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Food and migraines
Oct. 20th, 2015 02:38 pmI've been avoiding gluten (to varying levels of success) for about 6 months, and I think that maybe gluten isn't really the answer. My migraines have decreased, but not consistently. Every month isn't better, but some of them have been significantly better. I'm still trying to figure out what the culprits are. I've gotten away with eating some gluten enough times that I'm starting to doubt it's responsible.
Lynk suggested a gluten-testing experiment where he makes me a couple of loaves of very simple bread with no preservatives - just flour and water and yeast and salt - and I try eating a lot of it for a week and see what happens. That's the purest test I can come up with.
Right now citric acid is highest on the list of suspects. It's in almost all of the candy that sets me off, as well as many other foods, like Papa John's pizza. And I already know that citrus can be a problem in sufficient quantity. I'd like to buy some citric acid and directly test that. I can find small containers of it designed for canning, but I'm not sure quite how to test it yet. It's not really meant to be consumed by itself.
Lynk pointed out this weekend that the months where my migraines were best were when I was trying to figure out what I could eat, and therefore not eating as many different things and not eating a lot of processed or gluten-replacement foods.
I want to stop guessing and know what the answer is already. Part of the problem is that hormones are also a contributing factor, so I often wonder whether something I ate was a trigger that isn't strong enough to show itself depending on where I am in my cycle (which is difficult to monitor now that I have an IUD).
Gluten, soy, preservatives, MSG, dairy (aged cheeses are high in tyramine) are all worth testing.
Tyramine is high in several (but not all) of the foods that set me off. I need to test more nuts directly. I know almonds, walnuts, and pecans are triggers but I haven't tested all of the rest. Peanuts and pinenuts are safe. Caffeine is a known trigger.
Lynk suggested a gluten-testing experiment where he makes me a couple of loaves of very simple bread with no preservatives - just flour and water and yeast and salt - and I try eating a lot of it for a week and see what happens. That's the purest test I can come up with.
Right now citric acid is highest on the list of suspects. It's in almost all of the candy that sets me off, as well as many other foods, like Papa John's pizza. And I already know that citrus can be a problem in sufficient quantity. I'd like to buy some citric acid and directly test that. I can find small containers of it designed for canning, but I'm not sure quite how to test it yet. It's not really meant to be consumed by itself.
Lynk pointed out this weekend that the months where my migraines were best were when I was trying to figure out what I could eat, and therefore not eating as many different things and not eating a lot of processed or gluten-replacement foods.
I want to stop guessing and know what the answer is already. Part of the problem is that hormones are also a contributing factor, so I often wonder whether something I ate was a trigger that isn't strong enough to show itself depending on where I am in my cycle (which is difficult to monitor now that I have an IUD).
Gluten, soy, preservatives, MSG, dairy (aged cheeses are high in tyramine) are all worth testing.
Tyramine is high in several (but not all) of the foods that set me off. I need to test more nuts directly. I know almonds, walnuts, and pecans are triggers but I haven't tested all of the rest. Peanuts and pinenuts are safe. Caffeine is a known trigger.
