Migraines and diet link?

There are commonly links between food and migraines, but it was never the case with me. Had migraines that started as a child. Years of doctoring, neurologists diaries, tests, etc, etc and never found a link to food, PMS, or anything. I\d get migraines that knocked me down for 3 days at a time and sometimes put me on a drip in emerg, but there was never any trigger we could nail down. Many people do find a link to food, though, so everyone is different and there are many types of migraines.

After my son was born when I was 25, I stopped getting migraines, so we guess there was something hormonal about mine though there was never a link to TOM, ovulation, or anything. I still get some brutal headaches, but it has been over 17years since I've had what I consider a true migraine.

i get them as well. they haven't found my triggers. i've had mri's as well. don't know. but i'm slowly trying to discover them on my own. i did find that if i have too much cheese i get a migraine. i gave up diet coke (aspartame & caffeine) - gave me migraines. i think too much chocolate causes it too. i have chocolate but haven't really tested it. i'm also about to test gluten. i know i feel puffy when i eat it but i think it also contributes to my migraines so i've been reading up on it and just downloaded an app to help me scan items at the store for gluten, wheat (i am allergic to wheat), and msg (which i heard is a trigger). i read about dairy but i'm lactose intolerant anyway.

but i also have seasonal triggers which i know i can't control. for example the weather has been nuts lately and had one just yesterday and could not control or prevent that one. other natural triggers i might not be able to avoid.

some of my migraines last for 3-6 weeks - they're awful!!!

I don't have any actual science for you, but my migraines were caused by MSG, dairy and duck eggs. Dirrect correlation, I could consume any of those and within 30 mins I'd have the auras start and within an hour I'd be out for the count.

They lessened with age and now the occasional one seems to be more stress related, but food was 100% my trigger for most of my childhood/teens.

There are many different triggers for migraines and they are not the same for everyone. Foods that often are linked to migraines are chocolate, cheese, red wine/alcohol, caffeine. There are also non-diet related triggers like lack of sleep (or too much sleep, basically it's variations in sleep patterns), fasting, excessive exercise, hormonal changes (e.g. TOM), stress, smoke, noisy environment etc etc.

I suffer from migraines, and it runs in my family too. The only food-related triggers that I've found for my migraines are caffeine and alcohol. Caffeine especially is quite impressive, I used to get a migraine within a couple hours whenever I skipped my morning coffee. Since then I cut back a bit on coffee, but I still drink it, I just make sure I don't diverge from my standard 2 cups a day. Alcohol is hit or miss on me, I drink regularly but only when in combination with other triggers (like lack of sleep or noisy environment) I end up with a migraine. I've had migraines from all sorts of non-diet related triggers, like exercising in heat, smoke, noise, lack of sleep. The last couple of years that I live a healthier lifestyle (I sleep regular hours, I eat more healthily, I walk more) I get way less migraines. I still get a (usually) small one around TOM, but other than that I don't get one in months. And even when I do, they are way weaker than in the past.

Since you've noticed that you get migraines when you don't sleep (which makes sense), that's the first issue to address. Make sure you get regular and good quality sleep. If you haven't noticed any connection with food, it's probably less important or it might not even exist.

I've had migraines since I was 5. One of my triggers as a kid was super sugary smells- I could walk into a room with donuts or kool- aid and it would trigger a migraine.

When it slowed down when I was in my mid-20s. I discovered the awesomeness that was donuts.

Also...smog and gasoline fumes are triggers for me. Didn't discover the smog correlation until I moved as an adult. Now I HAVE to live by the oceans or mountains. For my health, you know.

I have known other people who get migraines from MSG or from dark chocolate.

My son has had migraines intermittently since he was 4 - is now 22.

We have never noticed any link with any food though - the only thing I have noticed is that he gets them more often when he is stressed, say ,studying a lot for exams or something like that.

But sometimes they happen when not stressed too.

I haven't paid very close attention to how I react to foods but I've noticed changes in air pressure/weather can definitely bring them on. However mine, while also genetic, are mostly visual so I'm not sure if that's a different brain area or reaction. A co-worker of mine has trouble with MSG though.

The great thing about being on here is that as you log your foods, you can also add notes to your food diary about how your migraines were on that day and after some time, review the history to see if you notice any trends.

Good luck!

I used to be THAT person, the one that poo-pooed migraines and thought they were just headaches that people used to make excuses for not doing things. Well, I got Karma on that one. Once I hit my 30's I began to get them, and found out from my Grandma that it is indeed hereditary. I have found that mine is hormonal, because it only happens at that time of the month. Does yours coincide with any hormonal issues? I started taking Magnesium supplements every day, and I have not had a migraine in 4 months (used to be every month). I hope this helps!

I've had migraines and cluster headaches for as long as I can remember, and I'd never been able to find any one trigger (cluster headaches are especially bad for that, because they happen in cycles, so what is a trigger now may not be a trigger next month).

What I have found, though, is that it wasn't a particular food, but particular types of foods, and my diet as a whole, that were triggering my headaches. In particular, my primary trigger were starches and simple carbs. I actually found this accidentally, when I switched to a way of eating based of The Primal Blueprint (for a myriad of other reasons) -- under 100g of carbs, obtained primarily from non-starchy vegetables; fats and proteins to fill in the rest; dairy only if you tolerate it; whole foods in general, etc. Within about a week, maybe two, I went from taking 800mg+ of Ibuprofen on a near-daily basis to be able to function, to not needing any at all.

I found that it was my diet as a whole that was my trigger. Me and a diet high in starchy carbs (basically the USDA guidelines) don't mix. Since reducing the starchy carbs in my diet drastically, I've been able to find cluster periods, individual trigger foods, thresholds, etc. For example, I found potatoes to be a trigger during cluster periods, though they're okay during non-cluster periods.

There is some evidence that dietary alterations that allow for the production of ketone bodies (ketogenic diet, fasting, medium-chain triglycerides) can aid in mitigating migraines -- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3321471/