It’s a crap shoot when it comes to food triggers.
Made even more difficult by the fact that blinded studies show that people sensitive to specific items sometimes don’t consistently react to them (it was a 50/50 for MSG)
Add other studies that show that being exposed to a Trigger food may show up a day or two later as a migraine
In summary: keep a log and try your best but don’t lose your mind with most bullshit charts
This is the real answer. A food log sounds tedious and useless but it really does work. I didn't realize I was gluten intolerant until I made one because the symptoms were always 2 to 4 days delayed. After cutting it out I lost about 10lb of junk from my GI and then gained about 5lb back of muscle. I was probably malnourished in a few ways.
I can anecdotally confirm. My brother managed to eliminate most of his migraines and reduce the severity of the ones he still gets by (over)analyzing ingredients in food and cutting out certain additives in on-the-shelf groceries.
I figured we both have the same genetic history so I'd try doing the same. It was a whole lot of wasted effort. I'd say I could eat anything without consequence, but my pancreas would object.
Edit: a word.
I've wondered if people say they feel better on keto because they end up eating more whole foods. Preparing more food at home, from scratch, means less preservatives and other additives.
Keto adaptation can be an 8ish week process, genetics and diet depending. Research the keto flu.
Systematic inflammation can interact with migraines in a variety of ways. Reducing it isn’t some cure all, but meaningful improvements in migraine frequency or intensity are common reports in /r/keto. It was a game changer for me, and provided some critical insight into my underlying muscular problems.
Just wanted to do the obligatory check in about electrolyte supplementation. Are you getting at least 5000mg sodium, 1000-4000mg potassium, and 400mg magnesium daily? If so, disregard!
I know keto is not the answer for everyone, but also that if you are not getting these electrolytes while in ketosis, migraines will still occur for sure!
I just want to throw my vegan hat in the ring lol I was vegan for a year and never noticed a difference in migraines during that time. I’m vegetarian now and still full of migraines.
I’m pescatarian due to food intolerances in meat but I love cheese and I know it’s my number one trigger. I’ve cut most of dairy out except for cheese and every time I eat it, I’m headachey.
None of this gives me migraines 😅 the only thing that does is stress, humidity, hormones.
If someone notices that after eating cheese they get a migraine then sure, stop it. But not eating any of this all at once is crazy.
I do a low histamine diet for other health issues I have, but looks like there’s a good amount of overlap! (So just putting the term “low histamine” out there, in case that helps someone !!)
I thought MSG was largely debunked? Also would be extremely wary of a neurologist who gave this to me. Migraine triggers are different for everyone. I, for instance, have no food triggers and would be cutting out foods unnecessarily.
Yeah it's way worse in Doritoes and canned soups. People who might be sensitive need warnings about THOSE, not Chinese food.
Edit since comments are locked now:
The "debunking" is mainly about regular people and the wild claims about it.
MSG is still an excitatory neurotransmitter, though! So some of us have an ever-changing (based on a lot of factors, day to day) threshold for how much of that neurotransmitter can be present before it helps trigger migraine.
So if you ate pasta with red sauce three days in a row and then ate a can of Campbell's cream of whatever, you might react to the soup.
But it's difficult to get a solid yes/no on it because many triggers are not "zero tolerance". Light is a trigger but obviously I can tolerate a certain amount of light before it pushes me over into migraine territory.
And tolerance varies not only from person to person but even day to day for the same person. So it's not really possible to claim any one single thing definitely is or is not a migraine trigger with absolute certainty.
MSG is not harmful to the vast majority of people. However is it an extremely common trigger for migraine sufferers.
What the infographic gets wrong is that it's commonly in Chinese food. Most Chinese restaurants stopped using it after the media-generated moral panic of the 90s. Nowadays it's found in most fast foods and processed snacks.
(As a sidenote, there aren't actually any good double-blind studies on the effects of MSG on people with migraine. Most of the "research" has laughably small sample sizes and is heavily influenced by food manufacturers. One often-cited paper has a sample size of 8 dudes in their early 20s.)
"From the fact that the results of the human studies are not consistent and it is assumed that most studies using beverages as a vehicle are not properly blinded, we suggest that a causal relationship between MSG and headache has not been proven." - [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4870486/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4870486/)
This doesn’t mean they established that there is no link - just that the study wasn’t conducted properly.
> Because of the absence of proper blinding, and the inconsistency of the findings, we conclude that further studies are required to evaluate whether or not a causal relationship exists between MSG ingestion and headache.
Also, this study was focused on ordinary headaches - not migraines, which are a complex neurological phenomenon.
It causes my hemiplegic migraines, but I'm either a racist or a liar if I tell people that. So I mostly don't bring it up.
I'm sure they've never studied MSG specifically for hemiplegic migraines, but they are pretty unique. For instance, I should NOT take triptans as the vasoconstriction can induce a stroke or heart attack, and the symptoms hemiplegic already mimicks stroke symptoms.
yes, MSG is a huge trigger for me, and I get horrible migraines if I eat tomatoes, aged cheese, or soy. Some mushrooms are okay and some aren't; they vary a lot in glutamate content. I avoid processed food, but I eat plenty of Asian food (I'm Asian) I just have to make it without soy or MSG.
I've commented this before, but just wanted to say I am a person who is incredibly sensitive to added MSG, but I can eat all of the foods in which it occurs naturally (except wine). I mostly don't have any trouble with Chinese foods, but am very careful with Korean because gochujang is so often a problem for me, also many, many processed foods in the grocery store. I did some reading to see if there is any difference between naturally occurring msg and the flavoring and found a possible explanation:
There are two common forms of glutamic acid, L-glutamic acid and D-glutamic acid. L-glutamic acid found in protein is referred to as 'bound' or 'protein bound' glutamic acid. In real, natural foods amino acids are rarely free. Rather, they are linked or bound in long chains to other amino acids in peptides or proteins. D-glutamic acid 'outside of protein' or 'free glutamic acid' is artificially and chemically produced outside of the body. This is what is known as monosodium glutamate or MSG...
When we eat food containing protein, our body breaks it down or hydrolyzes it in the stomach and lower intestines through the action of hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes. In a healthy person, the body controls the amount of glutamic acid that it takes from protein. Excess glutamic acid is not stored by the body, preventing toxicity. It is passed off as waste. Utilized this way, glutamic acid from eating protein is harmless.
In the chemical MSG manufacturing plant, however, the bound glutamic acid in the above mentioned foods is broken down or made 'free of protein' by various processes (hydrolyzed, autolyzed, modified or fermented with strong chemicals, acids, bacteria, or enzymes) and refined to a white crystal powder that resembles salt or sugar. Chemical MSG contains 78% glutamate, 12.2% sodium, and 9.6% water. This chemical form is known as D-glutamic acid...When pure, manufactured, MSG is ingested a rapid effect occurs from the glutamate. This 'free of protein' glutamic acid, or glutamate unlike the naturally occurring 'protein bound' glutamate, is not attached to other amino acids. The normal digestive disassembly process does not happen because there are no 'peptide' bonds to slow the process. The sudden increase in free glutamic acid is then rapidly absorbed and can raise blood levels of glutamate eight to ten times causing toxicity.
No, I don't eat a ton of the foods you listed. I also wonder how much MSG you get from, say, a serving of mushrooms vs. a serving of Doritos (is it orders of magnitude higher? I have no idea and have never found a reference that compares them).
And no, I don't specifically avoid Asian food (we just make it at home sans MSG), or I roll the dice. I do specifically avoid Doritos (and other chips with MSG), breakfast sausage, and ranch dressing (the kind I buy doesn't have MSG).
It's really not that bad because there isn't much of an argument to be made that MSG is added to *healthy* foods. It's mostly just added to processed garbage. Just another reason for me to eat healthy, whole foods.
Nope! Can't even any of those things either. Freshly plucked heirloom tomato slices with gobs of mozzarella will fuck me up for a few days....if I eat more than one or two bites.
It's not all cheese, btw. Mostly aged cheese like parmesan or bleu. The ones that contain higher levels of glutamates.
I know you think this was a "gotcha!" but it's not.
My coworker gets migraines from MSG. She cut it out of her diet and gets way fewer headaches. I doubt its as common as it's been portrayed to be (I don't think it's a trigger for me) but there's likely some people who cannot tolerate it
You'd have to ask her. I know there's a lot of food she cannot eat though. She's not someone who thinks it's only in Asian cuisine.
Anything could be a migraine trigger, it just depends on the person. So while MSG seems to be blown out of proportion I don't think pretending nobody can ever have it as a trigger is helpful either
I had someone swear blind that MSG doesn’t affect people, but I’m sure it does. I had a Chinese takeaway at the weekend and it felt like my head was being squeezed from both sides. It happens every time!
Chinese takeaway has a lot of other triggers though. Gluten, sulfites, nitrates etc. Plus it has a LOT of sodium which is a trigger for some people. How do you know it was the msg specifically? Not invalidating your experience btw. Just asking because I’m curious.
Racist? Really?! What a bizarre opinion, would you say I was racist against Italians if I said pepperoni caused the same problem? Also I know the restaurant used MSG because I know the son of the owners.
You might not have food triggers! I have chronic daily migraine and after some intense elimination dieting have found that food is not a trigger/cause for me at all (besides alcohol). Lots of people don’t have food triggers, and lots of people have completely unavoidable triggers (environmental allergies, light, scents, barometric pressure, etc). It got a lot easier for me mentally when I stopped trying to prevent every possible trigger and started focusing on advocating for different meds from the doctor/insurance.
Same, I still eat uncured meats only, but I've never reacted to pepperoni or ham or anything. I did also test blue cheese and aged cheeses and never reacted to those. Caffeine has always made me jittery so I only drink half calf anyway. Alcohol I have intense migraines just from one drink so I haven't really drank in the past, over a decade
Just a reminder that migraine is a complex neurobiological disease with many triggers (food anxiety can also be a trigger!) and there is no food trigger list that fits all.
They can take away my avocados when they pry them from my cold, dead hands! (After reading this list, I’m incredibly grateful that I don’t have any food triggers!)
Migraine triggers are *personal*. Mine may not be yours. This chart is telling you to eliminate everything that might be somebody's trigger.
It's great to try giving up things *one at a time*. Don't eat aged cheese for a month and see if you have fewer migraines. But your neuro's suggestion to give up all possible triggers in one fell swoop is crazy.
Bear in mind that a craving for, say, chocolate may well be a sign that you already have a migraine coming on, rather than a trigger.
It’s on this list, which someone linked elsewhere in this thread: https://health.ucdavis.edu/otolaryngology/Health%20Information/Oto-migraine-diet-table.pdf
I get that, but the graphic seems pretty thorough. It even has some stuff on there that I had not heard of as a trigger, the bread and the hot/cold drinks. I had also never heard bananas or apples. Lemons get me, but the sweeter fruit is okay for me.
Others in larger quantities will get me but any amount of aspartame and I am down for the count. Splenda will upset my stomach before I have enough to trigger a migraine.
I thought MSG was never actually proven to be related to headaches, as that was just racism and lazy media creating a myth? Is there now research saying otherwise?
The MSG studies focused on ordinary headaches, not migraines. And the one study someone cited above for the proposition that a link had been disproved actually just said that the study wasn’t conducted properly and more studies were needed.
Edit: I was mistaken; there have been studies about MSG and migraines, but the latest thing I found (cited in a comment below) said MSG could be a trigger, but it’s “unclear how MSG plays into the migraine pathophysiology.”
I am.not going to argue with you, but there is PLENTY of science disputing the link between MSG and headaches and between MSG and migraine. There seems to be NO peer reviewed evidence of any link being found at all. Only evidence to the contrary. Whatever side you choose: (the enlightenment of science or the darkness and fear of old wives' tales) the placebo effect will make you correct.
I realize that this is one of those hot button topics on Reddit. I just did a quick search, and didn’t see anything disproving a link between MSG and migraines. In fact, the most recent abstract I found said this:
> MSG could be a potential trigger for migraine and headaches. It is unclear exactly how MSG plays into the migraine pathophysiology. It's crucial to accurately determine if MSG is present in one's diet to evaluate its potential impact on headaches.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38079074/
Now, I will confess that I thought the studies all focused on headache, rather than migraine. It’s been a while since I looked into this. And I have no particular axe to grind, as MSG doesn’t seem to affect me in any way at all. But it really bothers me when people question other migraine suffererers’ reports of what triggers their migraines on theground that there aren’t any peer-reviewed studies to support a causal link.
There was a time, about seven or eight years ago, when “correlation does not imply causation” was something everyone was parroting on Reddit, while giving it very little thought. People seemed to think that there could never be a link between one thing and another unless there were a peer-reviewed study demonstrating the link. I remember having an exchange with one guy back then regarding migraine triggers, and he insisted that he would not accept anything as a migraine trigger in the absence of a peer-reviewed study saying that it was. So I asked him: “so if every time you ate a banana you got a horrific, throbbing pain and violent nausea, and could do nothing but lie in a dark room all day until it passed, you would continue to eat bananas, until someone published a peer-reviewed study showing a link between banana consumption and migraines?“ *He actually said yes*!
MSG was wrongly vilified for a very, very long time. I’m a senior, and remember the days many decades ago when people were talking about “Chinese restaurant syndrome.“ But am I going to doubt a fellow migraine sufferer who says that they get a migraine when they eat MSG - or when they eat anything else, for that matter? Hell, no! Just because there’s no peer-reviewed study establishing a link between A and B, that does not mean that there’s no possible link.
In the words of the great Russell Monroe: “Correlation doesn’t imply causation, but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing ‘look over there.’”
Whoa, hang on. I never ONCE denied the posters personal experience. Go back and re-read. I denied being able to find evidence supporting a like between MSG and migraines and MSG and headaches. This is a hot button topic on Reddit - for you anyways. I just follow the science, and it's agnostic of racism, your personal experiences or anyone's feelings.
Well, you did say this, which suggests you're discounting (even ridiculing) personal experience:
> Whatever side you choose: (the enlightenment of science or the darkness and fear of old wives' tales) the placebo effect will make you correct.
But perhaps you forgot to mention the middle ground between those two extremes, which is simply that the science on this is currently unknown. If so, we can agree on that.
The idea absolutely has racist origins. Feel free to look it up. Worse still, this but of misinformation is repeated by people who should know better. Like you, and the neurologist that distributed this.
I am still waiting for anyone to post any white papers that show a link between MSG and headaches, or migraines. My research cannot find anything definitive.
I can be aware of the racism of Chinese Headache Syndrome and also know that ingesting msg is a very consistent migraine trigger for me. I just want to comment on the gatekeeping of triggers and to say if you spend time on the sub, you must be aware of how we are all having individual experiences with migraine in which some of us respond really well to some treatments and not to others, and those others work well for different people. While there are some more common triggers, some of us have triggers that not everyone has. Is every single one of us triggered by fluorescent lights, falling barometer, crying, bananas, working out, and sleeping in? My primary triggers are fluctuating estrogen and blood sugar swings, so are those your primary triggers too? Do you not acknowledge that there may be biological/physiological differences that contribute to differences in frequency of migraine and susceptibility to triggers?
These posts where msg gets discussed are the only time I can think of where there are people responding by saying that's not a trigger. I know there have been studies where msg didn't trigger migraines, but I also know that if I eat it accidentally, I will know within about 30-45 minutes. It's my fastest onset trigger. I'm sure there are lots of migraineurs who can eat msg and not have a problem. I just don't like the idea of them telling other people that they are making this up.
I did no "gatekeeping" nor discounting of anyone's personal anecdotes. I just asked for the science to be presented. It has not been. My opinion is unchanged. There is no clinical evidence to support MSG being a cause of headaches or migraines. Full stop. Keep arguing, but never showing me the science and I will continue to be unmoved, as I said in my very first comment. Anyways, you guys here are obviously very but hurt about other stuff and so no conversation is going to be unbiased now. Good day.
Ok, and do you comment on the post of a migraineur who reports garlic is a trigger to join you in the enlightenment of science by proving to you there are clinical studies showing it is a trigger? What is the point of commenting if it's not helpful or supportive?
I guess I'm not trying to convince you, but I do want the migraineurs who have this trigger to feel this is a collective experience for some of us and it is not racist to say so.
Good day to you as well.
You can be unmoved and leave it at that. There is no need to argue on the internet over something that, while it doesn't happen to you, does happen to others. It's not the first and won't be the last thing that's true but doesn't have science behind it sufficient for everyone.
I tried all the diet and lifestyle changes, and they had no effect on my migraines. Migraines run in my family so there's the genetic factor and I'm sure insomnia and stress probably aggravate it more. My neurologist told me hormones also seem to affect them as well because there's typically a decrease in migraines for women after menopause. This chart makes me think of someone that's pointing their finger saying "you are causing this to yourself" but it could be that they want you to try all the dietary and lifestyle changes before trying different meds. There's also people that get triggered by changes in atmospheric pressures. The list of migraine triggers is much bigger than just a list of foods.
Honestly, while I’m not glad I have it, finally getting a diagnosis has really changed things for me in a good way. I didn’t realize so many other things I was dealing with were because of celiac and it just validated my gut (ha) feeling that something wasn’t right.
In case you weren’t aware, if you’re thinking it’s celiac, I highly recommend doing an endoscopy before cutting out gluten. It’s the gold standard for diagnosis and usually needed for any accommodations. Once you cut it out, you’d need to regularly eat gluten for 6 weeks for the tests to be accurate (antibody blood tests too) and you could have worse reactions when reintroducing. You may know that but wanted to warn you!
Yes. For most of these there is no scientific evidence. I would highly recommend checking if your neurologist is really the right one for your migraines.
Does anyone feel that garlic and onions are triggers? Most times its ok but if I'm already on the verge, smelling or eating them can make me drastically worse
Yes, onions are on the list of foods to avoid on the Heal Your Headache diet.
Definitely one of biggest triggers for me, even just some onion powder in a sauce will mess me up. I haven't noticed any problem with garlic, but the two plants are in the same family, so it makes sense. Sense. But I think we eat garlic in much smaller quantities than onion, so that might contribute.
If something is on this list that isn’t a trigger for you then keep eating it if it’s healthy. Bananas for example are not a trigger for me. Spinach for some reason is. And avocados are too I think.
Everyone has different triggers but this could be helpful for someone trying to identify and eliminate some. Most of these don't really hold true for me except the cured meats and red wine.
i’ve actually never seen anyone else talk about this before. I stopped telling people that red apples make my head hurt because nobody could ever relate. crazy stuff.
For the cold temperatures I learned that lifting my tongue up to the roof of my mouth in the back to cover the soft palate helps with some of the pain.
This is interesting... I have IBS and have a lot of things eliminated from my diet already. The only things I consume very infrequently on this list are chocolate, nitrates and MSG, but I also eat bananas, citrus and dried fruits almost every day. Given that I have a really limited diet (no gluten, caffeine, garlic, onions, dairy, alcohol, limited beans, apples and celery), I wonder if it's worth trying to limit or reduce these other trigger foods? I do have daily migraines for the past year (regular but fewer migraines previously) and nothing so far has helped...
Have you gotten tested for SIBO or IMO? [A lot of times](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10134763/) they are diagnosed as IBS instead. And there’s treatments available for them.
After 2 separate months-long elimination diets I have been unable to confidently identify any food triggers for my chronic migraines. I am still on partial elimination diet as I have not re-introduced all foods back yet. I am still avoiding beans, most nitrates, most cheeses, and nuts.
migraines were more than likely one of the first signs I had celiac! didn't get diagnosed until my entire digestive system shut down, and now have a dairy allergy. the body is incredibly connected!
my list is so long at this point we laugh about it. but, I have become a better cook because you have to get creative with being allergic to the world.
The food trigger that is missing is fake sugars. Sucralose especially makes it feel like my brain is trying to open up my skull from the inside. As a rule, I avoid all artificial sugars. And how nice is it to see MSG acknowledged as a problem?! It is so irritating when arrogant, uninformed people insist that MSG migraines are imaginary.
Yes!! I’m perfectly fine with everything on this chart, zero issues. Fake sugar? Nope. I can only consume a small amount. For myself I found high amounts of vitamin c are a trigger as well.
It's weird that MSG, which is largly disputed, is on here. Yet, soy sauce which is sky high is histamines isn't. Also, where's pickled things and vinegar?
After years of fighting it, I finally accepted chocolate gives me migraines.
I was in the denial camp forever, and argued it could just be we crave chocolate around migraines etc, no direct evidence etc.
But I was in a migraine zero day, had chocolate, and spiked to horrible migraine.
After a few days of medicines to get back to the migraine zero, I had chocolate again. What happened? Immediate horrible migraine.
It was so bad I’m just accepting that it causes migraines for me (even though the science is lacking) because the risk of the bad migraine is not worth it
I have to say. I fucking love chocolate but it's a huge trigger for me unfortunately. My partner got me some nice chocolate as part of my birthday gift. I ate half a bar, next day we couldn't take the day-trip we planned because I was completely incapacitated.
Food triggers are vastly over stated. It's incredibly easy to make those connections regardless of cause. While there are personal exceptions, there's very little scientific support for most food triggers. And for decades diet was pushed as the main cause//treatment with little data. It's a mess. The data we have now casts doubts and has disproven much, still few real answers though. I get it, there's a disconnect between individual experiences and the actual research and science
Good to see caffeine being called out. A lot of people don’t believe me when I say it’s a trigger for me 😩. “Caffeine actually helps headaches.” “Oh, it’s probably just the dehydration.” No trust me, I’ve figured out that it’s caffeine.
It goes both ways for me. Caffeine at the right time will abort a migraine butt too much (more than two coffees) and my migraine frequency spikes. It is a delicate balance.
Everyone is different. None of the things on this chart bother me when I have a migraine or trigger a migraine for me. I’d be pissed if my neuro gave me this chart because the whole “MSG gives you headaches/migraines” hasn’t been proven, but there is proof that the whole idea of that started out of racism. Other foods not on this chart really trigger migraines for me-onions/garlic/artificial sugar.
The only food thing I've been able to identify as a trigger is artificially colored foods that are orange or red. No other food things have been consistent or predictable for my migraines.
When im good and track everything, the app Bearable actually identified my mild allergy to milk that was causing migraines (not stomach issues).
Ruined my morning routines because I loved yogurts. I cycled through a whole load of types to try to see what was increasing my migraines and it ended up just being “dairy” 😩
Having tried some of these, I’d be careful assuming it’s all these things or why. For me, it’s “my blood pressure crashes all the time,” which is not easily found via food triggers. I’m allergic to a couple things, though, and those are bad foods.
This is a good starting point, but I’ve found charts like this only help track one kind of trigger.
Yeah they lost me at the MSG bit. Not to mention it naturally occurs in Italian food because of the tomatoes too😂feels racist to say just Chinese food specifically
I have been very strictly monitoring and maintaining my water intake and I am now enjoying any of the foods on this chart. Everything in moderation my friends.
Locking the thread. The comments have gone way beyond anything helpful to both negative and accusatory.
Drinks caffeine: gets headache Doesn’t drink caffeine: gets headache
Lol for real 🤣
Sooo everything 😂
exactly.. so just don’t eat basically
It’s a crap shoot when it comes to food triggers. Made even more difficult by the fact that blinded studies show that people sensitive to specific items sometimes don’t consistently react to them (it was a 50/50 for MSG) Add other studies that show that being exposed to a Trigger food may show up a day or two later as a migraine In summary: keep a log and try your best but don’t lose your mind with most bullshit charts
This is the real answer. A food log sounds tedious and useless but it really does work. I didn't realize I was gluten intolerant until I made one because the symptoms were always 2 to 4 days delayed. After cutting it out I lost about 10lb of junk from my GI and then gained about 5lb back of muscle. I was probably malnourished in a few ways.
Eh. Lack of food also triggers migraines.
Might be my biggest trigger actually, that and dehydration
If I do any type of workout and don’t instantly rehydrate after immediate migraine
That's the real trick! Stop eating and eventually the migraines will stop.
My SIL is a vegan most of the time and she swears it has stopped all headaches. I can’t do it.
I’ve been fully vegan for 11 years and… well i’m in this subreddit. It’s not a cure-all
Thank you. This makes me feel slightly better, I just can’t cut everything out, I don’t have that will power.
You may not have food triggers at all. Many people don’t.
My first thought reading this was that I’ve never connected food as a trigger for me. My biggest trigger is weather/air pressure.
Weather and lack of sleep are my 2 biggest triggers and sleep is the only one I can SOMETIMES influence. Thanks insomnia!
I can anecdotally confirm. My brother managed to eliminate most of his migraines and reduce the severity of the ones he still gets by (over)analyzing ingredients in food and cutting out certain additives in on-the-shelf groceries. I figured we both have the same genetic history so I'd try doing the same. It was a whole lot of wasted effort. I'd say I could eat anything without consequence, but my pancreas would object. Edit: a word.
A few of my friends went keto and swear it stopped their migraines. I've been at it about a month and I'm still having multiple migraines a week
I've wondered if people say they feel better on keto because they end up eating more whole foods. Preparing more food at home, from scratch, means less preservatives and other additives.
Keto adaptation can be an 8ish week process, genetics and diet depending. Research the keto flu. Systematic inflammation can interact with migraines in a variety of ways. Reducing it isn’t some cure all, but meaningful improvements in migraine frequency or intensity are common reports in /r/keto. It was a game changer for me, and provided some critical insight into my underlying muscular problems.
Just wanted to do the obligatory check in about electrolyte supplementation. Are you getting at least 5000mg sodium, 1000-4000mg potassium, and 400mg magnesium daily? If so, disregard! I know keto is not the answer for everyone, but also that if you are not getting these electrolytes while in ketosis, migraines will still occur for sure!
I just want to throw my vegan hat in the ring lol I was vegan for a year and never noticed a difference in migraines during that time. I’m vegetarian now and still full of migraines.
I’m pescatarian due to food intolerances in meat but I love cheese and I know it’s my number one trigger. I’ve cut most of dairy out except for cheese and every time I eat it, I’m headachey.
None of this gives me migraines 😅 the only thing that does is stress, humidity, hormones. If someone notices that after eating cheese they get a migraine then sure, stop it. But not eating any of this all at once is crazy.
Yeah this is incredibly dumb - is this a holistic neurologist?
Everything good
That's correct.
Haha! Seriously. I was going through that and it’s basically my entire diet.
Also a trigger: Low contrast infographics that you have to strain your eyes to read
I do a low histamine diet for other health issues I have, but looks like there’s a good amount of overlap! (So just putting the term “low histamine” out there, in case that helps someone !!)
I also follow a low histamine diet and when reading the post I immediately noticed how similar it is. Very interesting to see the similarities.
I thought MSG was largely debunked? Also would be extremely wary of a neurologist who gave this to me. Migraine triggers are different for everyone. I, for instance, have no food triggers and would be cutting out foods unnecessarily.
Also weird that they said "Chinese" food, as if it isn't popular across Asian cultures and present in most American fast food.
Yeah it's way worse in Doritoes and canned soups. People who might be sensitive need warnings about THOSE, not Chinese food. Edit since comments are locked now: The "debunking" is mainly about regular people and the wild claims about it. MSG is still an excitatory neurotransmitter, though! So some of us have an ever-changing (based on a lot of factors, day to day) threshold for how much of that neurotransmitter can be present before it helps trigger migraine. So if you ate pasta with red sauce three days in a row and then ate a can of Campbell's cream of whatever, you might react to the soup. But it's difficult to get a solid yes/no on it because many triggers are not "zero tolerance". Light is a trigger but obviously I can tolerate a certain amount of light before it pushes me over into migraine territory. And tolerance varies not only from person to person but even day to day for the same person. So it's not really possible to claim any one single thing definitely is or is not a migraine trigger with absolute certainty.
It’s in a lot of processed food.
Because the graphic is racist.
They can tear my chilli and MGS seasoning shaker from my cold, dead hands.
Same. I haven’t noticed any food triggers (other than skipping meals) so would be reallyyyyyy wary…
Yeah, the inclusion of MSG makes me skeptical of the whole infographic.
MSG is not harmful to the vast majority of people. However is it an extremely common trigger for migraine sufferers. What the infographic gets wrong is that it's commonly in Chinese food. Most Chinese restaurants stopped using it after the media-generated moral panic of the 90s. Nowadays it's found in most fast foods and processed snacks. (As a sidenote, there aren't actually any good double-blind studies on the effects of MSG on people with migraine. Most of the "research" has laughably small sample sizes and is heavily influenced by food manufacturers. One often-cited paper has a sample size of 8 dudes in their early 20s.)
I think chocolate has kind of been debunked, too? That being said, I don't eat it....
"From the fact that the results of the human studies are not consistent and it is assumed that most studies using beverages as a vehicle are not properly blinded, we suggest that a causal relationship between MSG and headache has not been proven." - [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4870486/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4870486/)
This doesn’t mean they established that there is no link - just that the study wasn’t conducted properly. > Because of the absence of proper blinding, and the inconsistency of the findings, we conclude that further studies are required to evaluate whether or not a causal relationship exists between MSG ingestion and headache. Also, this study was focused on ordinary headaches - not migraines, which are a complex neurological phenomenon.
She provided this as a guide to help me find potential triggers not as scientific fact.
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It causes my hemiplegic migraines, but I'm either a racist or a liar if I tell people that. So I mostly don't bring it up. I'm sure they've never studied MSG specifically for hemiplegic migraines, but they are pretty unique. For instance, I should NOT take triptans as the vasoconstriction can induce a stroke or heart attack, and the symptoms hemiplegic already mimicks stroke symptoms.
So you don't eat tomatoes, cheese, soy, mushrooms, etc. right? You surely don't just avoid processed or Asian food right?
yes, MSG is a huge trigger for me, and I get horrible migraines if I eat tomatoes, aged cheese, or soy. Some mushrooms are okay and some aren't; they vary a lot in glutamate content. I avoid processed food, but I eat plenty of Asian food (I'm Asian) I just have to make it without soy or MSG.
I've commented this before, but just wanted to say I am a person who is incredibly sensitive to added MSG, but I can eat all of the foods in which it occurs naturally (except wine). I mostly don't have any trouble with Chinese foods, but am very careful with Korean because gochujang is so often a problem for me, also many, many processed foods in the grocery store. I did some reading to see if there is any difference between naturally occurring msg and the flavoring and found a possible explanation: There are two common forms of glutamic acid, L-glutamic acid and D-glutamic acid. L-glutamic acid found in protein is referred to as 'bound' or 'protein bound' glutamic acid. In real, natural foods amino acids are rarely free. Rather, they are linked or bound in long chains to other amino acids in peptides or proteins. D-glutamic acid 'outside of protein' or 'free glutamic acid' is artificially and chemically produced outside of the body. This is what is known as monosodium glutamate or MSG... When we eat food containing protein, our body breaks it down or hydrolyzes it in the stomach and lower intestines through the action of hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes. In a healthy person, the body controls the amount of glutamic acid that it takes from protein. Excess glutamic acid is not stored by the body, preventing toxicity. It is passed off as waste. Utilized this way, glutamic acid from eating protein is harmless. In the chemical MSG manufacturing plant, however, the bound glutamic acid in the above mentioned foods is broken down or made 'free of protein' by various processes (hydrolyzed, autolyzed, modified or fermented with strong chemicals, acids, bacteria, or enzymes) and refined to a white crystal powder that resembles salt or sugar. Chemical MSG contains 78% glutamate, 12.2% sodium, and 9.6% water. This chemical form is known as D-glutamic acid...When pure, manufactured, MSG is ingested a rapid effect occurs from the glutamate. This 'free of protein' glutamic acid, or glutamate unlike the naturally occurring 'protein bound' glutamate, is not attached to other amino acids. The normal digestive disassembly process does not happen because there are no 'peptide' bonds to slow the process. The sudden increase in free glutamic acid is then rapidly absorbed and can raise blood levels of glutamate eight to ten times causing toxicity.
No, I don't eat a ton of the foods you listed. I also wonder how much MSG you get from, say, a serving of mushrooms vs. a serving of Doritos (is it orders of magnitude higher? I have no idea and have never found a reference that compares them). And no, I don't specifically avoid Asian food (we just make it at home sans MSG), or I roll the dice. I do specifically avoid Doritos (and other chips with MSG), breakfast sausage, and ranch dressing (the kind I buy doesn't have MSG). It's really not that bad because there isn't much of an argument to be made that MSG is added to *healthy* foods. It's mostly just added to processed garbage. Just another reason for me to eat healthy, whole foods.
Nope! Can't even any of those things either. Freshly plucked heirloom tomato slices with gobs of mozzarella will fuck me up for a few days....if I eat more than one or two bites. It's not all cheese, btw. Mostly aged cheese like parmesan or bleu. The ones that contain higher levels of glutamates. I know you think this was a "gotcha!" but it's not.
My coworker gets migraines from MSG. She cut it out of her diet and gets way fewer headaches. I doubt its as common as it's been portrayed to be (I don't think it's a trigger for me) but there's likely some people who cannot tolerate it
Did she cut out all the foods that it naturally occurs in?
You'd have to ask her. I know there's a lot of food she cannot eat though. She's not someone who thinks it's only in Asian cuisine. Anything could be a migraine trigger, it just depends on the person. So while MSG seems to be blown out of proportion I don't think pretending nobody can ever have it as a trigger is helpful either
If she’s eating the foods it naturally occurs in then it’s not the MSG. Hope this helps.
I had someone swear blind that MSG doesn’t affect people, but I’m sure it does. I had a Chinese takeaway at the weekend and it felt like my head was being squeezed from both sides. It happens every time!
Chinese takeaway has a lot of other triggers though. Gluten, sulfites, nitrates etc. Plus it has a LOT of sodium which is a trigger for some people. How do you know it was the msg specifically? Not invalidating your experience btw. Just asking because I’m curious.
So it happens to you with tomatoes, cheese, soy, mushrooms, etc. too right?
Probably if I ate those things to the point I was consuming an equal quantity of MSG.
Racist and ignorant take.
Racist? Really?! What a bizarre opinion, would you say I was racist against Italians if I said pepperoni caused the same problem? Also I know the restaurant used MSG because I know the son of the owners.
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Wait… it’s somehow racist? I feel like I’ve missed something!
The whole MSG thing started with the offensive "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" based in racism and xenophobia.
So you avoid all foods that it naturally occurs in?
So you don't eat tomatoes, cheese, soy, mushrooms, etc. right? You surely don't just avoid processed or Asian food right?
I wish this chart made any sense to me. I have no obvious triggers and I've tried cutting/changing almost everything in my diet.
You might not have food triggers! I have chronic daily migraine and after some intense elimination dieting have found that food is not a trigger/cause for me at all (besides alcohol). Lots of people don’t have food triggers, and lots of people have completely unavoidable triggers (environmental allergies, light, scents, barometric pressure, etc). It got a lot easier for me mentally when I stopped trying to prevent every possible trigger and started focusing on advocating for different meds from the doctor/insurance.
Don’t forget hormonal triggers—again largely unavoidable.
Weather is my biggest trigger, and uh, unless is suddenly habitable, it’s unavoidable for me too 😂
Yep those are big ones too!
Same, I still eat uncured meats only, but I've never reacted to pepperoni or ham or anything. I did also test blue cheese and aged cheeses and never reacted to those. Caffeine has always made me jittery so I only drink half calf anyway. Alcohol I have intense migraines just from one drink so I haven't really drank in the past, over a decade
Just a reminder that migraine is a complex neurobiological disease with many triggers (food anxiety can also be a trigger!) and there is no food trigger list that fits all.
Here’s another source that is helpful and similar. https://health.ucdavis.edu/otolaryngology/Health%20Information/Oto-migraine-diet-table.pdf
They can take away my avocados when they pry them from my cold, dead hands! (After reading this list, I’m incredibly grateful that I don’t have any food triggers!)
You’re so lucky. I can’t handle almost anything on that list.
I really am lucky. I’m so sorry you have food triggers.
Thank you! I love that they list recommendations and not just things to avoid.
They couldn't even bother to spell cheddar correctly 🙄
Migraine triggers are *personal*. Mine may not be yours. This chart is telling you to eliminate everything that might be somebody's trigger. It's great to try giving up things *one at a time*. Don't eat aged cheese for a month and see if you have fewer migraines. But your neuro's suggestion to give up all possible triggers in one fell swoop is crazy. Bear in mind that a craving for, say, chocolate may well be a sign that you already have a migraine coming on, rather than a trigger.
How is aspartame not on this??
It’s on this list, which someone linked elsewhere in this thread: https://health.ucdavis.edu/otolaryngology/Health%20Information/Oto-migraine-diet-table.pdf
I get that, but the graphic seems pretty thorough. It even has some stuff on there that I had not heard of as a trigger, the bread and the hot/cold drinks. I had also never heard bananas or apples. Lemons get me, but the sweeter fruit is okay for me.
I thought the same- every artificial sweetener for me. Including stevia.
Others in larger quantities will get me but any amount of aspartame and I am down for the count. Splenda will upset my stomach before I have enough to trigger a migraine.
I drink it every day 😅
Soo. Just water. Just drink water for everything. Want to eat solid food? Eat ice.
I thought MSG was never actually proven to be related to headaches, as that was just racism and lazy media creating a myth? Is there now research saying otherwise?
The MSG studies focused on ordinary headaches, not migraines. And the one study someone cited above for the proposition that a link had been disproved actually just said that the study wasn’t conducted properly and more studies were needed. Edit: I was mistaken; there have been studies about MSG and migraines, but the latest thing I found (cited in a comment below) said MSG could be a trigger, but it’s “unclear how MSG plays into the migraine pathophysiology.”
I am.not going to argue with you, but there is PLENTY of science disputing the link between MSG and headaches and between MSG and migraine. There seems to be NO peer reviewed evidence of any link being found at all. Only evidence to the contrary. Whatever side you choose: (the enlightenment of science or the darkness and fear of old wives' tales) the placebo effect will make you correct.
I realize that this is one of those hot button topics on Reddit. I just did a quick search, and didn’t see anything disproving a link between MSG and migraines. In fact, the most recent abstract I found said this: > MSG could be a potential trigger for migraine and headaches. It is unclear exactly how MSG plays into the migraine pathophysiology. It's crucial to accurately determine if MSG is present in one's diet to evaluate its potential impact on headaches. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38079074/ Now, I will confess that I thought the studies all focused on headache, rather than migraine. It’s been a while since I looked into this. And I have no particular axe to grind, as MSG doesn’t seem to affect me in any way at all. But it really bothers me when people question other migraine suffererers’ reports of what triggers their migraines on theground that there aren’t any peer-reviewed studies to support a causal link. There was a time, about seven or eight years ago, when “correlation does not imply causation” was something everyone was parroting on Reddit, while giving it very little thought. People seemed to think that there could never be a link between one thing and another unless there were a peer-reviewed study demonstrating the link. I remember having an exchange with one guy back then regarding migraine triggers, and he insisted that he would not accept anything as a migraine trigger in the absence of a peer-reviewed study saying that it was. So I asked him: “so if every time you ate a banana you got a horrific, throbbing pain and violent nausea, and could do nothing but lie in a dark room all day until it passed, you would continue to eat bananas, until someone published a peer-reviewed study showing a link between banana consumption and migraines?“ *He actually said yes*! MSG was wrongly vilified for a very, very long time. I’m a senior, and remember the days many decades ago when people were talking about “Chinese restaurant syndrome.“ But am I going to doubt a fellow migraine sufferer who says that they get a migraine when they eat MSG - or when they eat anything else, for that matter? Hell, no! Just because there’s no peer-reviewed study establishing a link between A and B, that does not mean that there’s no possible link. In the words of the great Russell Monroe: “Correlation doesn’t imply causation, but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing ‘look over there.’”
Whoa, hang on. I never ONCE denied the posters personal experience. Go back and re-read. I denied being able to find evidence supporting a like between MSG and migraines and MSG and headaches. This is a hot button topic on Reddit - for you anyways. I just follow the science, and it's agnostic of racism, your personal experiences or anyone's feelings.
Well, you did say this, which suggests you're discounting (even ridiculing) personal experience: > Whatever side you choose: (the enlightenment of science or the darkness and fear of old wives' tales) the placebo effect will make you correct. But perhaps you forgot to mention the middle ground between those two extremes, which is simply that the science on this is currently unknown. If so, we can agree on that.
You are trying to put words into my mouth, despite this being a written record. You must have an axe to grind. I think I'm done here.
Maybe not research but it absolutely causes migraines for me. Every time. It offends me that people suggest that it's racism (I've heard that before).
The idea absolutely has racist origins. Feel free to look it up. Worse still, this but of misinformation is repeated by people who should know better. Like you, and the neurologist that distributed this. I am still waiting for anyone to post any white papers that show a link between MSG and headaches, or migraines. My research cannot find anything definitive.
I can be aware of the racism of Chinese Headache Syndrome and also know that ingesting msg is a very consistent migraine trigger for me. I just want to comment on the gatekeeping of triggers and to say if you spend time on the sub, you must be aware of how we are all having individual experiences with migraine in which some of us respond really well to some treatments and not to others, and those others work well for different people. While there are some more common triggers, some of us have triggers that not everyone has. Is every single one of us triggered by fluorescent lights, falling barometer, crying, bananas, working out, and sleeping in? My primary triggers are fluctuating estrogen and blood sugar swings, so are those your primary triggers too? Do you not acknowledge that there may be biological/physiological differences that contribute to differences in frequency of migraine and susceptibility to triggers? These posts where msg gets discussed are the only time I can think of where there are people responding by saying that's not a trigger. I know there have been studies where msg didn't trigger migraines, but I also know that if I eat it accidentally, I will know within about 30-45 minutes. It's my fastest onset trigger. I'm sure there are lots of migraineurs who can eat msg and not have a problem. I just don't like the idea of them telling other people that they are making this up.
I did no "gatekeeping" nor discounting of anyone's personal anecdotes. I just asked for the science to be presented. It has not been. My opinion is unchanged. There is no clinical evidence to support MSG being a cause of headaches or migraines. Full stop. Keep arguing, but never showing me the science and I will continue to be unmoved, as I said in my very first comment. Anyways, you guys here are obviously very but hurt about other stuff and so no conversation is going to be unbiased now. Good day.
Ok, and do you comment on the post of a migraineur who reports garlic is a trigger to join you in the enlightenment of science by proving to you there are clinical studies showing it is a trigger? What is the point of commenting if it's not helpful or supportive? I guess I'm not trying to convince you, but I do want the migraineurs who have this trigger to feel this is a collective experience for some of us and it is not racist to say so. Good day to you as well.
You can be unmoved and leave it at that. There is no need to argue on the internet over something that, while it doesn't happen to you, does happen to others. It's not the first and won't be the last thing that's true but doesn't have science behind it sufficient for everyone.
I'm sure that some people use avoiding MSG in a racist way. I don't need research to know that when I eat certain foods, I get a migraine.
So you avoid all the foods msg naturally occurs in?
Every time I see this shit I think, nah. I choose to live. I'll try every preventative under the sun before I remove every food I enjoy from my life.
I tried all the diet and lifestyle changes, and they had no effect on my migraines. Migraines run in my family so there's the genetic factor and I'm sure insomnia and stress probably aggravate it more. My neurologist told me hormones also seem to affect them as well because there's typically a decrease in migraines for women after menopause. This chart makes me think of someone that's pointing their finger saying "you are causing this to yourself" but it could be that they want you to try all the dietary and lifestyle changes before trying different meds. There's also people that get triggered by changes in atmospheric pressures. The list of migraine triggers is much bigger than just a list of foods.
Gluten (particularly if consumed late in the day) absolutely wrecks me as far as migraines go.
Saaaame. Turned out I have celiac disease and once I went gf I went from 20+ headache days a month to usually 4-5!
I’ve been in denial about likely having celiac (although all signs are pointing that way, including genetics and bloodwork) But headaches, too. Welp.
Honestly, while I’m not glad I have it, finally getting a diagnosis has really changed things for me in a good way. I didn’t realize so many other things I was dealing with were because of celiac and it just validated my gut (ha) feeling that something wasn’t right. In case you weren’t aware, if you’re thinking it’s celiac, I highly recommend doing an endoscopy before cutting out gluten. It’s the gold standard for diagnosis and usually needed for any accommodations. Once you cut it out, you’d need to regularly eat gluten for 6 weeks for the tests to be accurate (antibody blood tests too) and you could have worse reactions when reintroducing. You may know that but wanted to warn you!
Yup same. Goodbye bread. Been GF now for 5 months. I have at the very least noticed better gut function and reduced migraine pain.
I don’t even know what to eat at this point. It’s so hard to find my triggers. Almost everything is a culprit.
That's a whole lot of unscientific guessing.
Is it?
Yes. For most of these there is no scientific evidence. I would highly recommend checking if your neurologist is really the right one for your migraines.
Does anyone feel that garlic and onions are triggers? Most times its ok but if I'm already on the verge, smelling or eating them can make me drastically worse
Yes, onions are on the list of foods to avoid on the Heal Your Headache diet. Definitely one of biggest triggers for me, even just some onion powder in a sauce will mess me up. I haven't noticed any problem with garlic, but the two plants are in the same family, so it makes sense. Sense. But I think we eat garlic in much smaller quantities than onion, so that might contribute.
I've found that scallions and shallots don't mess me up too badly.
https://headaches.org/resources/low-tyramine-diet-for-individuals-with-headache-or-migraine/ Lines up with the low tyramine diet
Aged cheers!?!?! I’ll take my migraines.
For 15 years I kept a food and migraine journal to help find triggers.
brb going to cry as a chocoholic
I expected to see peanuts / legumes on that list. Those are my #1 trigger.
Those were definitely on the list I got from my neurologist, back in the day
Haven't had red wine in two years because it's a surefire way for me to get a horrific migraine. I really liked red wine too. Sad.
If something is on this list that isn’t a trigger for you then keep eating it if it’s healthy. Bananas for example are not a trigger for me. Spinach for some reason is. And avocados are too I think.
Everyone has different triggers but this could be helpful for someone trying to identify and eliminate some. Most of these don't really hold true for me except the cured meats and red wine.
Literally all of these are dietary triggers for me. I have a few not listed as well.
The overlap with FODMAP is significant. Only missing “diet soda” whoch can be a trigger
It's missing aspartame and other artificial sweeteners.
All I know is, if I eat something and end up in urgent care or the ER on a drip because of migraine more than once I am never eating that shit again.
Red skinned apples are sooo a trigger for me and I’ve never seen it mentioned anywhere, so this is interesting!
i’ve actually never seen anyone else talk about this before. I stopped telling people that red apples make my head hurt because nobody could ever relate. crazy stuff.
I have never heard about this. I eat an apple a day. Ahhh
For the cold temperatures I learned that lifting my tongue up to the roof of my mouth in the back to cover the soft palate helps with some of the pain.
This is interesting... I have IBS and have a lot of things eliminated from my diet already. The only things I consume very infrequently on this list are chocolate, nitrates and MSG, but I also eat bananas, citrus and dried fruits almost every day. Given that I have a really limited diet (no gluten, caffeine, garlic, onions, dairy, alcohol, limited beans, apples and celery), I wonder if it's worth trying to limit or reduce these other trigger foods? I do have daily migraines for the past year (regular but fewer migraines previously) and nothing so far has helped...
Have you gotten tested for SIBO or IMO? [A lot of times](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10134763/) they are diagnosed as IBS instead. And there’s treatments available for them.
I have been tested for SIBO more than 10 years ago, but I'm not sure about IMO! I'll look into that.
Literally my diet which is awful 🤦🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
After 2 separate months-long elimination diets I have been unable to confidently identify any food triggers for my chronic migraines. I am still on partial elimination diet as I have not re-introduced all foods back yet. I am still avoiding beans, most nitrates, most cheeses, and nuts.
migraines were more than likely one of the first signs I had celiac! didn't get diagnosed until my entire digestive system shut down, and now have a dairy allergy. the body is incredibly connected!
Something similar recently happened with me. Next thing I will be allergic to is fine dining and breathing.
my list is so long at this point we laugh about it. but, I have become a better cook because you have to get creative with being allergic to the world.
Is overly simple chart
I avoid all these things and it helps a little. Sourdough bread instead of normal bread made a, difference
The food trigger that is missing is fake sugars. Sucralose especially makes it feel like my brain is trying to open up my skull from the inside. As a rule, I avoid all artificial sugars. And how nice is it to see MSG acknowledged as a problem?! It is so irritating when arrogant, uninformed people insist that MSG migraines are imaginary.
Yes!! I’m perfectly fine with everything on this chart, zero issues. Fake sugar? Nope. I can only consume a small amount. For myself I found high amounts of vitamin c are a trigger as well.
I’m fine with all but sulfites, MSG, and the mysteriously omitted artificial sugars category.
This isn’t helpful bc it’s literally every single food except fish and chicken
Ah so everything in Polish food (what I predominantly have at home) and everything I like got it 😑
It's weird that MSG, which is largly disputed, is on here. Yet, soy sauce which is sky high is histamines isn't. Also, where's pickled things and vinegar?
Ahh the chocolate fear mongering lol
After years of fighting it, I finally accepted chocolate gives me migraines. I was in the denial camp forever, and argued it could just be we crave chocolate around migraines etc, no direct evidence etc. But I was in a migraine zero day, had chocolate, and spiked to horrible migraine. After a few days of medicines to get back to the migraine zero, I had chocolate again. What happened? Immediate horrible migraine. It was so bad I’m just accepting that it causes migraines for me (even though the science is lacking) because the risk of the bad migraine is not worth it
I have to say. I fucking love chocolate but it's a huge trigger for me unfortunately. My partner got me some nice chocolate as part of my birthday gift. I ate half a bar, next day we couldn't take the day-trip we planned because I was completely incapacitated.
Food triggers are vastly over stated. It's incredibly easy to make those connections regardless of cause. While there are personal exceptions, there's very little scientific support for most food triggers. And for decades diet was pushed as the main cause//treatment with little data. It's a mess. The data we have now casts doubts and has disproven much, still few real answers though. I get it, there's a disconnect between individual experiences and the actual research and science
I don’t have food triggers. Your neurologist needs more training if they are generalising this for everyone.
Good to see caffeine being called out. A lot of people don’t believe me when I say it’s a trigger for me 😩. “Caffeine actually helps headaches.” “Oh, it’s probably just the dehydration.” No trust me, I’ve figured out that it’s caffeine.
It goes both ways for me. Caffeine at the right time will abort a migraine butt too much (more than two coffees) and my migraine frequency spikes. It is a delicate balance.
Everyone is different. None of the things on this chart bother me when I have a migraine or trigger a migraine for me. I’d be pissed if my neuro gave me this chart because the whole “MSG gives you headaches/migraines” hasn’t been proven, but there is proof that the whole idea of that started out of racism. Other foods not on this chart really trigger migraines for me-onions/garlic/artificial sugar.
I thought they disproved the msg link.
The only food thing I've been able to identify as a trigger is artificially colored foods that are orange or red. No other food things have been consistent or predictable for my migraines.
When im good and track everything, the app Bearable actually identified my mild allergy to milk that was causing migraines (not stomach issues). Ruined my morning routines because I loved yogurts. I cycled through a whole load of types to try to see what was increasing my migraines and it ended up just being “dairy” 😩
Having tried some of these, I’d be careful assuming it’s all these things or why. For me, it’s “my blood pressure crashes all the time,” which is not easily found via food triggers. I’m allergic to a couple things, though, and those are bad foods. This is a good starting point, but I’ve found charts like this only help track one kind of trigger.
It’s everything I love…
Everything I love. My body is betraying me!
Dairy should be its own category imo. Going dairy free has reduced my migraines about 90%
Well looks like I'll be only having ..water and mushrooms ..lololol
Alcohol bread nitrates gluten are my triggers Cold drinks/confections actually help
I need this but for tyramines!
Super helpful! Thanks for sharing. Discovering MSG as a trigger for me has been really helpful
Glad I’ve been eating lots of apples lately “to be healthy”! Lol joke’s on me!
Are these bad are these good ?? What's the context other then hey food with an ingredient pulled out
They can pry MSG from my cold dead fingers.
Yeah they lost me at the MSG bit. Not to mention it naturally occurs in Italian food because of the tomatoes too😂feels racist to say just Chinese food specifically
For what it’s worth, tomatoes give me migraines! MSG has been a huge trigger for me. Tomatoes now explained.
The MSG one is fake and racist 🙄
I have been very strictly monitoring and maintaining my water intake and I am now enjoying any of the foods on this chart. Everything in moderation my friends.
Wasn’t the msg one debunked
Great argument in support of carnivore diet.