Migraines and Keto/LCHF

Tara4boys

I have been following this diet for just over a month and love it. My question is about my husband. He is a frequent migraine sufferer (several per week). Has anyone had their migraines improve with this diet.

He's tried every medicine available without much luck. I think it's time to look at diet b

dmariet116

YES!!! I have migraines with aura. I was used to having several times a week eating a high carb diet. I have had only 2 in total since starting keto May 1st!!! I am still amazed!

Tara4boys

That is awesome!!!

I'm hoping my weight loss will also encourage him. He's loving the food I'm cooking for dinner. He will need to change his lunch and snacks.

danidanibobani

Mine are less frequent and far less severe.

Dragonwolf

You'll be interested in this case study -- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3951260/

Particularly this part:

Both sisters, using headache diaries, kept a daily record of their migraine-induced disability. They reported about five to seven attacks/month (14–16 days/month) in the two months prior to starting the KD (Fig. 1). In both cases, the disappearance of migraine coincided with each ketogenic period (headache disappeared as from day 3 after the KD was started/resumed) and returned during the transitional diet periods, albeit with reduced frequency, duration and intensity. During the observation period, reported in figure 1, the patients did not take any preventive medication.

This is also one of my favorite papers on the neurological therapeutic effects of the ketogenic diet -- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3321471/

I, personally, went from 800mg/day of Ibuprofen to deal with cluster headaches/migraines to zero within days of dropping grains and carbs (I saw relief even before going completely keto, but it was abundantly clear -- and future experiments made it even more clear -- that starches and sugars are a common trigger for me).

nvmomketo

My migraines are diet related. I used to get a lot of migraines when I was an undiagnosed celiac. I'd get a few a month but they lasted hours up to a week or so. I had a migraine at least half of the time. Once I went GF it was down to a couple of days per month.

When I started ketosis, I didn't increase my sodium at first and I had a wicked headache to go with it. Now, I think I have had 2 or 3 short migraines in the last year, compared to one a month after going GF, and over half the time before eliminating gluten.

Bubbas_girl

I'm new here and relatively new to LC. I pretty much ghost on these threads right now because I don't really have much to contribute, but this thread caught my attention as I was once a migraine sufferer as well. Nine years ago, I suffered for months without relief until I was diagnosed with vestibular migraine, which came in clusters and were accompanied by vertigo, nausea, vomiting and the like (no auras or smells tho, but over a few years, those developed as well). I was prescribed a low dose of Nadolol (typically a blood pressure medicine) to take daily as a preventative, and Relpax for when the migraines hit.

I always tried to eat pretty nutritiously (or so I thought), and was fairly active. The migraines would strike and take me out of work and out of my family for days at a time (in one month, I missed 18 days of work due to the migraines.)

Before the final diagnosis and medications, and with no clue as to the triggers, I began experimenting with the usual "trigger foods", cutting them out one at a time to no avail. Then something my mom said to me about her headaches and diet sodas got me to thinking and I started reading labels. I hate diet sodas, diet drink mixes like Crystal Light, and the like. I have always avoided diet products and "Sugar Free" because I knew the artificial sweeteners weren't good. But my label-reading was enlightenting. I was ingesting lots of aspartame and didn't even realize it!

Once I made the connection to the foods that contained artificial sweeteners, as well as the hidden preservatives (they aren't all monosodium glutamate!), I began to notice a significant drop in the number and severity of instances. But they weren't over yet. I began to realize, through journaling, that every time my day was crazy busy and stressful, I had a sugar crash from not eating on time, and as a result, I had a migraine shortly after. So my answer was to keep crackers, cookies, candy or granola bars on hand to munch on "just in case". Little did I know, I was doing myself more harm than good.

Fast forward nine years...

I began "dabbling" with reducing my carb intake (mostly wheat starches, potatoes, sugar, and the "bad carbs") last December (right before Christmas, no less!), and became more focused on it in March. I pretty much figured that since my body had become so "dependent" on carbs, that I wouldn't be able to just go cold turkey. So I have been "weaning" myself for the last few months into this new way of eating/living.

I am happy to report that since my last Dr visit in April, I am completely off the Nadolol and haven't had to touch a Relpax in over a year (due in large part to the Nadolol, but still no migraine since April!!) I weighed in at the doc's at 172 (clothes & work boots, too, but who's counting, right? lol) I haven't weighed myself since then, but I am down a whole pants size!! This is my first week with MFP, so hopefully, the momentum will continue.

The thing with migraines is that everyone who suffers from them, suffers a little differently and is triggered differently. I don't know what the answer is for your husband, @Tara4boys but I hope that he is encouraged to give LC a try! It is so liberating to be free from the meds (and all the hidden junk in my food!) Best of luck to you!

KnitOrMiss

There's a whole thread on histamine reactions, and I developed migraines last year out of nowhere. We thought at first it might be related to MSG and "natural flavors," but eliminating 90% of those had zero effect. My BP med dosage was doubled and sparsed through the day. Since I stopped drinking/eating higher histamine foods, though, I've had only one beginning of a migraine, and no actual migraines. I hope to be able to reduce my medication soon, but with other medication changes lately, my dietary intake is in a sort of flux lately.

FIT_Goat

I started getting migraines as a child, which is unusual both because of my age and gender. After extensive testing, to rule out brain tumors and other causes, I was just told that I would have to live with them. I once missed 30 days of school in a year due to migraines. I refused to go if I felt one coming, because it was just too horrible to be out in public when they hit. I usually puked and would eventually pass out. It was horrible. As I got older, and concurrent with a move from CT to FL, they became less frequent. But, they were still a regular occurrence. I would get one at least once a month. I once wrapped my truck around a tree, while trying to drive with one, and being unable to see straight and disoriented. For a moment, it was nice to feel the pain in the shoulder and chest from the accident instead of my migraine. But, it came right back and then I was hurt and had a migraine.

As an adult, they had dropped to 3-4 times a year, sometimes even less. Except for my period as a vegetarian, where they were more common, although I didn't connect that to my diet and blamed it more on stress. My wife remembers when I would get them and she would have to lock herself on the other side of the house while I was balled up, dying, on the floor under the bed in the darkened bedroom. Why the floor under the bed? I don't know. It's the only place I would go ever since I was a kid.

I have been keto (and then zerocarb) for 1,000 days now. I have had exactly zero migraines since starting keto. That's right, going on three years, no migraines. It could just be coincidence. They seemed to be getting less frequent as I aged. Maybe I am just in the midst of a good run, getting lucky when it comes to getting the random migraine. I don't think so. I attribute this improvement to low carb. I am not the only person who has seen improvement or resolution of migraines eating this way.

Tara4boys

@FIT_Goat That is AMAZING!!!! Thank you so much for taking the time to share! That would be an answer to prayer. My husband's started as a child and they MAJORLY impact his (and our!) day to day life. I know Keto helps epileptics and migraines and epilepsy have strong relationship. The anti-seisure meds my husband tried for his migraines are the ones that have offered the best results. He is stubborn as a mule. Like I said in my original post, I am hoping I am tremendously successful on LCHF, and it will pique his interest.

FIT_Goat

If he is anything like me, he would be willing to try anything that offered a chance to reduce or eliminate the migraines. Mine weren't even that frequent, but if I had known keto would have these results, I would have done it years earlier. Actually, I feel that way about a lot of the results I get from eating this way. If I had only known what sort of life I could have had when I was a teen and in my 20s, I would have started then.

Phrick

@FIT_Goat my son started getting them as a child too (around age 5) - just like I did (the first one I recall, I was 4) - and just like my mom did before me. He too has had extensive testing, like you said it just isn't as common with boys let alone from such a young age. He's now 15 and they're pretty well controlled with meds but he's finding more and more often he forgets to take a dose here or there, and gets a migraine as a result... in the last couple of weeks he has decided he wants to start paying attention to his carb intake to help manage it from that point and I couldn't be happier! Just praying that he is serious enough to make it work (and that it helps for him as much as it has for you!)

RowdysLady

Mine improved. I've had migraines since I was 7 years old and I've definitely seen a decrease in them these last several months. I do not take migraine meds- just OTC stuff when the pain is unbearable because most migraine meds are ineffective for me or I have weird side effects.