If migraine was only down to cheese and chocolate…as the perceived wisdom goes….it would be easy to sort!
BUT there are always other things going on…
1.Food intolerance plays a part for sure, but not just cheese and chocolate.
Cow’s milk products and cocoa affect 42% adults with migraine
Yeast, all cheeses and yogurts affect 37%
Coffee affects 33%
Tea and orange affect 26%
2. Vitamin B6 deficiency is part of the picture for 76% of migraine sufferers. Take a dosage of between 80 and 100mg. make sure the supplement is yeast, milk and soya free.
3. Blood Sugar Control and chromium deficiency
If someone is deficient in the mineral chromium, they will often suffer headaches and migraines especially when their blood sugar levels are low. The
chromium-deficient person will already know he needs to eat frequently otherwise he is likely to suffer the following symptoms:
headache; irritability; nausea; shaky feelings; and sugar craving.
For many of these people, the underlying cause is a chromium deficiency. Chromium is the mineral responsible for the regulation of blood sugar levels.
Solutions for you if you suspect you have a problem regulating your blood sugar levels.
- Eat frequently, every few hours, rather than having big meals and large gaps in between.
- Avoid sugar fixing, which is something you may find helps your symptoms. You eat something sweet, [often chocolate] and feel better, with the headache, nausea, irritability and shakiness all gone fast! Eating something sweet raises the blood sugar quickly, which leads the body to over-compensate and produce insulin. This has the effect of sending blood sugar plummeting down. The whole cycle starts again with irritability, shaking, sugar craving, nausea and headache. You eat something sugary again to feel better, which means more insulin production and your blood sugar drops again etc.
- Eat more foods high in complex carbohydrate, for example, brown or wholemeal grains in bread, ryevita and rice cakes. These keep your blood sugar at a moderate level for longer periods of time than sugar and refined [white] carbohydrates.
- Eat more protein because this kicks in when the energy from the carbohydrate runs out, and is useful if you come to a low ebb at mid-morning or mid-afternoon. It is helpful for blood sugar levels to eat protein for breakfast, for example, an egg, or bacon, and to eat more protein at lunchtime. Nuts are a good healthy snack to have in your desk drawer.
The foods that reduce chromium absorption are:
- sugar:
- refined foods
Here is another vicious circle. Eat too much sugar and you reduce chromium absorption. Whole grains are high in chromium and will help blood sugar control. If you have symptoms which are suggestive of problems with blood sugar control, you may find it advantageous to take a chromium supplement, 200 – 400 micrograms depending on your size and weight. This helps to reduce sugar craving and keeps your blood sugar more stable. It is still important though, that you eat in a way that stops your blood sugar shooting up and down. The diet which will be most helpful for those of you with a blood sugar regulation problem is the GL [Glycaemic Load] diet. There are many books written about this and it will benefit you to learn more.
4. Chemical Fragrance
Breathing in artificial fragrance can affect people in many different ways. I have found with headaches and migraines, that fragrances in the environment are a massive part of the cause. Since I have been testing products with added fragrance and suggesting clients avoid using them, my percentage improvements for headache and migraine, have risen from 70% averageimprovement in 2003 to 95% + average improvement in 2015. Please stop using fabric conditioners, air fresheners, plug-in air fresheners, incense sticks, fragranced diffusers, body butters, polish and spray cleaners with added fragrance. These types of products are a big aggravation for headache and migraine sufferers. Please remove them from your home. It is really important and will help you feel better.
5. Over-using painkillers
Many painkillers are addictive when used a few times daily for a few weeks. A person who is addicted to painkillers will get a headache when they need another dose of the painkiller to which they have become addicted. Stopping using the painkillers is a difficult process, because of the severe withdrawal symptoms that are bound to result. The headaches should clear within a week or so.