I am constantly at war with my migraine triggers. I guess they are called "triggers" because I may as well be pointing a gun at my head. My triggers are like Russian roulette, only worse... I never know how many bullets are in the gun.
There are times when I can have onions on my burger and not be affected at all. Onions are one of my triggers, but I love them, and feel that they are what makes the burger a burger. Other times they hit me right behind the left eye. There is no way to know. Sometimes it can take up to three days, before I feel the impact. Other times, it is immediate.
A few years ago, I read the book, Heal Your Headache The 1,2,3 Program, by David Buckholz, M.D., in which he talked about how we each have a trigger tank. That tank is sometimes running on low, and other times, it is filled to the top. If the tank is low, a trigger may or may not push it over the line. Some triggers may immediately make the tank overflow, causing a migraine. Everyone has a different size tank. People may have the same triggers, but the fill-line level of the tank may be different.
Onions are a migraine trigger of mine that sometimes cause me problems, while wintergreen is a trigger that ALWAYS hits me where it hurts (the head, of course). Just the smell of wintergreen will push me into what I call "a Gran Mal" migraine.
I found it beneficial to try an elimination diet, in order to determine my food triggers. I found that my triggers include onions, hot peppers and other nightshades, citrus, fresh bread, aged cheese, and processed or aged meats. It is important for me to stay clear of any of these triggers.
It is difficult because I like each of those foods, but they obviously do not like me.
By eating any of these trigger foods, I am putting bullets in the gun.
How do you do an elimination diet exactly to find triggers? I don't have a doc out here to help me much with a diet plan and since you have done it I was wondering if you would be willing to help...? if you could just maybe explain it at least. if you have the time.
ReplyDeleteI read some where (i am totally drawing a blank on the books name!) that with onions it can depend on how they are cooked (oh long and such and if they are) and how ripe they are since that determines how strong they will be. maybe that is what is determining if they get you or not.
Tallis at
ReplyDeleteMigraine Fog,
I recommend borrowing the book "Healing Your Headache; 1, 2,3" from your local library to get the complete answer (it is also linked above). The short of it is that I went on the Atkins diet, which is very limiting, the first two weeks. This is basically salad greens and some protein. I used the list of potential triggers to edit the Atkins. I did not include any of the potential triggers mentioned by Dr. Buckholz. After the first two weeks, I started adding foods to my diet. I would eat a lot of that food, and if after three days, I did not have a migraine, (or if I had one before and it subsided while I was eating that food) I counted that food as a non-trigger. I did this for a long time and slowly added different foods back to my diet. I would try different categories of foods each time, so as to increase my options. First chicken, then cheese, then nuts, etc. I don't remember if those were the ones I tried second and third, but chicken was first. This book is the best that I have read, and offers a lot of VALUABLE INFORMATION to anyone suffering from headaches, of any type.
Hope this helps. -- Andy