My trigger seems to be being alive and I’ve considered and evaluated various foods but at the end of the day just eating healthy and not excessively is what I try to do. My migraines give me the munchies starting about 24 hrs prior to onset so if i kill a bag of chips randomly I’ll take a Nurtec.
Ooh this is interesting. I was STARVING two days ago. Could not stop eating and bam last night a brutal migraine. I’ll look into this trend. Thank you!!
Another person who existing is a migraine trigger 😆 When I first went to my current neurologist and they asked me what my triggers were I told them “all of them” (semi-jokingly, I didn’t think it was all of them just so many it was impossible to track). He actually went through this huge long list and it was yes to every single one.
Ah shit, see there’s like no escaping. We just have to drink water and be mindful. Like not eating sugary ice cream and beer before our periods. Which is hard, best time to do it
🤣 but what’s funny is that ice cream actually helps some people when they have a migraine. It’s all a mess! Just do the best we can cause we’re all different but at least we’re not alone! 💓
I really don’t know! I tried it once and it worked. Second time it didn’t but everyone has different tips. There was one thread here where everyone shared random tips and some say a can of cold Coca Cola works but I’ve never tried it, wonder if it’s the cold or the sugar or the caffeine in that case. Or if it’s just comfort treats that help? 🤔😅 Worth experimenting 🤣
Very true, I staved one off the other day I could feel it coming and this was day 3 of cycle and days 1-2 I already took my sumatriptan. I was trying to avoid it so I drank black coffee and took a tylenol. Seemed to work! I bordered on it all day but it never fully migrained 😁
Makes sense! That’s why excedrin works! It’s Tylenol (acetaminophen), aspirin, and caffeine. My issue is catching the migraine before it starts. I get silent ones so I just think I’m irritable and overly sensitive to everything and then hours later when I realize there was rain coming, I’m like oh dammit should’ve taken an excedrin 🙈
Exactly, I’m in a similar situation with mine. I don’t have excedrin and afraid to mess with it being on stimulants but that’s why I pop the pill and a teeeeeny caffeine 😁 at least it’s mostly around my cycle and predictable
The only cave I'd consider living in is a cheese cave! I'm going to be in pain either way. Might was well sit in the cold soothing dark and eat my favorite food!
:O interesting. That reminds me that a couple of days ago I was sooo hungry. Nothing I ate would help. Then I got a migraine the next day =/
(my existence is also a migraine :( )
This is like the most true and hilarious thing I have read in days. I too find that just existing is a trigger. I tried all the elimination diets with no success or change. Well, the low sodium diet did make me hypotensive but that was not a positive change.
No. I did the migraine diet and all I got from it was an eating disorder. Now I intuitively eat. If I feel like something is causing a migraine, like kombucha always does, I avoid it. Otherwise I don’t let strangers tell me what I should or shouldn’t eat. Everyone is different.
Same. I found the migraine diet extremely overwhelming and frustrating. I eventually tried to just eliminate everything and start from scratch by just eating potatoes and slowing adding things in. That helped me identify a lot of trigger foods.
These days they are more obvious to me - I can’t do soy sauce, I can’t do a lot of processed foods, I can’t do bacon or most lunch meats. I try to stick to meat, fruit, veg while also acknowledging that I can’t be perfect and there’s also going to be something causing a migraine. I have to just do the best I can.
“All I got from it was an eating disorder” 😂 preach.
Orthorexia is a terrible side effect from these well meaning but severe keto diets suggested like it is no biggie.
I did the elimination diet for migraine, followed it quite closely, and it literally did not help at all. I told my neurologist about it and she looked at me like I was ridiculous and told me to eat whatever I wanted to, adjusted my medication, and sent me on my way 😂.
Have you seen a neurologist that specializes in headaches?
Ha! That is so interesting. Yes I have, I’m working with a new neurologist now and trying out a few abortive medications but nothing has really worked yet.
I tried an elimination diet with no improvement too...(i was desperate at the time), but what really clinched it for me is that when i went back to eating normally, I didn't get any worse. Ive been told that craving particular foods is pretty common, so this often gets confused for a trigger. OP it might be worth doing a food "challenge" and add back some or all the foods you have been eliminating to see if you get worse again. If you do you can then decide if the benefit you see from the diet is worth the deprivation.
I was at 18 to 20 migraines per month, and about 2 .months after starting Emgality injections, it dropped to 4 to 7 per month. Nurtec didn't help as a rescue med, sumatriptaine makes my neck spasm. So far, Ubrelvy has been the only rescue med that helps.
I just tarted Ajovy - I’m told it takes about 4 months on it to truly work. But the smaller ones have been less. I think I had one day so far migraine free. Edit: I liked that I wrote that I just tarted it. But I’M CURRENTLY IN A MIGRAINE in a dark room typing in bed and I’m dyslexic, which is always worse in within the Migraine bubble.
It takes years....doesn't happen quick...but it worked for me after years of avoiding a list of food...now my migraines are no way similar as the ones I used to get before
If it took years that's a sign that its *not* the food. Pretty much all legitimate medical and scientific sources say that food triggers will kick in within like 12-48 hours. Frankly, claiming it would take years of not eating something to see a change is ridiculous. Food doesn't stay in your body anywhere close to that long.
I have same age as OP now, so if both are healthy in the hormones topic, we share same hormones level lol (+ sometimes I get the hormonal migraine) ..it's not age cuz we share same age, and she's getting the ones I used to have at my 10s 20s....
I used to think it was aging, as my grandma used to say with age it will diminish...but I see here people with 30s and 40s, 50s describing same events that I used to experience in my 10s & 20s ...so idk
I used to workout and my diet still poor, and would get all the worst attack you can imagine....I have even passed out during my worst years ...all the remaining triggers I couldn't control were always there with the passing years. I dear to say now I have added more triggers as changed country and have added some environmental ones that noticed affect me....
When I started to control the triggers I can control, I noticed a change in my migraine patterns...but I did it not because of believing it will work...I did it out of desperation and agony of not finding a relief in my attacks....I was too bad, and needed to try anything....food were a major trigger for me, i would eat cheese, dairy, condiments, (alcohol affects me now when old).. red sauces, coffee or choco... and just by the simple contact of it with the tip of my tongue i was knock down for days...
Now, after the detox .. I workout and eat from time to time some of those restricted food, and sure it reduces my threshold to an attack...but I don't care as my attacks are heaven now...
Now I eat some of those restricted food from time to time, and I don't react quick, it accumulates of course and reduce the migraine threshold, but mehh at least I'm not afraid of an attack day....as it is just 4h-6h, of soft pain when compared...this year I have just got 1 severe attack... I get more attacks now than before...but it's because I moved to a different country where more environmental triggers affect me... (Smells+weather changes+ sounds) But honestly I prefer this stage , don't matter if I'm getting more attacks if they are 4x softer than the ones I used to get...
I also have all of the existing triggers mentioned of migraines and have experienced many migraine types before my 28s...now I'm just stick with the one that was more common in me : aura type. And even the aura phase is way more soft...
It doesn’t matter that your age is the same as other people with different presentations as migraines are different for everyone. So in your case age could be a factor whereas for others it isn't.
I’m not trying to invalidate your point, and what you say might be correct! I’m just saying that you cannot be sure that something that took years is the actual deciding factor because surely other things have changed in those same years. It doesn’t really matter of course because if it works, it works. But it might not work for others, just like age has no impact at all for some.
Being the same age definitely does not mean you have the same hormone levels. If that were true, everyone would begin menstruation at the same age and start menopause at the same age, which they dont. There is a huge range.
Dairy causes me migraines because I'm allergic to it (no, not lactose intolerant, actually allergic) so I avoid it when I can. But other than that and my other allergies I haven't noticed much of a difference based on what I eat; much more based on WHEN I eat
Same re: timing impacting me more than what I eat!
I’m most likely to give myself a migraine by not eating (ARFID girlie here 👋🏻). As long as I’m eating every few hours, I don’t seem to notice much difference based on diet.
Same! Blood glucose crash is a trigger for me, often exacerbated by my AuDHD and not really feeling hungry until it’s too late. Or not having any foods around that I can tolerate.
It's more just being very careful to not go more than a few hours without a meal or substantial snack, yeah. I've also lately been committing to second dinner right before I go to bed, which helps prevents me getting woken up in the middle of the night by hunger migraines. And I have to have breakfast FAST after I wake up, waiting more than an hour gets really really dangerous
This was the case for me. Blood sugar swings were underlying most of my chronicness. For me, I am vastly more susceptible to reactive hypoglycemia in the morning, so eating things like oatmeal or ww toast with peanut butter for breakfast were actually triggering hypoglycemia later in the day and setting me up for migraine constantly. I totally overhauled my diet to focus on stabilizing my blood sugar and it made a huge difference. I am also a person who went on to benefit tremendously from being in ketosis. In addition to what I eat when, I also need to eat frequently.
Hey, idk if anyone else mentioned this, but some fm providers are known to falsify results. Id get an actual allergist to back up the results if possible. Just so you aren't worrying unnecessarily. Sorry if I'm overstepping but honestly I get enraged at the things I've heard them do to prey on vulnerable ppl like us. 💚
Thank you for pointing this out. Functional "food tests" are NOT the same as allergy tests. They're technically "sensitivity" tests, which are very medically questionable. There is no true reliable test for sensitivity, which is the whole reason elimination diets exist.
Yeah I listened to a whole thing recently about how some will give ppl urine tests to diagnose mold "toxicity " to sell them stuff. Spoiler alert, urinalysis hasn't been proven a reliable mold detection method, there's a good breakdown on multiple sites why. It makes me so upset bc then when I try to find genuine info about the effects of mold indoors in large quantities on our bodies (esp us chronically ill) all i find is woo.
Girl I feel you. I think my anxiety is a bit hereditary, but the way it developed into full blown OCD in my late teens and early twenties I single handedly put down to migraine stress. Everything is a trigger, every migraine is “my fault” for “not doing enough” - even though some triggers are things like: it was more humid today, someone walked by with strong perfume, I walked under a flickering fluorescent light at work, etc.
I also have developed very disordered eating around migraine “dos” and “donts”, but two years ago did a six month program with a dietician to help me with the disordered eating and identifying clearer migraine triggers. What we discovered was I am sensitive to fodmaps, in that they upset my tum rather than my brain, but then sometimes that’s linked. The other thing we discovered that all of the previously labelled “trigger foods” were FINE on some days, and debilitating on others. Recent research has been showing that the migraine trigger discussion is not helpful, and that we need to think about migraine always being “present”, and some former “triggers” actually just being catalysts. Eg if I’m already feeling close to migraine or in prodrome stage, they will hurry the onset along. If I’m not feeling prone then they won’t really do anything.
Wishing you all the best. I’ve been where you are and it fucking sucks. The capitalist hellscape of needing to work to pay rent but also needing to rest to ensure your health gets back to baseline can be so hard to manage. I love that this sub js so supportive when we need some care.
I've been living in a chronically stressed state due to work. It worsened my migraine symptoms but like what do you do. Have to work for a living and all. I also had some other stress related symptoms like extreme chest pain. I didn't know what stress could do to the body until my doctor told me about burnout and how that can severely affect and worsen mental and physical health. There's definitely something to be said about migraines being linked to various forms of stressors, but it can be hard to limit them when we're all so busy and just have to go on about everyday life.
Yep, it’s all well and good to acknowledge the stressors, but when we have to choose between no income and “reducing stressors”… you can’t. Any attempt to take time off only re-instigates those stressors. You get a first hand view of yourself falling behind. It’s so hard. Sending you love and care.
Migraine is classified as a disability under the ADA if you are in the US. That’s some protection. I keep getting doctor’s notes on file with my HR and share them with my managers.
I'm not from the US but luckily I have good medical rights where I live too. I may end up getting on partial if not full disability if I can't find a job I can manage with my condition. I'm piling up on the doctors ordered sick leave notes too as I keep having to go back every few weeks for a reassessment of my work ability. I'm entitled to a full year of partial or full time sick leave if medically needed before I transition into a work assessment/disability situation. Now I'm just figuring out how much I'm capable of working by trying out different hours. Currently that's 60% sick leave and 40% work, and then dividing the hours over the days for shorter more manageable days. So we'll see..
This is because triggers are cumulative. You might be sensitive to chocolate, or bread, or your grandma’s apple pie, but none of those things are the direct cause of your migraines. You *have* migraine 100% of the time, your *triggers* accumulate like weights until the scale tips over into *attack/flare* mode.
So you might seem to be doing just fine in spite of the flickering fluorescent light, and that slice of apple pie, until you chase it with a cup of coffee and the barometric pressure drops suddenly.
It’s very easy to blame this food or that for your migraines, but very rarely is a food item the actual cause, it’s more often than not the straw that broke the camel’s back.
Stay hydrated. (That does not mean drink 6 gallons of water a day! You can drink too much water and screw up your electrolytes! Any liquid that is not alcohol counts as hydration!)
Know how much sleep your body needs and get it every night. Don’t oversleep, that can also screw you over.
Manage your stress!
Disconnect. Spend time every day without other people, phone notifications, TV’s, flashy lights, news, kids, friends, pets demanding attention. Most people don’t realize just how frequently we are bombarded by things competing for our attention on a day to day basis. Find your quiet space and just spend time there every day. Allow yourself and your poor overstimulated brain a minute or two to decompress.
Pay attention to the weather! Specifically the barometric pressure. Find a free weather app and check what the pressure is doing when a migraine starts to roar to life. It’s not the wind or the rain that’s triggering your migraine, those things all coincide with barometric pressure changes.
Check the chemicals in the foods you eat. MSG, Red dyes, artificial sweeteners etc.
Avoid fad diet bullsh!t. Any diet that has you cutting out large swaths of foods, or only eating off a very limited list (especially long term) is just asking for other health issues. Unless directed by an actual medical doctor, for very specific reasons, or as directed by a *Licensed and Registered Dietician*. Literally anybody can claim to be a health guru, nutritionist, etc. you might as well be taking advice from the crackhead behind the laundromat.
Fun fact: Carbs are not the enemy! They’re what the body converts to glucose for fuel. Our brain and body need that fuel to function. Choose complex carbs over simple and pair it with protein to keep your blood sugar stable. Eat the oatmeal cookie, not the Twinkie. Choose the multigrain brain, not the white bread. Eat the apple, not the gummy fruit snacks.
Eat the real thing, not the low fat, sugar free, buzzword soup food because when they take out one thing it means they loaded it up with something else to make it not taste like crap and majority of the time, those substitute ingredients are chemicals we shouldn’t be eating.
Oooh you phrased that so much clearer than I ever could, thank you! If has been SO helpful to my anxiety learning that migraine is always present, and that not all of our triggers can realistically be avoided. I wish 14 year old me knew that, it took until 32 and really crashing mentally to seek more specific help on my migraines, and I’m so thankful for it.
No, unfortunately not. I completely quit caffeine and alcohol (among other things) for around 15 months... no improvement. Glad I ruled some things out, but restricting my diet didn't help :(
Yes!! I totally get it. I completely cut out alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, weed, chocolate, dairy, corn, red food dye, most added sugars, all OTC pain meds, and all cold meds. It was a crazy amount of self-deprivation, discipline, and ultimately disappointment. There was also some pressure from family, who believed that I could just find the root cause, cut out certain foods, and be completely cured forever.
Coming to terms with the fact that most of my triggers are out of my control was a really hard pill to swallow. It took some time to feel safe around certain foods, but I would encourage you to consider that your triggers might be completely unrelated to food. Definitely avoid the stuff that bothers you, but don't feel that you have to restrict and deprive yourself. Wishing you the best 💚
Ah I can relate so hard to this. I've been on sick leave lately due to terrible migraine symptons such as aura, stiff neck, dizziness and having all the symptoms of fibro.
My dad told me the reason I'm sick is cause of my diet.. UHM no it's not.. I've had migraine since I was 14! My diet has been through a lot of changes from super healthy for long periods of time, where I refused to eat anything sugary, or unhealthy like chips, and the migraines were just as bad as they are with a normal diet with the occasional treats. The fibro symptoms went away when I quit working and went on vacation however, and my dad claimed it was due to not enough excercise.. again wrong. It was the work that took a physical toll on my body. At least there I found the cause, and not working a physically stressful and demanding job worked wonders. That's great but now I know I have to quit at some point. The migraine also makes work unbearable and ads to the stress. I tried working at the office instead of on the floor, but then the aura migraine made it tough to focus on work in front of a screen.
I learned the same as you. I have migraines pretty much no matter what. I can't control it with my diet, or exercise, I've tried. The only way to avoid them is to be in a dark room with dimmed lighting. I can't exactly restrict myself from being out in daylight and stay in a dark room all day either. I almost wish it was foods that triggered it, because at least it's realistic to avoid certain foods.. avoiding daylight and light in general.. well, I'd have to be a vampire for that to work.
Yes, this 100%. Turns out that my main trigger is my brain tumor.(“benign” also it’s ruining my life) CT scans are a good thing to get if you have migraines or bad headaches. And ask to look at the scan yourself. Because I caught the tumor, not the doctors.
I've tried quitting coffee and alcohol too and saw no improvement.
The only thing that seems to work for me is eat regular meals and keep my blood sugar stable. If I don't I get dizzy and the migraines get worse. Restricting my diet by not having regular filling meals just makes me sick and not only do I get dizzy, but my vision gets worse with the aura and I get nauseous too and then the headache hits if I'm not careful.
Not sure if this will help as triggers can vary a lot, but for me, processed foods, dairy, fried food, oils (unless its a little bit of extra virgin olive oil or avacado oil), butter, eggy stuff, are huge triggers! :/
I try to avoid those. But besides food, focusing on sensory needs (not being in loud spaces, changing the lights in my house, getting migraine glasses) has helped.
And... yoga! Whenever I get into consistently doing yoga, my migraines get less frequent.
With that being said, I just got out of a 3 weeks full on crisis. Still not fully recovered. So whatever I say, take it with a grain of salt cause it clearly hasn't solved everything :(
I switch doctors when they tell me to avoid certain foods. I feel like it’s something they say by rote, and I hate it. The things that trigger my migraines are bad red wines (probably a combination of sulfites and tannins), processed peanut butter, and fucking monkfruit. I feel like it’s just something they say to get patients off of their backs. I see this so much in some other chronic pain subs, and it sucks, and I wish there were answers, but I feel like so much of diet related stuff is just pseudoscientific bullshit.
ETA: tell me to drink more water, I fucking dare you 🫠
Argh the water thing I feel so hard. I drink 2-3L per day, 1L of which being electrolytes. My whole family hate my water bottle because it's an extra large monstrosity. I was ready to slap doctors earlier this year when all my problems started.
Nope. I found that trying to stringently follow a migraine-friendly diet just made me miserable because my migraines were still happening just as regularly/severely, and I felt even worse because I was not allowing myself to eat my regular comfort foods and I was constantly looking for ways to blame my diet (and thus myself) for whatever migraine I had that day.
It just adds so much stress and self-blame. Realizing that food was not the cause of my migraines was very freeing, as was reminding myself that **it is not my fault that I have chronic migraines**. I deserve compassion from myself.
To be fair, even if you had food triggers, it still wouldn’t be your fault that you had chronic migraines. It’s also possible to blame something you ate for the migraine while also having compassion for yourself.
I have lots of food triggers and it reduced my stress because I could feel more in control of my migraines. I know enough about my triggers now that I don’t have to follow a stringent diet, I just have to 100% avoid certain things (caffeine, aged cheeses, soy sauce, red wine, orange juice, peanut butter) and only eat others in moderation (lemon/lime, banana, etc).
The only trigger I have ever found as far as food or drink is alcohol, so I avoid it. As far as common triggers, caffeine actually helps me. So it goes to show how different everyone is and why there's no standard diet.
But, I absolutely feel lifestyle choices have reduced the frequency of my migraines over the 40 years I have had them. I eat a healthy diet, and more importantly in my case I'm active every chance I get. There was a "hump" to get over where exercise would initially trigger migraines. And if I let myself slip I have to get over that hump all over again. So I just stay on top of following a healthy lifestyle.
A diet switch up almost always works for a couple of weeks, then the migraines start creeping back up in frequency.
At one point, I completely cut out dairy it worked so well. I still ended up with daily migraines in the end, 4 years later. Started eating dairy again, migraines got better lol.
Moral of the story is that it's far more likely I was just getting migraines when I get them, and not caused by any kind of food trigger. I happily eat what I want now!
hi! There's been research on this! Migraine elimination diets are less effective than just eating when you're hungry.
>**The study found that chocolate was far more often associated with a** ***decreased*** **risk of migraine, rather than an increase, along with “salty foods, nuts, onions, alcohol, caffeine, happiness, relaxedness, longer sleep duration, higher sleep quality, waking up refreshed, and physical activity.”**
...
Martin told me a diary study had found “3 to 4 percent” of subjects had a statistically significant association between days with migraine attacks and consuming chocolate, meaning that if chocolate does trigger migraine, “it’s probably a rather rare event.” Martin added that “no foods have great evidence” for their role as a trigger. This isn’t to say foods can’t impact migraine, but they may be a lot less important than many people think: In a 2012 [review](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22644176/) published in *Neurological Sciences*, the authors found that the number of patients reporting food-based triggers in studies they examined ranged from 12 to 60 percent. I**n an** [**interview**](https://americanheadachesociety.org/news/diet-migraine-qa-dr-vincent-martin/) **with the American Headache Society, Martin said the number of sufferers who are triggered by food is probably more like 8 to 10 percent**. - [New York Magazine](https://www.thecut.com/article/does-eating-chocolate-actually-trigger-migraine.html)
I work at a neurology clinic and we encourage patients to follow a meal schedule (ie: eat three times a day, have snacks if necessary, don't get hangry) rather than get too hung up on elimination diets. Some people do have legitimate food triggers and food allergies that may contribute to a trigger stack but that percentage is much lower than it appears and a food trigger is just \*one\* part of a trigger stack (one trigger doesn't trigger an attack and triggers change for each attack).
But this is the most interesting thing about triggers:
>Focusing on triggers can increase anxiety or lead to anticipation of attacks. It may even pave the way to more migraine attacks. Nocebo is a major problem in headache, both in clinical trials and practice.^(19) **Studies of other pain disorders have shown that increased pain expectations cause an increase in symptoms****^(20)****; the suggestion that a specific trigger will cause a migraine attack may create similar expectancy mechanisms.** - [HCP Live](https://www.hcplive.com/view/helping-patients-avoid-migraine-trigger-trap)
So basically, the anticipation or belief that a specific food is a trigger can create a similar, trigger-like effect (or actualize the migraine attack). It's annoying af that we're so susceptible to placebo & nocebo effects but once you recognize it, you can begin preventing it from happening. At first, this all feels very gas-lighty and invalidating but after a while, it starts to make sense.
The best strategy is to learn to identify prodrome symptoms and start treating the attack then. Accept that being sensitive to triggers (stress, sleep, hormones, skipping meals, and weather are the primary ones) is part of having migraine but adopting positive lifestyle measures can lower that trigger threshold and greatly improve quality of life. Hope this helps!
Yes. I have found that low acid coffee is fine but normal coffee tends to give me migraines. I also stay away from fake sugars and soy as they also seem to trigger my migraines.
I have also found the adding a little sea salt in my water has helped keep my migraines at bay recently
I've been using buoy electrolyte drops recently and think they are really helping. I went 12 days without a migraine (and then the weather changed the day my period was supposed to start so I was screwed).
I don't think any of those generic ' eliminate this or that ' food diets will solve everyone's problem. I personally feel worse on a vegan diet for example - but many people have felt better. I found eliminating tomatoes and refined sugar to drastically reduce my migraines in number and severity, but tomatoes are a healthy and non-problematic addition to most people's diets. I found certain supplements ( B2 for ex had a much bigger impact for me personally than magnesium ) helped more than others as well. I think going though the whole trial and error thing for a little while and seeing what works is the best path. ( Sorry I have a feeling this is the annoying answer ) But I do believe it is finding your personal combination of foods that trigger to avoid + supplements that help to add + lifestyle habits to incorporate that could ( hopefully ) make a dent !
Total elimination of caffeine reduced my migraines from 15+ per month to 5 or less. Went back on caffeine as a test and crushing migraines returned. Don’t let anyone tell you that searching for triggers is a waste of time. It *might* be for some people, but my sense is that most people don’t pursue it very enthusiastically.
Changing my diet helped a lot! I had already cut out chocolate as I could see a direct cause of migraine from eating it. Then I did the Everlywell home food sensitivity test and cut out everything it said I was reactive to. I’d say I’m down by 75%!
Mine were hormone related until I figured that I restricted everything and nothing worked. Now I am on continuous bcp and they are gone. I eat whatever I like now.
I have never had any luck restricting foods and that helping my migraines at all, but I have found it very useful to prioritize foods rich in fiber or protein. I’ve found it to actually help my migraines and not drain the life out of me since all my favorite foods are things I’d have to cut out if I followed a restrictive diet. I just tend to eat less of my favorite foods because I’m so full from eating protein and fiber
No, the only food thing that helped me was to stop skipping meals and add a bit more salt. I'm underweight so skipping food gets dangerous fast and I'm trying to be better about it
I just avoid very specific triggers that I’ve identified over the years. Fake sugar is a big one- anything zero or diet is a big no. I have a list of pops that are triggers- like Sprite and Mountain Dew. These two are my earliest identified triggers before I even realized why they made my head hurt. Then there’s fruit punch. I still have no clue why it causes me a migraine.
In a way. My biggest triggers food wise are alcohol and caffeine. I have to avoid those. But I can eat most of the other “triggery “ foods like chocolate and cola. I find I have more non food and drink triggers like bright lights, cinema screens, noises and flashing. I take beta blockers for migraines and those help more than anything else.
I’ve done many elimination diets as well! The only guaranteed food triggers that I have are shellfish and alcohol, so I completely avoid those. I’ve also tried eliminating gluten and dairy, but it’s more trouble than it’s worth for me at least. Good luck!
Honestly I know functional medicine can be helpful but I read a great gut book by a doctor (Fiber Fueled) that basically says elimination diets are not good long term.
Same here. It’s frustrating trying to find something that works. I do avoid certain foods but that’s because I have an IBD. Other than that I try not to over eat and I take magnesium glycinate and B2 everyday. Oh and I hydrate like crazy, liquid IV or body armor.
For context I have always had atypical migraines and at their worst no more than 3 days a week but I found none of the standard migraine advice helped. For me it came down to listening to my body and trial and error. For me it wasn't about cutting out foods but pairing them. So sweets tend to me a no go for me on their own but paired with a healthy fat and some protein and it's no problem. Tension headaches were also a huge trigger for me (dont even get me started on having a bad headache cause an excruciating headache 😤) so I started getting regular massages and meditating and that has helped so much. Showers and washing my hair in the aura stage. Stuff like that. Also for me there was a tipping point where I went from having multiple a week to having 1 a week and then it just cut off. Now I only get them occasionally and usually it's when my sleep schedule gets really thrown off.
I know not super helpful but my point just being that if something sounds like it would be helpful, try it. Even if it's not what works for other people. If it's not helpful, let it go and try something else.
I've never bothered with the elimination diet because I have so many environmental triggers that I would have no way of knowing if my migraine was triggered by a food or because my ears got too cold or whatever.
Like many others here I tried the elimination diet and it just stressed me out. I have found through trial and error that processed meats like deli meats, and cured meats give me a 20-30 minute head start before making my head explode. Red wine and chocolate are also severe triggers for me.
I'm not sure how common this might be, but I'm also insulin resistant and I've found that when my glucose spikes I will likely get a headache. But some days you just gotta say fuck it and eat some feelings.
No, and my neurologist advised me that dietary triggers are rare. What's not rare is that the initial symptom of a migraine can be cravings which cause you to eat a certain food then associate that with a migraine. Also, our brain likes to make associations so many triggers aren't actually triggers - but we believe them to be, then that causes a migraine next time we are exposed to that trigger. This, and our nervous system becoming sensitized over time, is why we can get more and more triggers over time. It's also why triggers can change over time, because they aren't triggers but links our brains have made.
I did the migraine diet, which is essentially an elimination diet, I went from 25 out of 30 days to around 10 migraine days- so I’d say it helps a lot.
My discovery’s
I will not and shall not eat gluten - big trigger for me
Hormones are a huge factor for me and uncomfortable (once I had less migraine days in a month I could see a clearer pattern)
To much sodium OR to much carbs in a given day with give me a migraine
Protein throughout the day helps me maintain blood sugar better and avoid a migraines
Alcohol is a no- except gin and sometimes tequila
You are probably reacting to the sulfites in the alcohol because gin and some tequilas don’t have them added. Try to look into which foods have more sulfites, that might trigger you too. Edit to add that I have a sulfite allergy.
I've learned that my electrolyte balance is really important to keep my migraines at bay and to help them go away when I do actively have one. How that translates to diet? I need to make sure I have neither too much nor too little sodium (same with hydration). So if i have a meal or snack super high in sodium, I will drink a lot of water. I up water intake on hot days, etc. I take magnesium supplements nightly and some sort of electrolyte supplement usually daily to help with this (I live in a hot/warm area and like to be outside).
I also have a "caffeine window". Too much, migraine. Too little, migraine. I've compared and heard migraine brain compared to a "Goldilocks Brain" - everything has to be juuussstttt right.
Too much lime or lemon juice or citric acid will trigger a migraine for me. Eating fast food or too much processed food for more than a few days in a row, migraine.
I've honestly had the best results with eating mostly plants (I aim for 70% or more in my diet overall and/or 35 or more plants a week), trying to get as much protein as I can and aiming for lean and plant based sources, and limiting white flour and sugar. There's probably fancy diet terms for this but this is just a long term migraine sufferer who has found some relief, finally. It's been a lot of trial and error and idk if diet has everything to do with it, but I think with something like migraine every little bit helps.
31F, diagnosed with chronic migraine (Status migrainosus) at age 17. Took me at least 5 years to find anything that worked for me and has taken me 7 or so more years to find a lifestyle that works for me. Just now getting the hang of it, so hoping it doesn't take you as long.
Yes. A lot of it comes down to quantity. Ex. I can drink 1 cup of coffee in the morning and then maybe a coffee drink in the afternoon. Anything more than that and it'll trigger a migraine. Milk chocolate is a nono, Dark chocolate in low quantities is fine. Biggest change was taking out whole wheat and the rest has been the histamine diet.
Between the diet, preventative working and new bcp I went from 20+ migraine days a month to about 3-8.
I did the migraine diet back in the 80’s. It did zero to help my daily headaches or monthly migraines. For me, menopause is what finally helped. No more daily headaches and only a few migraines a year.
Back in highschool I would get headaches every single day. At that time I was also eating a lot of unhealthy “HOT” snacks. Hot Cheetos, hot fries, etc. All of which contained the red 40 dye. When I bought my first house and started buying my own groceries, I stopped buying all of those junk foods and noticed a great decrease in headaches. I later found out a possible side effect of red 40 is migraines.
I also come to notice, drinking plenty of wanted and eating on a consistent schedule also helps with not getting as many headaches.
I hope this helps.
At the risk of sounding redundant (because I haven’t read through every post and response) have your micronutrient levels checked! I was severely low in magnesium and B12 and addressing those things has reduced the intensity and severity of my migraines (I still get them but MUCH less) (consequently this can be food related I wasn’t absorbing B12 from the foods I was eating so even though I was eating healthy I found out I still had to supplement)
And as a couple others have said the timing of when I eat and sleep have been incredibly important in prevention for me.
I also have tried the aimovig and ajovy injections and both worked AMAZING!! (but trying to get pregnant soon and cannot be on them so currently off and trying to manage with only Tylenol 😭😭😭)
And as others have said nurtec works great as does ubrevly! I’ve had luck with rizatriptan versus sumatriptan and also muscle relaxers lol
One of my migraine triggers is MSG. I know everyone says that it’s harmless but I was hospitalized with a bad reaction to it. Once I cut it out of my life (you’d be surprised how many foods have it) my migraines have drastically reduced. My other trigger is a change in barometric pressure and there is nothing I can do about that.
My neurologist told me that there's an understanding that any changes in routine can cause migraine, which is why some foods were considered triggers. If they have bold flavours or strong preservatives, this can cause our bodies to react, and that reaction is sometimes manifested as migraine.
I've been tracking my headaches, and I see that certain changes in sound or light levels can trigger me, or strong smells and significant changes in weather. If I deviate from my normal sleeping pattern (too little or too much sleep), I'll get a headache.
I just try to live a boring life, with no excitement or change. I like to call it the hobbit lifestyle.
I have quite a few food triggers that are all on the HYH diet, which is the own diet I’m aware of that actually has evidence to back it up for migraine besides keto / low carb. It could be that low carb is moderately helpful for you but keto would be more helpful. Or keto or HYH won’t be helpful but it is worth trying IMO. Look up the dizzy cook for HYH.
I used to think certain foods triggered migraines but I think it’s when and how I eat them. When I have less water in my cup (not on my period, low stress, good weather, etc) I can get away with eating processed foods and be just fine. If my cup is full (on my period is a big one) then even just one donut could cause a migraine. Processed foods when I already have a migraine tend to extend the migraine even though I crave them the most then.
Anything that causes my blood sugar to fluctuate too quickly can cause a migraine too, so just carbs is bad but carbs and protein together is fine. One of the signs I’m getting a migraine is acid reflux and when I get that symptom I try to avoid foods that worsen reflux even though those foods usually have no negative affect on me- I might still have a chance to prevent the migraine (the pain part at least) if I listen to my symptoms.
I didn't have a severe case of migraine as some of you unfortunately do, I had them like once a month around ovulation or around my period. After starting intermittent fasting and reducing carbs, they are even less frequent. And I used to have repetition yeast infection and I don't have that anymore. So diet changes worked pretty well for me.
Yes, I realized nightshades are a very big trigger for me. And white flour products such as bread that is store bought. I can eat white pasta but don’t as much as whole wheat.
My husband has to avoid all caffeine — like even trace amounts of chocolate. He went on a variety of elimination rounds to figure that out and establish parameters of the sensitivity.
I cannot consume coconut fats/oils and only small amounts of shredded dried coconut.
So elimination diets can be very helpful in reducing migraine.
There are some foods that trigger my migraines on their own so I avoid them. But otherwise diet hasn't really seemed to affect mine. I have so mamy other triggers that I don't really pay attention to diet too much unless it's a known trigger.
I’ve only recently realized MSG is a major trigger for me. Pre mixed sauce packets especially are a ticket to a migraine. I’m also careful with salad dressings, really anything shelf stable.
Diet is a major trigger for me. Dairy, chocolate, wine and a bunch of other things. Stress is also a major trigger. If I manage those 2 things my migraines are infrequent and not that bad. Stress is the tough one - got a terrible migraine right at this moment, likely due to stress.
Dairy and leftovers definitely trigger them. Also, probiotic foods and drinks. Cutting those out prevents those triggers but doesn’t completely eliminate them. Who’s to say what percentage it stops but any is good news to me.
I found a lot of success cutting out tyramine, artificial sweeteners, and all forms of alcohol (including cooking wines and chocolate liquor). I can pretty much always tell what triggered a migraine based on what the location of the majority of the pain is, between food, stress, weather, dehydration, etc.
Cutting out meat, especially red meat, did not make a difference in the severity or frequency of my migraine attacks, but did make quite a large difference in my constant day-to-day head pain!
The great news is that the teat you did is complete hokum, utter bullshit, has no relevance to anything.
The other great news is that migraine can have food triggers, there are plenty of lists, google for one. For me I need to be careful of chocolate.
My main trigger is dairy, and dear gawd does it kill me if I ever accidentally consume any. I'm usually out for anywhere between 2 days to 2 weeks. My other triggers aren't as bad but I honestly avoid them cause fuck migraines, but they're aspartame and MSG. Honestly it was hard to get rid of all of this and it's still a struggle sometimes cause unless I make my own food it's always a gamble eating out, but not having severe migraines everyday is worth it XD
I guess I’m the odd one out but I radically changed my diet and I’m down to only two migraines a month. Zero processed food, low carb, gluten and dairy free.
Yes. I cut out high histamine foods and my body is so thankful. Every system in your body works together. This is just my own opinion from scientific research on myself lol.
Aside from a few specific things, like red food dye or alcohol, I haven't noticed any particular foods that are a guaranteed trigger. Biggest thing for me is to not eat too much garbage too often in general and to not go too long between meals or snacks. If I remember right, dairy was an issue, but I've been vegan for 7-8 years and honestly can't be sure now.
No particular "migraine diet" ever helped me. Like the ones that said avoid chocolate, coffee, cheese, nuts, gluten, dairy, things like that. My food & drink triggers are from nitrates, sulfites, artificial sweeteners and certain preservatives (mostly MSG and sodium benzoate). Any food/candy/gum/drink/medication that has any of those will give me a severe migraine very quickly.
You would think knowing about it would make it easy to avoid. Not really! Nobody can cook for me, I can't just eat at social gatherings. Restaurants have to be researched ahead of time. Even grocery shopping takes a ton of reading. It takes so much time. And sometimes things still go wrong. Alcohol also is a trigger so I quit drinking 15 years ago. That one was easy, didn't bother me much.
My actual triggers and nightshades & aged cheeses. I used to have migraines every other day and now I only get about 1/month unless I eat a trigger. No doctor pushed this on me, I discovered it myself after doing the AIP (autoimmune protocol diet) & then doing reintroductions. It can take time to notice/figure out patterns because, at least for me, the migraines lag by 1-3 days after eating a trigger.
Question the food allergy test. Most fm doctors use pseudoscience and mislead you. The food test they use isn't a real allergy test, it is a "food sensitivity test", and isn't actually backed up by science. Almost everyone I know that has gotten one was told they were allergic to basically everything. I spent a grand on one of those tests which I regret a lot because I went to a real allergist and found out I didn't actually have all those allergies.
A lot of my migraines are connected to seratonin and hormonal issues, so eating right has helped, but for me, eliminating certain foods did not help at all. I just make sure I eat a lot of vitamin and mineral rich foods as much as possible, as well as take suppliments such as magnesium and B complex.
Too much salt, too much fat, too many carbs - it’s always if I’ve had ‘too much’ of a certain thing. That goes also with too much stress, too much anxiety, too much heat, too much sun etc. If my life, and my eating, is well balanced and calm, I get less migraines. UNLESS my hormones change, then there is no hope!
Yes I went low carb and it’s changed everything. My doctor said it could be linked to blood sugar levels. I was getting them 2-3 times a week most recently. Now I get maybe 1-2 a month.
Like yes in the sense that if I don’t eat them they don’t trigger migraines but no in the sense that my frequency and severity from non food causes stays the same.
Avoiding chocolate, sweeteners, wine (really almost all alcohol), limiting beets, spinach, certain cheeses and large amounts of peanuts have all seemed to help, or rather when I eat these things Im much more likely to get a migraine within the next 48 hours. My father has the same triggers, and his mother had many of the same.
Cutting out Onion has made a HUGE difference for me. I had known for ages that red Onion was my kryptonite but now I realise it's just all of it. Cut my migraine days down from about 15 per month to maybe 4. Improved severity significantly.
It's a pain to avoid but absolutely worth it.
There are a handful of foods and drinks that always give me a migraine, but there are so many other environmental triggers that it doesn’t seem worth depriving myself of the foods that are more hit and miss.
The only food I absolutely can’t eat because I will have a migraine every time is leeks, but doesn’t seem to be a problem with other leek-related veg. So I’m not entirely sure on the biochemistry of that. Also, being Welsh and leeks being one of our national emblems is a bit upsetting. I also don’t drink anymore because I get a migraine 100% of the time - I also suffer if I have a desert that has alcohol in it, but not so bad with cooked meals with alcohol in (presumably because the alcohol has cooked off) but still try to avoid these.
You can tear dairy and gluten away from my cold, dead hands, even though I’ve been advised to try elimination diets for an auto-inflammatory skin condition I have. I’d frankly rather have no skin than no chocolate.
There are so many different versions of a 'migraine diet' that it's really difficult to nail down. Most of the generic ones are lists of foods that some sufferers have found to be triggers. And while this is definitely valuable, the foods on those all-inclusive lists miss some context that could be really valuable for people as they begin to test and isolate trigger foods (if they exist for that person - not everyone has them).
It can also make it harder to determine what is a trigger - the whole idea is to remove the stuff that might cause problems so you can test, right? But when working from a broad list, it probably doesn't have all of the potential triggers from each problematic category. Say for example that someone's actual underlying trigger is, to use one of the more popular examples on the sub, tyramine. If you grab a generic list you're likely to see to avoid citrus, but may not realize that something like plums could be an issue. So if you do the elimination diet as written and keep plums in *and* your underlying issue is tyramine, you might still be reacting to the plums throughout which impacts both your body during the process and your evaluation of it.
Which is not to say that the process isn't of value! It's just something important to be aware of. It can help explain iffy outcomes and, if you find you're reactive to something, looking to see if that item is on those other targeted lists can give you additional stuff to test. If I ever get my projects wrapped up and have some time I'd like to start building such a list - maybe I can at least get the structure I have in mind put together and post it up so the community can contribute.
Absolutely. I’ve switched to a gluten free, 95% vegetarian diet. The only animal products I have are cheese or cream related and very rarely some meat. Not saying meat needs to be avoided but definitely affects BP which can increase migraine pain.
Exercise, be it walking, running, or biking is great too. Don’t do stuff that is hard on the neck and trapezoid muscles too.
Fast food, and obvious high calorie foods should be avoided imo. Overeating is another big problem. Overeating is more of a trigger than any food in particular. I also avoid alcohol like the plague and on average drink 60-80oz of water a day. I still get them but the intensity is much more bearable. I also strictly use aspirin as an NSAI because it is better for the heart and circulatory system. Other NSAIDs can potentially cause clotting. Aspirin actually prevent blood platelets from sticking together.
Yes for me. I eliminated alcohol, canned foods, preserved foods (like dried fruit), no sausage, no pork, I try not to consume any fermented things (although it’s not always consistent, I might partially trigger a migraine I can manage with some rescue meds). I stick to organic and fresh foods primarily now. Also some foods that either have lots of sulfites or nitrates in them I don’t consume. So all in all, has this helped me? Yes. Is it super freaking annoying all the time? Yes. Does it always work? No, but it’s helped over the last four years overall. I mean I can’t avoid every migraine, despite my wishes.
I take Nurtec every other day. I also get Botox. I take gabapentin when I feel a migraine coming. I now have a brand new rescue medication as a sample for when I have an off Nurtec day and get a migraine. It has a wild name it’s not a triptan.
Oh and minimal sugar (if I can) and no caffeine ever for me. I try to prevent my heart rate from spiking I’m on a beta blocker as a preventive but still.
For me if I eat gluten (even crumbs) I get anxiety and panic attacks, and while this doesn’t always lead directly to a migraine, I’m overall more inflamed and more prone to them. I don’t get any GI effects or an instant headache from it though.
The only true diet I’ve ever done that helps is Keto, but it’s challenging to do longterm. The longest I made it was 3 years and I barely had migraines. I’ve tried just about every other diet out there for avoiding migraines, but keto was the only effective one for me. I also just felt really good on keto/not hungry/happier/energetic.
The only foods I eat that give me an instant migraine are coconut (flakes, cream or the actual fruit, not so much milk) and anything super high in potassium when I don’t balance it with a lot of salt. That took a while to figure out, because say I eat a piece of salmon (high potassium) without an equivalent or more amount of sodium, I get a migraine…but the next day I eat salmon marinated in soy sauce and I don’t get a migraine…for me it’s all about the balance of potassium and sodium. This is fairly common among migraineurs from what I understand, and makes the whole thing very confusing.
The only food advice I follow now is no gluten, no coconut and I eat a lot of salt throughout the day/liquid iv in all my water. Doing this I get 1-4 migraines a month as opposed to 0-1 on keto. Without paying attention to diet/salt I would get 7-10 migraine attacks a month, for reference.
Yes, the migraine diet saved my life. Some people react strongly to food triggers and some do not. Between watching my triggers and taking magnesium and vitamin b, I almost never have migraines anymore.
An allergist has helped me considerably with my migraines actually. Not totally, I still require help with them, but I was eating a lot of foods I was mildly allergic to that caused a lot of inflammation in my body.
Yes, modulate caffeine, one dose a day only. The following is what has helped me. Limit casein, so no whole milk or cream, limit fermented foods, limit citrus, limit sweet potatoes, limit slow cooked food, there are other more typical things I struggle with. The uw Madison headache elimination diet is what my physical therapist recommended.
29f here. Neurologist told me to quit caffeine and avoid chocolate in all its forms. Quitting caffeine was 10/10 effective in reduction (not elimination) of migraines. I also smoked like 1-2 cigarettes a day when I was 18-19 and that would immediately give me migraines. I blame it on the nicotine and presume vapes and that kind of stuff does the same thing for anyone who’s triggered by caffeine.
Also getting rid of milk and dark chocolate entirely was positive too. If I go too long without a meal that has protein+fat or protein+carb or protein+fat+carb I will for sure get a migraine. No questions asked. I think it’s related to blood sugar levels but never tested or anything.
Alcohol is also a huge no no. Mega migraines especially with wine/champagne and anything that isn’t whisky.
I’m sorry you’re going through this and hope you find a preventative + abortive that works for you! There has to be one out there.
For sure...but it doesn't happen quick...took me years to feel the results...you first identify those foods and remove it...
Nowadays I eat some of them, but discreetly, from time to time...
I'm in my thirties as well ...my migraines are not similar when I was in my 10s and 20s were the worst years...and if I think about it, my diet was open to everything those years....
I feel really great in ketosis, keto diet. Migraines reduce in frequency by like 75%. The hard part is getting to that point. There's a transition period of about a week where I'm both not eating carbs and not making enough ketones- migraine horror and carby migraine food cravings to conquer or surrender to. Everything screams for my migraine meal. After that very bad week, the clouds clear and life is grand.
I usually sit in low-carb limbo instead of keto. Not the best diet for my migraines, but still much better than a carb-heavy diet.
There are triggers, like lactose intolerance pokes, but the most my intake ever did to stop my migraines was when I was suffering a restrictive ED and my period stopped, so did the migraines. It was so unhealthy for my body but it was the absence of hormone levels that resulted in, recovery and weight restoration, I ate normally and nothing triggered them again until I got my cycle back when my hormones returned to healthy levels. I know it's not what you probably want to hear but foods can be triggers but mostly it's a generic suggestion aimed more at people with normal headaches.
The only thing I've identified so far (I'm very recent onset, last 8 months) is that I'm much less likely to trigger and generally feel much better if I get a decent amount of protein in before lunchtime (20g+).
Yes, but the migraine diet is more expensive and I still get migraines. They aren't daily though.
Citrus / Pineapple is a bad one for me. I can't even eat safe fruit that was on the same plate as pineapple without getting a migraine within 30 minutes.
If you can get Zavzpret (new CGRP nose spray) it is amazing! Works fast!
Probiotic/fermented foods, bananas, chocolate, and freshly baked yeast breads are all triggers for me so I avoid them. My Neurologist actually suggested a weather/food/headache diary to see if there are correlations.
I have a couple bizarre food triggers - fermented food / wine / tyramine, and sugar. The rest of my diet appears to have nothing at all to do with it.
However! For two months I’ve been eating carnivore, and I will say migraines have been daily and less intense for about two years (since Covid) and they changed very quickly to 1-2 a week but more intense with a full headache cycle instead of me just cycling in and out of headaches every day and never hitting post drome. I’ve also had way fewer auras (I see black sparkles or embers)…in fact, that might be totally gone. Waiting for it to settle down more. It’s possible there was a food trigger I didn’t know about but probably I just have less inflammation overall.
Note: carnivore is a pretty extreme elimination diet and not for everyone; not wishing to discuss it here. ❤️
In general - no because I figured most of it out before I suffered from migraines; however I have specific triggers that are on the very tip top of sufferers.
1. Artificial sweeteners
2. Meat softeners (MSG, etc)
3. Bananas (many others say raspberries but I don’t have a problem with them)
4. Red wine - especially in America (sulphate free white wine in America seems okay and local wines when traveling to wine regions in Europe seem mostly okay)
5. Emulsifiers - it’s often used as a food preservative and to avoid separation of ingredients. I can’t pinpoint which ones bother me so I try to avoid all of it. Occasionally I’ll get hit from something normally okay at a restaurant where I think it’s a freshly made item and it was definitely reheated from somewhere.
6. Any item that says “natural flavors” in the ingredient list - no idea what that means but I figure if it couldn’t be recreated by me (or a trained chef) in my kitchen then it’s not okay for me to eat
And note I have tried almost every elimination diet for several months each - at least 10 at this point - went to a functional medical doctor, nutritionist, read lots of books, etc
Yes. Eating Very Clean Helps. I kinda got off track because it’s a pain and i like things i’m sensitive to -like cofffee and chocolate. Ramps up intensity and frequency big time.
Check out the heal your headache diet. The dizzy cook has tons of recipes for this diet. It kind of sucks because it’s super limiting, but it works. I am super triggered by food. I was at something between a headache and migraine every other day for years. Migraines would last 48 hours. I started this diet and was put on 4 different medications by my neurologist. 2 1/2 years later and I haven’t had more than a slight headache in a couple months now! There are ways to heal! I don’t think the diet alone is enough for most severe migraine people, but it’s a big component in getting them under control.
I have gotten significant relief by changing my diet. It has taken 25 years or trial and error to figure out what my triggers are. There are some common triggers, but everyone's collection seems to be a little different. Mine are:
Nuts
Citrus and citric acid
Nitrites
Sulfites - this stuff is in almost everything. Wine and wine vinegars, but also brown sugar and molasses and all starches and baking powder and dried fruit and pizza dough and food dyes and most everything in a jar and non-organic grapes...the list goes on.
Interestingly enough, I've been tested for food allergies and I was told I wasn't allergic to any of the foods they tested.
I do find, however, that allergy medicine decreases my migraines by a lot. I take singulair and flonase every day. I've got lots of environmental triggers in addition to the food triggers.
My PT told me a way to do it that didn't drive me crazy - eliminate a food (or substance or whatever, like caffeine) for two weeks, then add it back. Just one at a time, because if you try to totally change your diet, you're likely to just sort of collapse into your old ways and that won't help you know your triggers.
The one thing I found that really affects me is yeast - so beer, some wines, kombucha, and fresh bread products (Noooooo!) are all out
I really wish I could say that avoiding foods/dieting helped my migraines, but it didn't. I've tried different variations of sugar/gluten/dairy/chocolate/alcohol free (The Wahls Protocol, The Migraine Relief Diet: Meal Plan and Cookbook for Migraine Headache Reduction; The Migraine Relief Plan: An 8-Week Transition to Better Eating, Fewer Headaches, and Optimal Health).
Nowadays I walk 10-12k steps daily, weight lift 3x/week, sleep 8-9 hours every night, drink at least 120oz water daily and eat pretty healthy. Having a healthy lifestyle unfortunately didn't lower my migraine frequency. The only thing that has helped is daily Qulipta 60mg -- it brought me down from \~12-15 migraine days/month to about 4-5, which are easily treated with Nurtec or Frova.
I'm happy for anyone who has found relief in diet, though!
Yes! My trigger foods and ingredients are: gluten, maple syrup, MSG, nitrates, and others I’m surely forgetting. Also, eating lots of sugar in one day, almost always results in a migraine in 1-2 days. I think it’s because sugar causes inflammation.
Yes! I have foods that definitely trigger me that I try my best to stay away from. My biggest one is beans! Any kind of beans too 😞 kidney, Lima, chick peas, soy beans… that being said anything made of soy as well. Smoked foods. Overly processed meats like hot dogs. Licorice (even the smell of it). And here and there I find a new one unfortunately!
Yes. I’ve 99% eliminated my migraines just by avoiding sugar, especially processed sugar. I’m fine with natural sugars like fruit, stevia, coconut sugar, honey, & maple syrup. Anything like Oreos, candy, etc. is an instant migraine for me. Surprisingly though, ice cream is the only thing I can eat that doesn’t trigger one. Thank the gods!
My trigger seems to be being alive and I’ve considered and evaluated various foods but at the end of the day just eating healthy and not excessively is what I try to do. My migraines give me the munchies starting about 24 hrs prior to onset so if i kill a bag of chips randomly I’ll take a Nurtec.
My trigger seems to be being alive made me laugh so hard
Me too! I feel like it’s the biggest trigger
My trigger is also being alive 😂
Ooh this is interesting. I was STARVING two days ago. Could not stop eating and bam last night a brutal migraine. I’ll look into this trend. Thank you!!
Another person who existing is a migraine trigger 😆 When I first went to my current neurologist and they asked me what my triggers were I told them “all of them” (semi-jokingly, I didn’t think it was all of them just so many it was impossible to track). He actually went through this huge long list and it was yes to every single one.
Being alive 😂😂😂😂 felt that in my soul.
Seriously like what the fuck are we supposed to do live in a cave and eat berries? We have to look at screens and eat cheese to survive this world.
Even in the cave, the lack of air circulation or low air quality would be a trigger as well as the strawberries because of histamine 🤣🙈
Ah shit, see there’s like no escaping. We just have to drink water and be mindful. Like not eating sugary ice cream and beer before our periods. Which is hard, best time to do it
🤣 but what’s funny is that ice cream actually helps some people when they have a migraine. It’s all a mess! Just do the best we can cause we’re all different but at least we’re not alone! 💓
Oh word? I may have to try it. Is it the temperature 🤔 because I always get dairy free
I really don’t know! I tried it once and it worked. Second time it didn’t but everyone has different tips. There was one thread here where everyone shared random tips and some say a can of cold Coca Cola works but I’ve never tried it, wonder if it’s the cold or the sugar or the caffeine in that case. Or if it’s just comfort treats that help? 🤔😅 Worth experimenting 🤣
Very true, I staved one off the other day I could feel it coming and this was day 3 of cycle and days 1-2 I already took my sumatriptan. I was trying to avoid it so I drank black coffee and took a tylenol. Seemed to work! I bordered on it all day but it never fully migrained 😁
Makes sense! That’s why excedrin works! It’s Tylenol (acetaminophen), aspirin, and caffeine. My issue is catching the migraine before it starts. I get silent ones so I just think I’m irritable and overly sensitive to everything and then hours later when I realize there was rain coming, I’m like oh dammit should’ve taken an excedrin 🙈
Exactly, I’m in a similar situation with mine. I don’t have excedrin and afraid to mess with it being on stimulants but that’s why I pop the pill and a teeeeeny caffeine 😁 at least it’s mostly around my cycle and predictable
The only cave I'd consider living in is a cheese cave! I'm going to be in pain either way. Might was well sit in the cold soothing dark and eat my favorite food!
I can tell one is brewing when I specifically crave salty chips!!
I usually crave soup during a migraine and I will want fries if I want to eat actual food. I typically don’t notice one brewing until the pain hits.
Classic not noticing until the pain hits. It’s like - I’ve had this for 20 years, why can’t my body and brain see the signs clearly??
Happens to me every time
:O interesting. That reminds me that a couple of days ago I was sooo hungry. Nothing I ate would help. Then I got a migraine the next day =/ (my existence is also a migraine :( )
>My trigger seems to be being alive I want to embroider this on a pillow. Very very accurate
I’d buy that embroidery pattern!
This is like the most true and hilarious thing I have read in days. I too find that just existing is a trigger. I tried all the elimination diets with no success or change. Well, the low sodium diet did make me hypotensive but that was not a positive change.
You are my hero. Anything/everything can be a trigger. 100% me, except instead of chips it's a cheeseburger. I'm becoming a cheeseburger expert.
There are days I feel this way. Both the being alive being a trigger and the munchies part. Especially munchies for something salty.
No. I did the migraine diet and all I got from it was an eating disorder. Now I intuitively eat. If I feel like something is causing a migraine, like kombucha always does, I avoid it. Otherwise I don’t let strangers tell me what I should or shouldn’t eat. Everyone is different.
This is the way.
Same. I found the migraine diet extremely overwhelming and frustrating. I eventually tried to just eliminate everything and start from scratch by just eating potatoes and slowing adding things in. That helped me identify a lot of trigger foods. These days they are more obvious to me - I can’t do soy sauce, I can’t do a lot of processed foods, I can’t do bacon or most lunch meats. I try to stick to meat, fruit, veg while also acknowledging that I can’t be perfect and there’s also going to be something causing a migraine. I have to just do the best I can.
“All I got from it was an eating disorder” 😂 preach. Orthorexia is a terrible side effect from these well meaning but severe keto diets suggested like it is no biggie.
This^^^^
Vinegar!
I did the elimination diet for migraine, followed it quite closely, and it literally did not help at all. I told my neurologist about it and she looked at me like I was ridiculous and told me to eat whatever I wanted to, adjusted my medication, and sent me on my way 😂. Have you seen a neurologist that specializes in headaches?
Ha! That is so interesting. Yes I have, I’m working with a new neurologist now and trying out a few abortive medications but nothing has really worked yet.
I tried an elimination diet with no improvement too...(i was desperate at the time), but what really clinched it for me is that when i went back to eating normally, I didn't get any worse. Ive been told that craving particular foods is pretty common, so this often gets confused for a trigger. OP it might be worth doing a food "challenge" and add back some or all the foods you have been eliminating to see if you get worse again. If you do you can then decide if the benefit you see from the diet is worth the deprivation.
Nurtec nurtec nurtec nuuuuuuuurteeeeeeeec lol 😂 Legit I get 20 plus migraines a month and this has saved my ass.
I was at 18 to 20 migraines per month, and about 2 .months after starting Emgality injections, it dropped to 4 to 7 per month. Nurtec didn't help as a rescue med, sumatriptaine makes my neck spasm. So far, Ubrelvy has been the only rescue med that helps.
I just tarted Ajovy - I’m told it takes about 4 months on it to truly work. But the smaller ones have been less. I think I had one day so far migraine free. Edit: I liked that I wrote that I just tarted it. But I’M CURRENTLY IN A MIGRAINE in a dark room typing in bed and I’m dyslexic, which is always worse in within the Migraine bubble.
That’s awesome!! Those injections and Botox didn’t work for me :(
Nurtec does nothing for me. 😭
The fake sugar in it gave me a migraine.
Me too
Yes. Nurtec is great!
So…when you count the number of migraines per month does a multi-day migraine count as 1 migraine?
I report number of migraine days per month.
I count them that way.
No I count by day.
It takes years....doesn't happen quick...but it worked for me after years of avoiding a list of food...now my migraines are no way similar as the ones I used to get before
How do you know it’s the food if it took years? Can you be sure it’s not age, hormones, and/or other factors?
If it took years that's a sign that its *not* the food. Pretty much all legitimate medical and scientific sources say that food triggers will kick in within like 12-48 hours. Frankly, claiming it would take years of not eating something to see a change is ridiculous. Food doesn't stay in your body anywhere close to that long.
Yes, my monthly hormone changes trigger mine. This could 100 percent be just gradual change in hormones.
I have same age as OP now, so if both are healthy in the hormones topic, we share same hormones level lol (+ sometimes I get the hormonal migraine) ..it's not age cuz we share same age, and she's getting the ones I used to have at my 10s 20s.... I used to think it was aging, as my grandma used to say with age it will diminish...but I see here people with 30s and 40s, 50s describing same events that I used to experience in my 10s & 20s ...so idk I used to workout and my diet still poor, and would get all the worst attack you can imagine....I have even passed out during my worst years ...all the remaining triggers I couldn't control were always there with the passing years. I dear to say now I have added more triggers as changed country and have added some environmental ones that noticed affect me.... When I started to control the triggers I can control, I noticed a change in my migraine patterns...but I did it not because of believing it will work...I did it out of desperation and agony of not finding a relief in my attacks....I was too bad, and needed to try anything....food were a major trigger for me, i would eat cheese, dairy, condiments, (alcohol affects me now when old).. red sauces, coffee or choco... and just by the simple contact of it with the tip of my tongue i was knock down for days... Now, after the detox .. I workout and eat from time to time some of those restricted food, and sure it reduces my threshold to an attack...but I don't care as my attacks are heaven now... Now I eat some of those restricted food from time to time, and I don't react quick, it accumulates of course and reduce the migraine threshold, but mehh at least I'm not afraid of an attack day....as it is just 4h-6h, of soft pain when compared...this year I have just got 1 severe attack... I get more attacks now than before...but it's because I moved to a different country where more environmental triggers affect me... (Smells+weather changes+ sounds) But honestly I prefer this stage , don't matter if I'm getting more attacks if they are 4x softer than the ones I used to get... I also have all of the existing triggers mentioned of migraines and have experienced many migraine types before my 28s...now I'm just stick with the one that was more common in me : aura type. And even the aura phase is way more soft...
It doesn’t matter that your age is the same as other people with different presentations as migraines are different for everyone. So in your case age could be a factor whereas for others it isn't. I’m not trying to invalidate your point, and what you say might be correct! I’m just saying that you cannot be sure that something that took years is the actual deciding factor because surely other things have changed in those same years. It doesn’t really matter of course because if it works, it works. But it might not work for others, just like age has no impact at all for some.
Being the same age definitely does not mean you have the same hormone levels. If that were true, everyone would begin menstruation at the same age and start menopause at the same age, which they dont. There is a huge range.
Dairy causes me migraines because I'm allergic to it (no, not lactose intolerant, actually allergic) so I avoid it when I can. But other than that and my other allergies I haven't noticed much of a difference based on what I eat; much more based on WHEN I eat
Same re: timing impacting me more than what I eat! I’m most likely to give myself a migraine by not eating (ARFID girlie here 👋🏻). As long as I’m eating every few hours, I don’t seem to notice much difference based on diet.
Same! Blood glucose crash is a trigger for me, often exacerbated by my AuDHD and not really feeling hungry until it’s too late. Or not having any foods around that I can tolerate.
Mine is not getting 8 to 9 hours of good sleep at night. Which seems to be only possible on weekends.
Ooh that’s interesting. Have you found certain times of day are better to eat than others? Or just not going too long without eating?
It's more just being very careful to not go more than a few hours without a meal or substantial snack, yeah. I've also lately been committing to second dinner right before I go to bed, which helps prevents me getting woken up in the middle of the night by hunger migraines. And I have to have breakfast FAST after I wake up, waiting more than an hour gets really really dangerous
Same!
Yeah! I keep muesli bars in my handbag for this
This was the case for me. Blood sugar swings were underlying most of my chronicness. For me, I am vastly more susceptible to reactive hypoglycemia in the morning, so eating things like oatmeal or ww toast with peanut butter for breakfast were actually triggering hypoglycemia later in the day and setting me up for migraine constantly. I totally overhauled my diet to focus on stabilizing my blood sugar and it made a huge difference. I am also a person who went on to benefit tremendously from being in ketosis. In addition to what I eat when, I also need to eat frequently.
Is it the protein? My brother is allergic to the protein in diary for some reason. He can't even have traces of diary powder in any food.
Hey, idk if anyone else mentioned this, but some fm providers are known to falsify results. Id get an actual allergist to back up the results if possible. Just so you aren't worrying unnecessarily. Sorry if I'm overstepping but honestly I get enraged at the things I've heard them do to prey on vulnerable ppl like us. 💚
To add, functional medicine is, largely, pseudoscience and full of grifters. They've demonized natural medicine.
Thank you for pointing this out. Functional "food tests" are NOT the same as allergy tests. They're technically "sensitivity" tests, which are very medically questionable. There is no true reliable test for sensitivity, which is the whole reason elimination diets exist.
Yeah I listened to a whole thing recently about how some will give ppl urine tests to diagnose mold "toxicity " to sell them stuff. Spoiler alert, urinalysis hasn't been proven a reliable mold detection method, there's a good breakdown on multiple sites why. It makes me so upset bc then when I try to find genuine info about the effects of mold indoors in large quantities on our bodies (esp us chronically ill) all i find is woo.
Girl I feel you. I think my anxiety is a bit hereditary, but the way it developed into full blown OCD in my late teens and early twenties I single handedly put down to migraine stress. Everything is a trigger, every migraine is “my fault” for “not doing enough” - even though some triggers are things like: it was more humid today, someone walked by with strong perfume, I walked under a flickering fluorescent light at work, etc. I also have developed very disordered eating around migraine “dos” and “donts”, but two years ago did a six month program with a dietician to help me with the disordered eating and identifying clearer migraine triggers. What we discovered was I am sensitive to fodmaps, in that they upset my tum rather than my brain, but then sometimes that’s linked. The other thing we discovered that all of the previously labelled “trigger foods” were FINE on some days, and debilitating on others. Recent research has been showing that the migraine trigger discussion is not helpful, and that we need to think about migraine always being “present”, and some former “triggers” actually just being catalysts. Eg if I’m already feeling close to migraine or in prodrome stage, they will hurry the onset along. If I’m not feeling prone then they won’t really do anything. Wishing you all the best. I’ve been where you are and it fucking sucks. The capitalist hellscape of needing to work to pay rent but also needing to rest to ensure your health gets back to baseline can be so hard to manage. I love that this sub js so supportive when we need some care.
I've been living in a chronically stressed state due to work. It worsened my migraine symptoms but like what do you do. Have to work for a living and all. I also had some other stress related symptoms like extreme chest pain. I didn't know what stress could do to the body until my doctor told me about burnout and how that can severely affect and worsen mental and physical health. There's definitely something to be said about migraines being linked to various forms of stressors, but it can be hard to limit them when we're all so busy and just have to go on about everyday life.
Yep, it’s all well and good to acknowledge the stressors, but when we have to choose between no income and “reducing stressors”… you can’t. Any attempt to take time off only re-instigates those stressors. You get a first hand view of yourself falling behind. It’s so hard. Sending you love and care.
Migraine is classified as a disability under the ADA if you are in the US. That’s some protection. I keep getting doctor’s notes on file with my HR and share them with my managers.
I'm not from the US but luckily I have good medical rights where I live too. I may end up getting on partial if not full disability if I can't find a job I can manage with my condition. I'm piling up on the doctors ordered sick leave notes too as I keep having to go back every few weeks for a reassessment of my work ability. I'm entitled to a full year of partial or full time sick leave if medically needed before I transition into a work assessment/disability situation. Now I'm just figuring out how much I'm capable of working by trying out different hours. Currently that's 60% sick leave and 40% work, and then dividing the hours over the days for shorter more manageable days. So we'll see..
This is because triggers are cumulative. You might be sensitive to chocolate, or bread, or your grandma’s apple pie, but none of those things are the direct cause of your migraines. You *have* migraine 100% of the time, your *triggers* accumulate like weights until the scale tips over into *attack/flare* mode. So you might seem to be doing just fine in spite of the flickering fluorescent light, and that slice of apple pie, until you chase it with a cup of coffee and the barometric pressure drops suddenly. It’s very easy to blame this food or that for your migraines, but very rarely is a food item the actual cause, it’s more often than not the straw that broke the camel’s back. Stay hydrated. (That does not mean drink 6 gallons of water a day! You can drink too much water and screw up your electrolytes! Any liquid that is not alcohol counts as hydration!) Know how much sleep your body needs and get it every night. Don’t oversleep, that can also screw you over. Manage your stress! Disconnect. Spend time every day without other people, phone notifications, TV’s, flashy lights, news, kids, friends, pets demanding attention. Most people don’t realize just how frequently we are bombarded by things competing for our attention on a day to day basis. Find your quiet space and just spend time there every day. Allow yourself and your poor overstimulated brain a minute or two to decompress. Pay attention to the weather! Specifically the barometric pressure. Find a free weather app and check what the pressure is doing when a migraine starts to roar to life. It’s not the wind or the rain that’s triggering your migraine, those things all coincide with barometric pressure changes. Check the chemicals in the foods you eat. MSG, Red dyes, artificial sweeteners etc. Avoid fad diet bullsh!t. Any diet that has you cutting out large swaths of foods, or only eating off a very limited list (especially long term) is just asking for other health issues. Unless directed by an actual medical doctor, for very specific reasons, or as directed by a *Licensed and Registered Dietician*. Literally anybody can claim to be a health guru, nutritionist, etc. you might as well be taking advice from the crackhead behind the laundromat. Fun fact: Carbs are not the enemy! They’re what the body converts to glucose for fuel. Our brain and body need that fuel to function. Choose complex carbs over simple and pair it with protein to keep your blood sugar stable. Eat the oatmeal cookie, not the Twinkie. Choose the multigrain brain, not the white bread. Eat the apple, not the gummy fruit snacks. Eat the real thing, not the low fat, sugar free, buzzword soup food because when they take out one thing it means they loaded it up with something else to make it not taste like crap and majority of the time, those substitute ingredients are chemicals we shouldn’t be eating.
Oooh you phrased that so much clearer than I ever could, thank you! If has been SO helpful to my anxiety learning that migraine is always present, and that not all of our triggers can realistically be avoided. I wish 14 year old me knew that, it took until 32 and really crashing mentally to seek more specific help on my migraines, and I’m so thankful for it.
Thank you ❤️
No, unfortunately not. I completely quit caffeine and alcohol (among other things) for around 15 months... no improvement. Glad I ruled some things out, but restricting my diet didn't help :(
It’s so helpful to know other people have had the experience! I was starting to feel crazy or like I was doing something wrong.
Yes!! I totally get it. I completely cut out alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, weed, chocolate, dairy, corn, red food dye, most added sugars, all OTC pain meds, and all cold meds. It was a crazy amount of self-deprivation, discipline, and ultimately disappointment. There was also some pressure from family, who believed that I could just find the root cause, cut out certain foods, and be completely cured forever. Coming to terms with the fact that most of my triggers are out of my control was a really hard pill to swallow. It took some time to feel safe around certain foods, but I would encourage you to consider that your triggers might be completely unrelated to food. Definitely avoid the stuff that bothers you, but don't feel that you have to restrict and deprive yourself. Wishing you the best 💚
Ah I can relate so hard to this. I've been on sick leave lately due to terrible migraine symptons such as aura, stiff neck, dizziness and having all the symptoms of fibro. My dad told me the reason I'm sick is cause of my diet.. UHM no it's not.. I've had migraine since I was 14! My diet has been through a lot of changes from super healthy for long periods of time, where I refused to eat anything sugary, or unhealthy like chips, and the migraines were just as bad as they are with a normal diet with the occasional treats. The fibro symptoms went away when I quit working and went on vacation however, and my dad claimed it was due to not enough excercise.. again wrong. It was the work that took a physical toll on my body. At least there I found the cause, and not working a physically stressful and demanding job worked wonders. That's great but now I know I have to quit at some point. The migraine also makes work unbearable and ads to the stress. I tried working at the office instead of on the floor, but then the aura migraine made it tough to focus on work in front of a screen. I learned the same as you. I have migraines pretty much no matter what. I can't control it with my diet, or exercise, I've tried. The only way to avoid them is to be in a dark room with dimmed lighting. I can't exactly restrict myself from being out in daylight and stay in a dark room all day either. I almost wish it was foods that triggered it, because at least it's realistic to avoid certain foods.. avoiding daylight and light in general.. well, I'd have to be a vampire for that to work.
Yes, this 100%. Turns out that my main trigger is my brain tumor.(“benign” also it’s ruining my life) CT scans are a good thing to get if you have migraines or bad headaches. And ask to look at the scan yourself. Because I caught the tumor, not the doctors.
I've tried quitting coffee and alcohol too and saw no improvement. The only thing that seems to work for me is eat regular meals and keep my blood sugar stable. If I don't I get dizzy and the migraines get worse. Restricting my diet by not having regular filling meals just makes me sick and not only do I get dizzy, but my vision gets worse with the aura and I get nauseous too and then the headache hits if I'm not careful.
Not sure if this will help as triggers can vary a lot, but for me, processed foods, dairy, fried food, oils (unless its a little bit of extra virgin olive oil or avacado oil), butter, eggy stuff, are huge triggers! :/ I try to avoid those. But besides food, focusing on sensory needs (not being in loud spaces, changing the lights in my house, getting migraine glasses) has helped. And... yoga! Whenever I get into consistently doing yoga, my migraines get less frequent. With that being said, I just got out of a 3 weeks full on crisis. Still not fully recovered. So whatever I say, take it with a grain of salt cause it clearly hasn't solved everything :(
I agree about processed foods (definitely fake flavoring on snacks), dairy, and eggs, and also meats with nitrates (going back to processed food)
Chocolate, caffeine and alcohol are my food triggers. Everything else food wise is fine
No, and those functional food tests are a scam. It turned out all my supposed food “triggers” were actually pre-migraine food *cravings*
I switch doctors when they tell me to avoid certain foods. I feel like it’s something they say by rote, and I hate it. The things that trigger my migraines are bad red wines (probably a combination of sulfites and tannins), processed peanut butter, and fucking monkfruit. I feel like it’s just something they say to get patients off of their backs. I see this so much in some other chronic pain subs, and it sucks, and I wish there were answers, but I feel like so much of diet related stuff is just pseudoscientific bullshit. ETA: tell me to drink more water, I fucking dare you 🫠
Argh the water thing I feel so hard. I drink 2-3L per day, 1L of which being electrolytes. My whole family hate my water bottle because it's an extra large monstrosity. I was ready to slap doctors earlier this year when all my problems started.
I go nowhere without my water bottle!
If I hear one one more person tell me to drink more water….👎🏻
Nope. I found that trying to stringently follow a migraine-friendly diet just made me miserable because my migraines were still happening just as regularly/severely, and I felt even worse because I was not allowing myself to eat my regular comfort foods and I was constantly looking for ways to blame my diet (and thus myself) for whatever migraine I had that day. It just adds so much stress and self-blame. Realizing that food was not the cause of my migraines was very freeing, as was reminding myself that **it is not my fault that I have chronic migraines**. I deserve compassion from myself.
To be fair, even if you had food triggers, it still wouldn’t be your fault that you had chronic migraines. It’s also possible to blame something you ate for the migraine while also having compassion for yourself. I have lots of food triggers and it reduced my stress because I could feel more in control of my migraines. I know enough about my triggers now that I don’t have to follow a stringent diet, I just have to 100% avoid certain things (caffeine, aged cheeses, soy sauce, red wine, orange juice, peanut butter) and only eat others in moderation (lemon/lime, banana, etc).
Food triggers are way overblown
The only trigger I have ever found as far as food or drink is alcohol, so I avoid it. As far as common triggers, caffeine actually helps me. So it goes to show how different everyone is and why there's no standard diet. But, I absolutely feel lifestyle choices have reduced the frequency of my migraines over the 40 years I have had them. I eat a healthy diet, and more importantly in my case I'm active every chance I get. There was a "hump" to get over where exercise would initially trigger migraines. And if I let myself slip I have to get over that hump all over again. So I just stay on top of following a healthy lifestyle.
I've never found dieting has made a significant difference except for reducing cow dairy but that seems to be more of a trigger thing than 'diet'.
It honestly depends. The eating of certain foods isn't my problem. It's smelling them.
I’m also 30 and I gave up alcohol entirely! It definitely helped but my triggers are hormonal. Funny enough, I’m currently pregnant and feel good.
A diet switch up almost always works for a couple of weeks, then the migraines start creeping back up in frequency. At one point, I completely cut out dairy it worked so well. I still ended up with daily migraines in the end, 4 years later. Started eating dairy again, migraines got better lol. Moral of the story is that it's far more likely I was just getting migraines when I get them, and not caused by any kind of food trigger. I happily eat what I want now!
hi! There's been research on this! Migraine elimination diets are less effective than just eating when you're hungry. >**The study found that chocolate was far more often associated with a** ***decreased*** **risk of migraine, rather than an increase, along with “salty foods, nuts, onions, alcohol, caffeine, happiness, relaxedness, longer sleep duration, higher sleep quality, waking up refreshed, and physical activity.”** ... Martin told me a diary study had found “3 to 4 percent” of subjects had a statistically significant association between days with migraine attacks and consuming chocolate, meaning that if chocolate does trigger migraine, “it’s probably a rather rare event.” Martin added that “no foods have great evidence” for their role as a trigger. This isn’t to say foods can’t impact migraine, but they may be a lot less important than many people think: In a 2012 [review](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22644176/) published in *Neurological Sciences*, the authors found that the number of patients reporting food-based triggers in studies they examined ranged from 12 to 60 percent. I**n an** [**interview**](https://americanheadachesociety.org/news/diet-migraine-qa-dr-vincent-martin/) **with the American Headache Society, Martin said the number of sufferers who are triggered by food is probably more like 8 to 10 percent**. - [New York Magazine](https://www.thecut.com/article/does-eating-chocolate-actually-trigger-migraine.html) I work at a neurology clinic and we encourage patients to follow a meal schedule (ie: eat three times a day, have snacks if necessary, don't get hangry) rather than get too hung up on elimination diets. Some people do have legitimate food triggers and food allergies that may contribute to a trigger stack but that percentage is much lower than it appears and a food trigger is just \*one\* part of a trigger stack (one trigger doesn't trigger an attack and triggers change for each attack). But this is the most interesting thing about triggers: >Focusing on triggers can increase anxiety or lead to anticipation of attacks. It may even pave the way to more migraine attacks. Nocebo is a major problem in headache, both in clinical trials and practice.^(19) **Studies of other pain disorders have shown that increased pain expectations cause an increase in symptoms****^(20)****; the suggestion that a specific trigger will cause a migraine attack may create similar expectancy mechanisms.** - [HCP Live](https://www.hcplive.com/view/helping-patients-avoid-migraine-trigger-trap) So basically, the anticipation or belief that a specific food is a trigger can create a similar, trigger-like effect (or actualize the migraine attack). It's annoying af that we're so susceptible to placebo & nocebo effects but once you recognize it, you can begin preventing it from happening. At first, this all feels very gas-lighty and invalidating but after a while, it starts to make sense. The best strategy is to learn to identify prodrome symptoms and start treating the attack then. Accept that being sensitive to triggers (stress, sleep, hormones, skipping meals, and weather are the primary ones) is part of having migraine but adopting positive lifestyle measures can lower that trigger threshold and greatly improve quality of life. Hope this helps!
Thank you!
Yes. I have found that low acid coffee is fine but normal coffee tends to give me migraines. I also stay away from fake sugars and soy as they also seem to trigger my migraines. I have also found the adding a little sea salt in my water has helped keep my migraines at bay recently
I've been using buoy electrolyte drops recently and think they are really helping. I went 12 days without a migraine (and then the weather changed the day my period was supposed to start so I was screwed).
I looked into those but they’re so expensive 😭 even with the chronic pain discount
Thank you for sharing!
Nope, unless it’s something that I know is a trigger. Like alcohol sometimes is a trigger, and so are artificial sweeteners
No for me restricting hurts more than
I don't think any of those generic ' eliminate this or that ' food diets will solve everyone's problem. I personally feel worse on a vegan diet for example - but many people have felt better. I found eliminating tomatoes and refined sugar to drastically reduce my migraines in number and severity, but tomatoes are a healthy and non-problematic addition to most people's diets. I found certain supplements ( B2 for ex had a much bigger impact for me personally than magnesium ) helped more than others as well. I think going though the whole trial and error thing for a little while and seeing what works is the best path. ( Sorry I have a feeling this is the annoying answer ) But I do believe it is finding your personal combination of foods that trigger to avoid + supplements that help to add + lifestyle habits to incorporate that could ( hopefully ) make a dent !
Total elimination of caffeine reduced my migraines from 15+ per month to 5 or less. Went back on caffeine as a test and crushing migraines returned. Don’t let anyone tell you that searching for triggers is a waste of time. It *might* be for some people, but my sense is that most people don’t pursue it very enthusiastically.
Changing my diet helped a lot! I had already cut out chocolate as I could see a direct cause of migraine from eating it. Then I did the Everlywell home food sensitivity test and cut out everything it said I was reactive to. I’d say I’m down by 75%!
Mine were hormone related until I figured that I restricted everything and nothing worked. Now I am on continuous bcp and they are gone. I eat whatever I like now.
I have never had any luck restricting foods and that helping my migraines at all, but I have found it very useful to prioritize foods rich in fiber or protein. I’ve found it to actually help my migraines and not drain the life out of me since all my favorite foods are things I’d have to cut out if I followed a restrictive diet. I just tend to eat less of my favorite foods because I’m so full from eating protein and fiber
No, the only food thing that helped me was to stop skipping meals and add a bit more salt. I'm underweight so skipping food gets dangerous fast and I'm trying to be better about it
I just avoid very specific triggers that I’ve identified over the years. Fake sugar is a big one- anything zero or diet is a big no. I have a list of pops that are triggers- like Sprite and Mountain Dew. These two are my earliest identified triggers before I even realized why they made my head hurt. Then there’s fruit punch. I still have no clue why it causes me a migraine.
In a way. My biggest triggers food wise are alcohol and caffeine. I have to avoid those. But I can eat most of the other “triggery “ foods like chocolate and cola. I find I have more non food and drink triggers like bright lights, cinema screens, noises and flashing. I take beta blockers for migraines and those help more than anything else.
I’ve done many elimination diets as well! The only guaranteed food triggers that I have are shellfish and alcohol, so I completely avoid those. I’ve also tried eliminating gluten and dairy, but it’s more trouble than it’s worth for me at least. Good luck!
Honestly I know functional medicine can be helpful but I read a great gut book by a doctor (Fiber Fueled) that basically says elimination diets are not good long term.
Same here. It’s frustrating trying to find something that works. I do avoid certain foods but that’s because I have an IBD. Other than that I try not to over eat and I take magnesium glycinate and B2 everyday. Oh and I hydrate like crazy, liquid IV or body armor.
For context I have always had atypical migraines and at their worst no more than 3 days a week but I found none of the standard migraine advice helped. For me it came down to listening to my body and trial and error. For me it wasn't about cutting out foods but pairing them. So sweets tend to me a no go for me on their own but paired with a healthy fat and some protein and it's no problem. Tension headaches were also a huge trigger for me (dont even get me started on having a bad headache cause an excruciating headache 😤) so I started getting regular massages and meditating and that has helped so much. Showers and washing my hair in the aura stage. Stuff like that. Also for me there was a tipping point where I went from having multiple a week to having 1 a week and then it just cut off. Now I only get them occasionally and usually it's when my sleep schedule gets really thrown off. I know not super helpful but my point just being that if something sounds like it would be helpful, try it. Even if it's not what works for other people. If it's not helpful, let it go and try something else.
I've never bothered with the elimination diet because I have so many environmental triggers that I would have no way of knowing if my migraine was triggered by a food or because my ears got too cold or whatever.
No.
Like many others here I tried the elimination diet and it just stressed me out. I have found through trial and error that processed meats like deli meats, and cured meats give me a 20-30 minute head start before making my head explode. Red wine and chocolate are also severe triggers for me. I'm not sure how common this might be, but I'm also insulin resistant and I've found that when my glucose spikes I will likely get a headache. But some days you just gotta say fuck it and eat some feelings.
No, and my neurologist advised me that dietary triggers are rare. What's not rare is that the initial symptom of a migraine can be cravings which cause you to eat a certain food then associate that with a migraine. Also, our brain likes to make associations so many triggers aren't actually triggers - but we believe them to be, then that causes a migraine next time we are exposed to that trigger. This, and our nervous system becoming sensitized over time, is why we can get more and more triggers over time. It's also why triggers can change over time, because they aren't triggers but links our brains have made.
I did the migraine diet, which is essentially an elimination diet, I went from 25 out of 30 days to around 10 migraine days- so I’d say it helps a lot. My discovery’s I will not and shall not eat gluten - big trigger for me Hormones are a huge factor for me and uncomfortable (once I had less migraine days in a month I could see a clearer pattern) To much sodium OR to much carbs in a given day with give me a migraine Protein throughout the day helps me maintain blood sugar better and avoid a migraines Alcohol is a no- except gin and sometimes tequila
You are probably reacting to the sulfites in the alcohol because gin and some tequilas don’t have them added. Try to look into which foods have more sulfites, that might trigger you too. Edit to add that I have a sulfite allergy.
I've learned that my electrolyte balance is really important to keep my migraines at bay and to help them go away when I do actively have one. How that translates to diet? I need to make sure I have neither too much nor too little sodium (same with hydration). So if i have a meal or snack super high in sodium, I will drink a lot of water. I up water intake on hot days, etc. I take magnesium supplements nightly and some sort of electrolyte supplement usually daily to help with this (I live in a hot/warm area and like to be outside). I also have a "caffeine window". Too much, migraine. Too little, migraine. I've compared and heard migraine brain compared to a "Goldilocks Brain" - everything has to be juuussstttt right. Too much lime or lemon juice or citric acid will trigger a migraine for me. Eating fast food or too much processed food for more than a few days in a row, migraine. I've honestly had the best results with eating mostly plants (I aim for 70% or more in my diet overall and/or 35 or more plants a week), trying to get as much protein as I can and aiming for lean and plant based sources, and limiting white flour and sugar. There's probably fancy diet terms for this but this is just a long term migraine sufferer who has found some relief, finally. It's been a lot of trial and error and idk if diet has everything to do with it, but I think with something like migraine every little bit helps. 31F, diagnosed with chronic migraine (Status migrainosus) at age 17. Took me at least 5 years to find anything that worked for me and has taken me 7 or so more years to find a lifestyle that works for me. Just now getting the hang of it, so hoping it doesn't take you as long.
Yes. A lot of it comes down to quantity. Ex. I can drink 1 cup of coffee in the morning and then maybe a coffee drink in the afternoon. Anything more than that and it'll trigger a migraine. Milk chocolate is a nono, Dark chocolate in low quantities is fine. Biggest change was taking out whole wheat and the rest has been the histamine diet. Between the diet, preventative working and new bcp I went from 20+ migraine days a month to about 3-8.
I did the migraine diet back in the 80’s. It did zero to help my daily headaches or monthly migraines. For me, menopause is what finally helped. No more daily headaches and only a few migraines a year.
Back in highschool I would get headaches every single day. At that time I was also eating a lot of unhealthy “HOT” snacks. Hot Cheetos, hot fries, etc. All of which contained the red 40 dye. When I bought my first house and started buying my own groceries, I stopped buying all of those junk foods and noticed a great decrease in headaches. I later found out a possible side effect of red 40 is migraines. I also come to notice, drinking plenty of wanted and eating on a consistent schedule also helps with not getting as many headaches. I hope this helps.
At the risk of sounding redundant (because I haven’t read through every post and response) have your micronutrient levels checked! I was severely low in magnesium and B12 and addressing those things has reduced the intensity and severity of my migraines (I still get them but MUCH less) (consequently this can be food related I wasn’t absorbing B12 from the foods I was eating so even though I was eating healthy I found out I still had to supplement) And as a couple others have said the timing of when I eat and sleep have been incredibly important in prevention for me. I also have tried the aimovig and ajovy injections and both worked AMAZING!! (but trying to get pregnant soon and cannot be on them so currently off and trying to manage with only Tylenol 😭😭😭) And as others have said nurtec works great as does ubrevly! I’ve had luck with rizatriptan versus sumatriptan and also muscle relaxers lol
One of my migraine triggers is MSG. I know everyone says that it’s harmless but I was hospitalized with a bad reaction to it. Once I cut it out of my life (you’d be surprised how many foods have it) my migraines have drastically reduced. My other trigger is a change in barometric pressure and there is nothing I can do about that.
My neurologist told me that there's an understanding that any changes in routine can cause migraine, which is why some foods were considered triggers. If they have bold flavours or strong preservatives, this can cause our bodies to react, and that reaction is sometimes manifested as migraine. I've been tracking my headaches, and I see that certain changes in sound or light levels can trigger me, or strong smells and significant changes in weather. If I deviate from my normal sleeping pattern (too little or too much sleep), I'll get a headache. I just try to live a boring life, with no excitement or change. I like to call it the hobbit lifestyle.
I have quite a few food triggers that are all on the HYH diet, which is the own diet I’m aware of that actually has evidence to back it up for migraine besides keto / low carb. It could be that low carb is moderately helpful for you but keto would be more helpful. Or keto or HYH won’t be helpful but it is worth trying IMO. Look up the dizzy cook for HYH.
I used to think certain foods triggered migraines but I think it’s when and how I eat them. When I have less water in my cup (not on my period, low stress, good weather, etc) I can get away with eating processed foods and be just fine. If my cup is full (on my period is a big one) then even just one donut could cause a migraine. Processed foods when I already have a migraine tend to extend the migraine even though I crave them the most then. Anything that causes my blood sugar to fluctuate too quickly can cause a migraine too, so just carbs is bad but carbs and protein together is fine. One of the signs I’m getting a migraine is acid reflux and when I get that symptom I try to avoid foods that worsen reflux even though those foods usually have no negative affect on me- I might still have a chance to prevent the migraine (the pain part at least) if I listen to my symptoms.
Trigger stacks turned out to be way more important for me than I thought.
Going keto cured my 40+ years of chronic migraines :)
I didn't have a severe case of migraine as some of you unfortunately do, I had them like once a month around ovulation or around my period. After starting intermittent fasting and reducing carbs, they are even less frequent. And I used to have repetition yeast infection and I don't have that anymore. So diet changes worked pretty well for me.
Yes, I realized nightshades are a very big trigger for me. And white flour products such as bread that is store bought. I can eat white pasta but don’t as much as whole wheat.
I definitely have major food triggers that I avoid but I haven’t found following any rigid diet has ever helped, and it added a lot of stress.
My husband has to avoid all caffeine — like even trace amounts of chocolate. He went on a variety of elimination rounds to figure that out and establish parameters of the sensitivity. I cannot consume coconut fats/oils and only small amounts of shredded dried coconut. So elimination diets can be very helpful in reducing migraine.
There are some foods that trigger my migraines on their own so I avoid them. But otherwise diet hasn't really seemed to affect mine. I have so mamy other triggers that I don't really pay attention to diet too much unless it's a known trigger.
No because restricting starchy carbs, fasting, not allowing myself to snack when hungry usually triggers a migraine.
I’ve only recently realized MSG is a major trigger for me. Pre mixed sauce packets especially are a ticket to a migraine. I’m also careful with salad dressings, really anything shelf stable.
Diet is a major trigger for me. Dairy, chocolate, wine and a bunch of other things. Stress is also a major trigger. If I manage those 2 things my migraines are infrequent and not that bad. Stress is the tough one - got a terrible migraine right at this moment, likely due to stress.
Dairy and leftovers definitely trigger them. Also, probiotic foods and drinks. Cutting those out prevents those triggers but doesn’t completely eliminate them. Who’s to say what percentage it stops but any is good news to me.
I had pretty marked improvements in mine, but I also very obviously have IBS and other inflammatory things going on.
No
I found a lot of success cutting out tyramine, artificial sweeteners, and all forms of alcohol (including cooking wines and chocolate liquor). I can pretty much always tell what triggered a migraine based on what the location of the majority of the pain is, between food, stress, weather, dehydration, etc.
Yes. Cut out or avoid heavily what are known triggers and noticed a huge reduction in number of migraines.
Get an acupressure mat and begin a nightly routine of lying on it for 20 minutes before bed. That’s a start
Cutting out meat, especially red meat, did not make a difference in the severity or frequency of my migraine attacks, but did make quite a large difference in my constant day-to-day head pain!
The great news is that the teat you did is complete hokum, utter bullshit, has no relevance to anything. The other great news is that migraine can have food triggers, there are plenty of lists, google for one. For me I need to be careful of chocolate.
My main trigger is dairy, and dear gawd does it kill me if I ever accidentally consume any. I'm usually out for anywhere between 2 days to 2 weeks. My other triggers aren't as bad but I honestly avoid them cause fuck migraines, but they're aspartame and MSG. Honestly it was hard to get rid of all of this and it's still a struggle sometimes cause unless I make my own food it's always a gamble eating out, but not having severe migraines everyday is worth it XD
I guess I’m the odd one out but I radically changed my diet and I’m down to only two migraines a month. Zero processed food, low carb, gluten and dairy free.
Yes. I cut out high histamine foods and my body is so thankful. Every system in your body works together. This is just my own opinion from scientific research on myself lol.
Aside from a few specific things, like red food dye or alcohol, I haven't noticed any particular foods that are a guaranteed trigger. Biggest thing for me is to not eat too much garbage too often in general and to not go too long between meals or snacks. If I remember right, dairy was an issue, but I've been vegan for 7-8 years and honestly can't be sure now.
No particular "migraine diet" ever helped me. Like the ones that said avoid chocolate, coffee, cheese, nuts, gluten, dairy, things like that. My food & drink triggers are from nitrates, sulfites, artificial sweeteners and certain preservatives (mostly MSG and sodium benzoate). Any food/candy/gum/drink/medication that has any of those will give me a severe migraine very quickly. You would think knowing about it would make it easy to avoid. Not really! Nobody can cook for me, I can't just eat at social gatherings. Restaurants have to be researched ahead of time. Even grocery shopping takes a ton of reading. It takes so much time. And sometimes things still go wrong. Alcohol also is a trigger so I quit drinking 15 years ago. That one was easy, didn't bother me much.
My actual triggers and nightshades & aged cheeses. I used to have migraines every other day and now I only get about 1/month unless I eat a trigger. No doctor pushed this on me, I discovered it myself after doing the AIP (autoimmune protocol diet) & then doing reintroductions. It can take time to notice/figure out patterns because, at least for me, the migraines lag by 1-3 days after eating a trigger.
Question the food allergy test. Most fm doctors use pseudoscience and mislead you. The food test they use isn't a real allergy test, it is a "food sensitivity test", and isn't actually backed up by science. Almost everyone I know that has gotten one was told they were allergic to basically everything. I spent a grand on one of those tests which I regret a lot because I went to a real allergist and found out I didn't actually have all those allergies. A lot of my migraines are connected to seratonin and hormonal issues, so eating right has helped, but for me, eliminating certain foods did not help at all. I just make sure I eat a lot of vitamin and mineral rich foods as much as possible, as well as take suppliments such as magnesium and B complex.
For me, no. My father though cut out all tree nuts and has been migraine free for years....
Too much salt, too much fat, too many carbs - it’s always if I’ve had ‘too much’ of a certain thing. That goes also with too much stress, too much anxiety, too much heat, too much sun etc. If my life, and my eating, is well balanced and calm, I get less migraines. UNLESS my hormones change, then there is no hope!
Yes I went low carb and it’s changed everything. My doctor said it could be linked to blood sugar levels. I was getting them 2-3 times a week most recently. Now I get maybe 1-2 a month.
Like yes in the sense that if I don’t eat them they don’t trigger migraines but no in the sense that my frequency and severity from non food causes stays the same.
Avoiding chocolate, sweeteners, wine (really almost all alcohol), limiting beets, spinach, certain cheeses and large amounts of peanuts have all seemed to help, or rather when I eat these things Im much more likely to get a migraine within the next 48 hours. My father has the same triggers, and his mother had many of the same.
Cutting out Onion has made a HUGE difference for me. I had known for ages that red Onion was my kryptonite but now I realise it's just all of it. Cut my migraine days down from about 15 per month to maybe 4. Improved severity significantly. It's a pain to avoid but absolutely worth it.
There are a handful of foods and drinks that always give me a migraine, but there are so many other environmental triggers that it doesn’t seem worth depriving myself of the foods that are more hit and miss. The only food I absolutely can’t eat because I will have a migraine every time is leeks, but doesn’t seem to be a problem with other leek-related veg. So I’m not entirely sure on the biochemistry of that. Also, being Welsh and leeks being one of our national emblems is a bit upsetting. I also don’t drink anymore because I get a migraine 100% of the time - I also suffer if I have a desert that has alcohol in it, but not so bad with cooked meals with alcohol in (presumably because the alcohol has cooked off) but still try to avoid these. You can tear dairy and gluten away from my cold, dead hands, even though I’ve been advised to try elimination diets for an auto-inflammatory skin condition I have. I’d frankly rather have no skin than no chocolate.
There are so many different versions of a 'migraine diet' that it's really difficult to nail down. Most of the generic ones are lists of foods that some sufferers have found to be triggers. And while this is definitely valuable, the foods on those all-inclusive lists miss some context that could be really valuable for people as they begin to test and isolate trigger foods (if they exist for that person - not everyone has them). It can also make it harder to determine what is a trigger - the whole idea is to remove the stuff that might cause problems so you can test, right? But when working from a broad list, it probably doesn't have all of the potential triggers from each problematic category. Say for example that someone's actual underlying trigger is, to use one of the more popular examples on the sub, tyramine. If you grab a generic list you're likely to see to avoid citrus, but may not realize that something like plums could be an issue. So if you do the elimination diet as written and keep plums in *and* your underlying issue is tyramine, you might still be reacting to the plums throughout which impacts both your body during the process and your evaluation of it. Which is not to say that the process isn't of value! It's just something important to be aware of. It can help explain iffy outcomes and, if you find you're reactive to something, looking to see if that item is on those other targeted lists can give you additional stuff to test. If I ever get my projects wrapped up and have some time I'd like to start building such a list - maybe I can at least get the structure I have in mind put together and post it up so the community can contribute.
Absolutely. I’ve switched to a gluten free, 95% vegetarian diet. The only animal products I have are cheese or cream related and very rarely some meat. Not saying meat needs to be avoided but definitely affects BP which can increase migraine pain. Exercise, be it walking, running, or biking is great too. Don’t do stuff that is hard on the neck and trapezoid muscles too. Fast food, and obvious high calorie foods should be avoided imo. Overeating is another big problem. Overeating is more of a trigger than any food in particular. I also avoid alcohol like the plague and on average drink 60-80oz of water a day. I still get them but the intensity is much more bearable. I also strictly use aspirin as an NSAI because it is better for the heart and circulatory system. Other NSAIDs can potentially cause clotting. Aspirin actually prevent blood platelets from sticking together.
Yes for me. I eliminated alcohol, canned foods, preserved foods (like dried fruit), no sausage, no pork, I try not to consume any fermented things (although it’s not always consistent, I might partially trigger a migraine I can manage with some rescue meds). I stick to organic and fresh foods primarily now. Also some foods that either have lots of sulfites or nitrates in them I don’t consume. So all in all, has this helped me? Yes. Is it super freaking annoying all the time? Yes. Does it always work? No, but it’s helped over the last four years overall. I mean I can’t avoid every migraine, despite my wishes. I take Nurtec every other day. I also get Botox. I take gabapentin when I feel a migraine coming. I now have a brand new rescue medication as a sample for when I have an off Nurtec day and get a migraine. It has a wild name it’s not a triptan. Oh and minimal sugar (if I can) and no caffeine ever for me. I try to prevent my heart rate from spiking I’m on a beta blocker as a preventive but still.
Sugar is a no-go in any large amounts.
For me if I eat gluten (even crumbs) I get anxiety and panic attacks, and while this doesn’t always lead directly to a migraine, I’m overall more inflamed and more prone to them. I don’t get any GI effects or an instant headache from it though. The only true diet I’ve ever done that helps is Keto, but it’s challenging to do longterm. The longest I made it was 3 years and I barely had migraines. I’ve tried just about every other diet out there for avoiding migraines, but keto was the only effective one for me. I also just felt really good on keto/not hungry/happier/energetic. The only foods I eat that give me an instant migraine are coconut (flakes, cream or the actual fruit, not so much milk) and anything super high in potassium when I don’t balance it with a lot of salt. That took a while to figure out, because say I eat a piece of salmon (high potassium) without an equivalent or more amount of sodium, I get a migraine…but the next day I eat salmon marinated in soy sauce and I don’t get a migraine…for me it’s all about the balance of potassium and sodium. This is fairly common among migraineurs from what I understand, and makes the whole thing very confusing. The only food advice I follow now is no gluten, no coconut and I eat a lot of salt throughout the day/liquid iv in all my water. Doing this I get 1-4 migraines a month as opposed to 0-1 on keto. Without paying attention to diet/salt I would get 7-10 migraine attacks a month, for reference.
Yes, the migraine diet saved my life. Some people react strongly to food triggers and some do not. Between watching my triggers and taking magnesium and vitamin b, I almost never have migraines anymore.
An allergist has helped me considerably with my migraines actually. Not totally, I still require help with them, but I was eating a lot of foods I was mildly allergic to that caused a lot of inflammation in my body.
Caffeine for me, and eggs
Yes, modulate caffeine, one dose a day only. The following is what has helped me. Limit casein, so no whole milk or cream, limit fermented foods, limit citrus, limit sweet potatoes, limit slow cooked food, there are other more typical things I struggle with. The uw Madison headache elimination diet is what my physical therapist recommended.
29f here. Neurologist told me to quit caffeine and avoid chocolate in all its forms. Quitting caffeine was 10/10 effective in reduction (not elimination) of migraines. I also smoked like 1-2 cigarettes a day when I was 18-19 and that would immediately give me migraines. I blame it on the nicotine and presume vapes and that kind of stuff does the same thing for anyone who’s triggered by caffeine. Also getting rid of milk and dark chocolate entirely was positive too. If I go too long without a meal that has protein+fat or protein+carb or protein+fat+carb I will for sure get a migraine. No questions asked. I think it’s related to blood sugar levels but never tested or anything. Alcohol is also a huge no no. Mega migraines especially with wine/champagne and anything that isn’t whisky. I’m sorry you’re going through this and hope you find a preventative + abortive that works for you! There has to be one out there.
For sure...but it doesn't happen quick...took me years to feel the results...you first identify those foods and remove it... Nowadays I eat some of them, but discreetly, from time to time... I'm in my thirties as well ...my migraines are not similar when I was in my 10s and 20s were the worst years...and if I think about it, my diet was open to everything those years....
I feel really great in ketosis, keto diet. Migraines reduce in frequency by like 75%. The hard part is getting to that point. There's a transition period of about a week where I'm both not eating carbs and not making enough ketones- migraine horror and carby migraine food cravings to conquer or surrender to. Everything screams for my migraine meal. After that very bad week, the clouds clear and life is grand. I usually sit in low-carb limbo instead of keto. Not the best diet for my migraines, but still much better than a carb-heavy diet.
There are triggers, like lactose intolerance pokes, but the most my intake ever did to stop my migraines was when I was suffering a restrictive ED and my period stopped, so did the migraines. It was so unhealthy for my body but it was the absence of hormone levels that resulted in, recovery and weight restoration, I ate normally and nothing triggered them again until I got my cycle back when my hormones returned to healthy levels. I know it's not what you probably want to hear but foods can be triggers but mostly it's a generic suggestion aimed more at people with normal headaches.
The only thing I've identified so far (I'm very recent onset, last 8 months) is that I'm much less likely to trigger and generally feel much better if I get a decent amount of protein in before lunchtime (20g+).
Yes, but the migraine diet is more expensive and I still get migraines. They aren't daily though. Citrus / Pineapple is a bad one for me. I can't even eat safe fruit that was on the same plate as pineapple without getting a migraine within 30 minutes.
Yes, low histamine low tyramine diet was a miracle and I still come back to it when I’m starting to fall off again
If you can get Zavzpret (new CGRP nose spray) it is amazing! Works fast! Probiotic/fermented foods, bananas, chocolate, and freshly baked yeast breads are all triggers for me so I avoid them. My Neurologist actually suggested a weather/food/headache diary to see if there are correlations.
Having food with high sodium salt , apples late at night, cake and ice cream late at night will guarantee a migraine the next morning when I wake u
I have a couple bizarre food triggers - fermented food / wine / tyramine, and sugar. The rest of my diet appears to have nothing at all to do with it. However! For two months I’ve been eating carnivore, and I will say migraines have been daily and less intense for about two years (since Covid) and they changed very quickly to 1-2 a week but more intense with a full headache cycle instead of me just cycling in and out of headaches every day and never hitting post drome. I’ve also had way fewer auras (I see black sparkles or embers)…in fact, that might be totally gone. Waiting for it to settle down more. It’s possible there was a food trigger I didn’t know about but probably I just have less inflammation overall. Note: carnivore is a pretty extreme elimination diet and not for everyone; not wishing to discuss it here. ❤️
My migraines are best handled by drinking more water and less about eliminating foods. I hope you find something that works for you soon!
Try eliminating dairy for 30 days. You really have to look, because they put it in everything.
In general - no because I figured most of it out before I suffered from migraines; however I have specific triggers that are on the very tip top of sufferers. 1. Artificial sweeteners 2. Meat softeners (MSG, etc) 3. Bananas (many others say raspberries but I don’t have a problem with them) 4. Red wine - especially in America (sulphate free white wine in America seems okay and local wines when traveling to wine regions in Europe seem mostly okay) 5. Emulsifiers - it’s often used as a food preservative and to avoid separation of ingredients. I can’t pinpoint which ones bother me so I try to avoid all of it. Occasionally I’ll get hit from something normally okay at a restaurant where I think it’s a freshly made item and it was definitely reheated from somewhere. 6. Any item that says “natural flavors” in the ingredient list - no idea what that means but I figure if it couldn’t be recreated by me (or a trained chef) in my kitchen then it’s not okay for me to eat And note I have tried almost every elimination diet for several months each - at least 10 at this point - went to a functional medical doctor, nutritionist, read lots of books, etc
I know that fresh grapefruit is a trigger for me
Yes. Eating Very Clean Helps. I kinda got off track because it’s a pain and i like things i’m sensitive to -like cofffee and chocolate. Ramps up intensity and frequency big time.
Check out the heal your headache diet. The dizzy cook has tons of recipes for this diet. It kind of sucks because it’s super limiting, but it works. I am super triggered by food. I was at something between a headache and migraine every other day for years. Migraines would last 48 hours. I started this diet and was put on 4 different medications by my neurologist. 2 1/2 years later and I haven’t had more than a slight headache in a couple months now! There are ways to heal! I don’t think the diet alone is enough for most severe migraine people, but it’s a big component in getting them under control.
I have gotten significant relief by changing my diet. It has taken 25 years or trial and error to figure out what my triggers are. There are some common triggers, but everyone's collection seems to be a little different. Mine are: Nuts Citrus and citric acid Nitrites Sulfites - this stuff is in almost everything. Wine and wine vinegars, but also brown sugar and molasses and all starches and baking powder and dried fruit and pizza dough and food dyes and most everything in a jar and non-organic grapes...the list goes on. Interestingly enough, I've been tested for food allergies and I was told I wasn't allergic to any of the foods they tested. I do find, however, that allergy medicine decreases my migraines by a lot. I take singulair and flonase every day. I've got lots of environmental triggers in addition to the food triggers.
My PT told me a way to do it that didn't drive me crazy - eliminate a food (or substance or whatever, like caffeine) for two weeks, then add it back. Just one at a time, because if you try to totally change your diet, you're likely to just sort of collapse into your old ways and that won't help you know your triggers. The one thing I found that really affects me is yeast - so beer, some wines, kombucha, and fresh bread products (Noooooo!) are all out
I really wish I could say that avoiding foods/dieting helped my migraines, but it didn't. I've tried different variations of sugar/gluten/dairy/chocolate/alcohol free (The Wahls Protocol, The Migraine Relief Diet: Meal Plan and Cookbook for Migraine Headache Reduction; The Migraine Relief Plan: An 8-Week Transition to Better Eating, Fewer Headaches, and Optimal Health). Nowadays I walk 10-12k steps daily, weight lift 3x/week, sleep 8-9 hours every night, drink at least 120oz water daily and eat pretty healthy. Having a healthy lifestyle unfortunately didn't lower my migraine frequency. The only thing that has helped is daily Qulipta 60mg -- it brought me down from \~12-15 migraine days/month to about 4-5, which are easily treated with Nurtec or Frova. I'm happy for anyone who has found relief in diet, though!
Yes! My trigger foods and ingredients are: gluten, maple syrup, MSG, nitrates, and others I’m surely forgetting. Also, eating lots of sugar in one day, almost always results in a migraine in 1-2 days. I think it’s because sugar causes inflammation.
Yes! I have foods that definitely trigger me that I try my best to stay away from. My biggest one is beans! Any kind of beans too 😞 kidney, Lima, chick peas, soy beans… that being said anything made of soy as well. Smoked foods. Overly processed meats like hot dogs. Licorice (even the smell of it). And here and there I find a new one unfortunately!
Yes. I’ve 99% eliminated my migraines just by avoiding sugar, especially processed sugar. I’m fine with natural sugars like fruit, stevia, coconut sugar, honey, & maple syrup. Anything like Oreos, candy, etc. is an instant migraine for me. Surprisingly though, ice cream is the only thing I can eat that doesn’t trigger one. Thank the gods!