May 2015 Newsletter
ASK MARY
My mother thinks that my cola drinking habit [5 cans a day] is the cause of my frequent headaches. But if I don’t drink it my headache is much worse.
Mothers don’t always know best, but in this case I think that she may well be right. Headaches are a common symptom when one is addicted to a food or drink. You need a cola drink, and your headache starts, and then is relieved when you drink Cola. You need to find a way of stopping drinking this drink Either do cold turkey, in which case you will probably get a severe headache, you may need to go to bed, or give up gradually. …one can less every day until you are not drinking it any more. Avoiding the cola drinks may be the complete answer to your headaches, or you may be reacting to another staple food as well. See later in this newsletter.
MY FOCUS THIS WEEK IS ON
HEADACHE AND MIGRAINE
Based on a survey of 415 adults that I saw over 17 months in 2013 and 2014, of whom 153 were suffering from headaches, and 88 from migraines, these were the foods, products and vitamin and mineral deficiencies that were the most prevalent causes. I only included people who suffered frequent or daily headaches, rather than those who occasionally had a mild headache.
These were the most important bits.
- Top food causes. 1. Cow’s milk products, 2. cocoa, 3. yeast, and all cheeses and yogurts, 4. orange. 5. Tea or coffee if the sufferer drinks more than 3 daily.
- Vitamin B6 deficiency. So take a supplement containing 80 – 100mg Vitamin B6 daily. Only noted in adults with headaches, and not in children under 14.
- Chromium deficiency [only noted if the sufferer has difficulty regulating blood sugar levels] For details about this please see later in this newsletter.
- Fragrances in the environment [see later in the newsletter.]
HOLIDAY STUFF
Well, the holiday season is upon us in the UK, and with that in mind here are a few tips for those of you who are taking off to the sun.
SUN CREAM
For you people who suffer with your skin, suncreams can be a bit of a nightmare. For those of you have had a test with me, hopefully you will remember the basic rule…if a product that you use has a colour or a fragrance to it, it may well upset your skin.
So that coconut smelling suncream that is coloured pale brown is really likely to aggravate your eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, rash or itch.
Go for something white or clear in colour, and fragrance free.
A mild fragrance may be OK for some of you. ‘Simple’ suncream does not aggravate most peoples’ skins.
FOOD RESTRICTIONS IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY
Follow this link for a tailor made card in up to 14 languages to include up to 4 foods. The card is usually posted to you within 48 hours. [They are on holiday this week…first week in June]
http://www.dietarycard.com/shop/index.php?productID=41
And this link 32 languages,200 allergens in a credit card sized print out sent straight to your inbox for $8.
https://allergytranslation.com/order/
You can choose 10 foods, but for example to avoid milk you would need to state milk, cheese, yogurt, ice cream, butter etc and would therefore use up most of your allowed number of foods very quickly.
CASE HISTORY
Lewis was a 22 year old young man whom I had tested twice before when he was 14 and 19
years old . On each occasion he was suffering from headaches and migraines. At the age of 14 his main food intolerances had been dairy products and cocoa, and he took onboard the advice that I gave him then, avoided the foods strictly for 3 months, and from then on had tried to eat those foods in moderation.
At the age of 19 he was in his first year at uni. At the time he was burning the candle at both ends, and was eating rubbish food. He was using energy drinks and ProPlus [paracetamol with added caffeine,] to enable him to keep awake in the daytime, as he was struggling with his sleep pattern at night.
On testing
He was reacting adversely to
- Caffeine in the Pro Plus tablets and energy drinks
- Sweet artificial flavours [in the energy drinks and multitude of sweets and fizzy drinks that he was using at the time.]
Lewis had a REALLY hard time removing those foods from his diet, as they are massively addictive, but he managed it, albeit over the course of two weeks.In the interim he had a lot of headaches, which I had warned him about, and extreme muscle aches, especially in his legs.
Four days after his last energy drink he felt better. His mind was clear, no headaches, and he felt able to concentrate on his studies. His sleep pattern was better on weekdays, but still went a little haywire at the weekend.
When I next met Lewis he was 22. He had been feeling really well for several years, but had started to get migraines again in the previous month. This coincided with his starting an unpaid internship in the finance district of the city of London. It involved a complicated commute, and Lewis was out of the house for 12 hours every weekday. He was feeling exhausted and struggling to hold it all together as he was suffering severe headaches again.
On testing, he reacted to
- Cocoa
- E471 [mono and diglycerides of fatty acids]
- Chemical fragrance.
And he was deficient in
- Vitamin B6
- Chromium
He was eating chocolate because he did not have long for lunch, and it gave him a bit of a pick-up when he was feeling exhausted. The E471 is an emulsifier which is in many but not all bread and margarine.
He was eating bread 2 or 3 times a day which contained this emulsifier. His mother had become very keen on using plug-in air fresheners since the family had a dog in the house. These sort of chemical fragrance can be a big irritant for headache and migraine sufferers.
Within 4 days he was headache free. He has decided that he is going to routinely take B6 and chromium, as he feels that those supplements will be a big support for his headaches. He finds it easier not to eat chocolate and sweet things when he is taking the chromium supplement.
So what triggered Lewis to react adversely to these foods?
At age 14 a hormonal trigger puberty
At age 19 a stress trigger leaving home
problems with sleep pattern
At age 22 a stress trigger long commute, new job
CHROMIUM DEFICIENCY
Blood sugar control
If you are aware that you have difficulty keeping your blood sugar levels stable, you will find that you need to eat frequently, otherwise you are likely to suffer from the following symptoms.
Headache
Migraine
Irritability
Nausea
Shaky feelings
Sugar craving
For many of you the underlying cause is a chromium deficiency. Chromium is the mineral that is responsible for the regulation of blood sugar levels.
What you need to do is
- Eat frequently, eat every few hours rather than having big meals and large gaps between.
- Don’t ‘sugar fix’, Sugar-fixing is something that sufferers commonly find helps their symptoms. They eat something sweet [commonly chocolate,] and feel much better, headache, nausea, irritability, shakiness all gone…fast! But eating too much sugar raises the blood sugar suddenly, which leads the body to over-compensate and produce insulin. This has the effect of sending blood sugar plummeting down, and then the whole cycle starts again with irritability, shaking, sugar craving, nausea, headache …. eat some sugar to feel better ….. more insulin production …. blood sugar drops etc etc
- Eat more foods high in complex carbohydrate…ie brown or wholemeal grains in bread, ryevita, rice cakes, porridge…these keep your blood sugar at a moderate level for longer than sugar and refined foods.
- Eat more protein. This kicks in when the carbohydrate runs out, so is very useful if you come to a low ebb at mid morning or mid afternoon. Have protein [an egg, bacon] for breakfast and try to eat more protein at lunchtime. Have nuts in your desk drawer.
The foods that reduce chromium absorption are
Sugar
Refined foods
Alcohol
Pregnancy
So there is another vicious circle. Eat too much sugar and you reduce chromium absorption.
Foods that are high in chromium, and will therefore help blood sugar control are
Whole grains
SO, if you have symptoms of low blood sugar, you may find it advantageous to take a chromium supplement. 200 – 400 micrograms depending on your size and weight. Make sure that it is yeast and milk free.
It will help you to find out more about the GL [glycaemic load] diet.
CHEMICAL FRAGRANCES
Breathing in artificial fragrance can affect people in many different ways. But I have found that with headaches and migraine, fragrance in the environment is a massive part of the problem. Since I have been testing products with added fragrance and suggesting that clients avoid using them, my percentage improvements for headache and migraine, have risen from 70% average improvement in 2003 to 95% + average improvement now. AND in that time, there has been a MASSIVE proliferation in products that claim to make our rooms, clothes, sheets etc smell ‘fresh’.
In order to avoid inhaling chemical fragrances, please do not use
Air-fresheners, especially plug-ins.
Air-fresheners in cars
Pot-pourri
Febreze
Artificially fragranced candles
Incense sticks and fragranced diffusers
Some perfumes [cheap ones are the worst]
After-shaves [especially cheap ones]
Fabric conditioners and 2 in 1s
Fragranced bleaches
Most polishes etc
Most kitchen cleaners
The products below do not usually cause problems.
Flash with bleach
Cif no fragrance
Dettol or Dettox no fragrance
Lord Sheraton furniture polish
To wash floors either use Dettox no fragrance in some water, or fairy liquid with a bit of bleach.
Or get yourself a steamer…a real boon for headache and migraine sufferers.
Goodbye for now.
I am still working on my new website, which will have a facility for those of you live too far away to get a test, to do a ‘do it yourself’ version.
If you wish to look at previous newsletters, please email me, and I will send them to you. When my new website is up all newsletters will be on there for ease of access.
All the best to you and yours
Mary Roe