Diet and Migraines
calyhirsch
Posts: 5
I've been struggling with migraines since puberty, and in the last ten years they've been steadily getting worse and more frequent. I've tried restricting my diet, and have to avoid a lot of foods that trigger migraines (MSG, chocolate, caffeine, alcohol, etc). I've been on beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, epilepsy medication, and now anti-depressants and triptans to try and control them, and nothing was really working.
Since I started eating more, and being careful to make sure that I always eat, at minimum, around 300 calories less than I've burned everyday, my migraines have been improving. Previously I'd been having 2-4 migraines a week, now I'm down to 1 a week - and even having some weeks with no migraines. I've been able to add caffeine and a little bit of chocolate back into my diet.
I'm planning to see if the improvement continues over the next two months and then talk to my neurologist about getting off of anti-depressants. It really seems to me that the main cause of my migraines was not eating enough - and it's really frustrating to think that none of my doctors even considered that possibility. Probably because at 5'6" and 205 lbs I was clinically obese, and we all know that fat people *must* be eating too much all the time?
Besides the migraines improving, since I've upped my calorie intake I've also dropped over 10 lbs.
I know that migraines aren't rare amongst women, and we're also more likely to be severely restricting our calories in an effort to lose weight. I'm interested to hear if others have had less problems with migraines since they started EM2WL?
Since I started eating more, and being careful to make sure that I always eat, at minimum, around 300 calories less than I've burned everyday, my migraines have been improving. Previously I'd been having 2-4 migraines a week, now I'm down to 1 a week - and even having some weeks with no migraines. I've been able to add caffeine and a little bit of chocolate back into my diet.
I'm planning to see if the improvement continues over the next two months and then talk to my neurologist about getting off of anti-depressants. It really seems to me that the main cause of my migraines was not eating enough - and it's really frustrating to think that none of my doctors even considered that possibility. Probably because at 5'6" and 205 lbs I was clinically obese, and we all know that fat people *must* be eating too much all the time?
Besides the migraines improving, since I've upped my calorie intake I've also dropped over 10 lbs.
I know that migraines aren't rare amongst women, and we're also more likely to be severely restricting our calories in an effort to lose weight. I'm interested to hear if others have had less problems with migraines since they started EM2WL?
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Replies
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That's great news!! I find if I've had a low cal/high burn day the next morning I will generally wake with a wicked headache. Probably dehydration I guess.
I hope the continue to get better because they suck !!!!!:flowerforyou:0 -
are you doing more cardio exercise too?
When I do regular cardio, I get no migraines, and food that might be a trigger (I actually needed combo of things, eat much later than normal, late sleep, less sleep - migraine next day) no longer are.
Since it's an increase in that temporal vessel pressing on nerves that seems to be start of it, it's thought regular pumping blood through there acclimates them better and removes the sensitivity to temporary increases from other things.0 -
I walk 3-5 miles and go up and down a lot of stairs over the course of the day, but I haven't added on any cardio. I do some light weightlifting a couple days a week, but for the most part I'm active enough during the day to burn 2500-3000 calories without adding exercises.
I think my issue with not eating enough was low blood sugar. My blood pressure can also drop drastically when I haven't eaten in a while. They way I used to tell when I was 'really hungry' was that my fingers would start to go numb. Not doing that to myself anymore!0 -
Yep I have had the exact same experience. I have only had migraines very infrequently, but headaches pretty regularly. And when I started restricting calories mid last year I noticed I was getting bad headaches very frequently and also had a couple migraines. And looking back I can tell it was correlating with my diet and excercise regime, as for instance I would have one day where I would eat normal and even drink alcohol during the evening and wake up feeling fine the next day, and then if I'd have a really good (or what I considered good at the time) low cal day and did a really hard workout, the next day I would wake up with a horrible headache.
Since I starting eating more about a month ago I have barely had to touch a painkiller and don't have to worry about leaving the house without them (which used to be an issue). I can't remember the last headache I've had!
Just goes to show that eating at 1200 or below BMR is really un-healthy..0
