Wellness

[Citrine1]

I always appreciate any info like this.  I've suffered with migraines for nearly 50 years, have seen top doctors in the field and have been on meds for most of my life, but I still don't know my triggers.  Any information shared by another sufferer is always helpful.  

[LTT1]

@Citrine1@sfnative

My OBGYN told me I would really love menopause because it was likely that I would have a reduction in migraines...and this came true.

I avoid wine (I KNOW SAD!) alcoholic drinks (don’t need the calories anyway), yeasty products (donuts).

No chocolate for me! 

‘I can safely consume:

salmon, apples, bananas, berries, almonds (maybe cashews too), baked potatoes, oatmeal, chicken ...

The migraines “feel” closely related to IBS symptoms. HTH

[CelticCrafter]

I know each person is different when it comes to what will trigger a migraine, my sister-in-law cannot eat eggplant.

[Citrine1]

@LTT1 Thank you for your tips and insight!  I, too, was told that menopause would make a difference.  It did not.  

The two things that really stand out for me are strong odors (perfumes, flowers, hairspray and the like.  Fortunately, strong food odors don't bother me), and the weather.  The change of seasons brings on headaches.  I've kept food diaries and never seemed to be able to pinpoint a particular food.  

[sunshine45]

@LTT1

for me, going through menopause did help out with the frequency of migraines.....A LOT.

[LTT1]

@Citrine1

Odors trigger mine too. 

Also, foods.

I had not eaten eggs for years and when I started to eat them again, I was fine.

Our asthma-allergy doctor told me that reactions can be dependent on dose. The for instance he used is chocolate.

A person may tolerate eating chocolate once per month, and any more might trip them up. So, I just ditched the whole thing and stopped eating that one at all.

[Citrine1]

@LTT1 I should probably try giving up chocolate again.  I eat far too much of it.  It's my weakness.  I know it's on the list of things we shouldn't eat, but I've never noticed it having an effect on me.  You are certainly right about the amounts, though.  Maybe I can tolerate a little, but not a lot.  I'm still eating up some Easter leftovers!  

[sfnative]

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@LTT1 wrote:

@Citrine1@sfnative

My OBGYN told me I would really love menopause because it was likely that I would have a reduction in migraines...and this came true.

I avoid wine (I KNOW SAD!) alcoholic drinks (don’t need the calories anyway), yeasty products (donuts).

No chocolate for me! 

‘I can safely consume:

salmon, apples, bananas, berries, almonds (maybe cashews too), baked potatoes, oatmeal, chicken ...

The migraines “feel” closely related to IBS symptoms. HTH

---

@LTT1

Hi loves,

You're ever so fortunate that menopause helped.  I was hoping, but no effect. 

This week, with our horrible sewer issue and $30K plumbing project, we decided to pick up a Papa Murphy's gluten-free pizza last night.  Tasted it right off: they've done something really weird by including a light smear of mayo directly over the pizza crust(!)  Yuck!  Worst of all is that many brands of mayo have modified starch in them and sure enough it spiked my migraine pain something fierce.  This might be something they're trying out, as our area is often a test-market haven.

Interestingly, almonds are not only on my list, but I always keep a small zip-lock bag of them by my chair and in my purse.  Whenever I experience a spike, I immediately eat about 16 plain almonds with skin on and I'd say that about 70% of the time it helps calm down the pain without a pain med.  "Beauty Junkie" also read somewhere that others do the same thing.  I don't believe this to be a placebo effect, but relative to perhaps to the trace amount of cyanide contained within the nuts.

[sfnative]

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@Citrine1 wrote:

I always appreciate any info like this.  I've suffered with migraines for nearly 50 years, have seen top doctors in the field and have been on meds for most of my life, but I still don't know my triggers.  Any information shared by another sufferer is always helpful.  

---

@Citrine1

@LTT1

Citrine,

I am so very sorry that you have suffered and have had to tolerate the pain of migraine for so many years.  I have chronic migraine.  My headache, yes, one migraine headache, started in July of 1984.

Have been through the food elimination program a number of times without success.  And by that I mean that we were unable to latch onto any food or food group which initiated horrible spikes in pain.

HOWEVER, last year - 2017 - , was a sentinel year for me and I owe it all to lovestoteach. 

The reason for this was that "loves" talked and listed ingredients in food to which she had pronounced sensitivity and which caused migraine for her.  So, this was not relative to a food, but rather an ingredient in a food product.

Having taken a serious look at Loves "avoid" list, I almost immediately noticed after eating at a Chinese restaurant on a weekend, followed by eating at the mall with my granddaughter, in which case she had sushi and I had a veggie rice dish, that in both cases caused immediate migraine pain spike to level 8+.  Got out of my chair at the mall and went over to the Japanese place and asked if they use MSG. "Yes, we put it on everything we cook," said the cashier.  I cannot tell you how happy I was.  Just never connected ingredients to pain before.

Loves also mentioned modified starch as a trigger for her.  One Saturday my husband went to Costco and came home with a huge bag of snacks.  He asked me to try some, so I placed a small amount in the palm of my hand and ate a few pieces.  Less than 5 minutes later, wham, huge spike in migraine pain.  Went back into the kitchen and told my husband, "Give me that freaking bag of snacks!"  Sure enough and bold as brass -Modified Starch -  and the list goes on, which includes mayonnaise for the same reason.  In my case, if a label says "modified" anything, as in starch, soy, etc., I cannot eat it.

Migraine.com has a great list of ingredients plus restaurants to avoid (Colonel Sanders enjoys the "migraine junk food top of the list").

Also did discover just one trigger in 2004 when, at work, I was reading the temperature on a convex thermometer mounted on the inside of a lab frig.  I had to schooch down, as always, to read it, but apparently was a bit to the right on that day, so the overhead ceiling light flashed on the glass of the thermometer.  It was as though a laser had pierced my left eye and 2 minutes later bad spikey pain, which lasted 2 weeks.  (This is not unusual for me.  These pain spikes, from a level1-2-3 to 8+, can last from 2 weeks to 3 months.)

Wishing you success in your continuing search for triggers.  Answers are there.  They can be so darn difficult to find.

Will keep you in my prayers.

[LTT1]

@sfnative@Citrine1@sunshine45@CelticCrafter@happycat

I have forgotten to add that if I take from 2 - 9 capsules of lecithin (a supplement) this also will abate a migraine for me. Lecithin is a component of the myelin sheath of nerves. 

I read about this tactic in my nutritional encyclopedia many years ago...this reference book is used at Whole Foods as a reference for anyone to use.

This picture is what mine looks like. I need to get it out of the garage b/c it is all dusty (another trigger!)

My copy is one of the earliest publications. I may purchase another copy...the one pictured here certainly looks better than my bedraggled copy!

The tome is over 600 pages.

An interesting note is that females, especially, often have a grouping of maladies — migraines, fibromyalgia, CMV, lupus, eczema, chronic sinus, asthma.

So the authors, a doctor and his wife (Balch) made this observation way back in 1983. Isn’t it interesting that the medical field knew about this association then, but still have not made any progress with this association now?

I have my DH (and me too) take two (large capsules) of lecithin each night. Because when he was little, he had polio. It affected his nerves, I think, and therefore he suffers at night from RLS.