carbs (more sugar). My theory is that the migraine is related to starving, so I give myself these quick and easily digestible sugars. It seems to work, but some times it doesn't.

    Are there other migraine sufferers here? How do you stave off migraines? Do you use food, as I do? If so, what works? Are there better ways to stop a migraine before it feels like a mini-nuke went off in your head?

  • #2
    There are certain foods that can actually trigger migraines or very bad headaches for a lot of people.

    Some of the more common ones are:

    Chocolate
    Citrus Juices
    Marinara Sauce
    Food with MSG in it....varies on levels of it MSG in the food.

    For me if I eat too much marinara I get a raging headache later on, so while I love the sauce I consume it in small quantities and them I'm okay.

    I've been a migraine sufferer since I was a kid and to this day, including any surgeries or broken bones I've had, nothing has come even close to comparing with the pain that my migraines cause. They will oft times incapacitate me to the point of being useless for a Minimum 48 hour period.

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    • #3
      Gratefully, I've neverr sufferd migraines, but my mother has very severe ones. She found that meats preserved with nitrates (hot dogs, bacon, ham) could trigger her migrains.

      I may be small, but I'm slow.

      A veteran - whether active duty, retired, or national guard or reserve is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to, "The United States of America ", for an amount of "up to and including my life - it's an honor."

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      • #4
        I sometimes have low blood sugar triggered migraines also. I do the same things you, except I would drink a Coke instead of OJ. I don't drink soda anymore, so I'll try juice in the future. Most of the time all that does is allow me to get on top of it before it completely blows up. So I carry various headache meds with me every where I go. No longer do I take a Tylenol for a headache. I will suffer through those. I will take Tylenol or Excedrin Migraine or Tension the moment I feel migraine triggers. That helps stay in front of them.

        As for food, I've noticed that chocolate baked goods trigger migraines for me a lot of the time. As a child I would get sick almost every Sunday after church. Besides church, the one very common element was we had brownies almost every Sunday. I also found that I would get a headache that could grow into a migraine if I ate something that had been cooked at a high tempeture in a non-stick pan. Don't ask me why, but if the tempeture was lower, no headache, but if it was cooked on high for more than 2 minutes, almost every time triggered a headache. It didn't matter what the food was. It could have been boiling water and sipping herbal tea. Every time I got a headache.

        Migraines suck. I don't know how Rocky survives.
        Last edited by CJF; 05-18-2009, 02:52 PM.
        A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life. - Mohammad Ali

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        • #5
          Originally posted by RobinFinderson View Post
          I had my first migraine about five years ago. I was dizzy, nauseous, and I thought I was going blind. I went to the emergency room where they scanned my brain and told me that it was just a migraine.

          What brought on the migraine, as far as I can tell, was a change in my diet. I had had my cholesterol checked for the first time ever, and was told that I had borderline high cholesterol. So I radically altered my diet, lost some weight, and lowered my cholesterol significantly. But then the migraines started coming.

          Migraines, for me, begin with these fuzzy little caterpillars of brilliant light popping in and out of my field of vision. They start very small, but if I go into full migraine, they can get huge and cut down my vision to near pinpoints. By that point I take a lot of drugs and go to bed and hope that it will get better by morning.

          If I catch a migraine early enough, I can usually avoid the full migraine. This means that I have to eat something. So I down a cup of OJ (quick sugar) and then eat something with high carbs (more sugar). My theory is that the migraine is related to starving, so I give myself these quick and easily digestible sugars. It seems to work, but some times it doesn't.

          Are there other migraine sufferers here? How do you stave off migraines? Do you use food, as I do? If so, what works? Are there better ways to stop a migraine before it feels like a mini-nuke went off in your head?
          My migraines sound very similar to yours Robin. If I catch them early enough I can usually avoid the throbbing volcano like headache. However, I have only ever had about 4 migraines in my life. The first one was when I was 20 (I am now 25), in college at a study group, and I am sure it was from starvation. All of a sudden I noticed I couldn't read very well. It started the same way with a visual disturbance - mine was like when you look through the heat coming off of the pavement or a hot bbq, like thick waves in big spots throughout my vision. Luckily, the first time it was only followed by a dull short headache. I hear that is normal for your first ones sometimes. I didn't freak out and go to the ER though. Thankfully (not for him but for me), I had had an ex-boyfriend who got migraines often and when I got the visual disturbance I immediately knew I was having my first migraine.

          I have found that if I eat regularly throughout the day that usually keeps them away, but I haven't had enough migraines to know which foods make a difference for me. Though eating carbohydrates has seemed to help make the eventual headache better, I have no idea if that is an actually remedy for my body or just psychological. I do know that eating a healthy diet and eating regularly throughout the day can really help reduce most people's migraines a lot. My family doctor and my OB told me that when I got one in the first trimester of my pregnancy.

          In fact, I have been worried I would have one in the last couple of months because I am cutting so many calories out of my diet (particularly unnecessary carbs and sugars). So even though I am trying to go low-cal AND with healthier more nutritious foods, I just make sure to eat AT LEAST every 4 hours. When I don't, I die. I feel dizzy and get headaches and get REALLY REALLY cranky (Surfah can vouch for that, I need my food). And usually on the days when I don't or can't eat every 4 hours I don't make it to 1200/1300 calories that day. And that is really bad too. I get headaches and feel really sickly if I don't eat at least 1200 calories a day. That is rare though, and only happened a couple times. But so far, no migraines. I am hoping I can keep them away with my good diet.
          I am a philosophical Goldilocks, always looking for something neither too big nor too small, neither too hot nor too cold, something jussssst right. I'll send you a card from purgatory. - PAC

          You know how President Hinckley said he doesn't worry about those who pray? The same can be said for men who are self-aware enough to know when there's a life to be lived outside of the world of video games. - Anonymous

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          • #6
            Originally posted by RockyBalboa View Post
            There are certain foods that can actually trigger migraines or very bad headaches for a lot of people.

            Some of the more common ones are:

            Chocolate
            Citrus Juices
            Marinara Sauce
            Food with MSG in it....varies on levels of it MSG in the food.

            For me if I eat too much marinara I get a raging headache later on, so while I love the sauce I consume it in small quantities and them I'm okay.

            I've been a migraine sufferer since I was a kid and to this day, including any surgeries or broken bones I've had, nothing has come even close to comparing with the pain that my migraines cause. They will oft times incapacitate me to the point of being useless for a Minimum 48 hour period.
            This is how my ex-bf was. He would get a visual disturbance, and if he didn't immediately go to bed before the headache started, he would start vomiting. Anywhere and everywhere. I am so sorry Rock. I actually consider myself fortunate to have only experienced a handful of migraines. They are really horrible. I can't believe you have had them since you were a kid! I feel for ya pal, I couldn't do it.
            I am a philosophical Goldilocks, always looking for something neither too big nor too small, neither too hot nor too cold, something jussssst right. I'll send you a card from purgatory. - PAC

            You know how President Hinckley said he doesn't worry about those who pray? The same can be said for men who are self-aware enough to know when there's a life to be lived outside of the world of video games. - Anonymous

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