Migraine Triggers

 If you look at the list of migraine triggers, it's quite an extensive list.  The reason for this is because doctors don't actually know what causes migraines.  They have theories, but no definitive answer.  Most of the information about migraines is anecdotal from doctors who work with migraine sufferers.  Over time, they have found some commonalities amongst suffers and have brought that information together.  

As for food triggers, it is far too difficult to do large scale food studies where a person's food intake is so closely monitored.  Difficult and expensive, so it hasn't been done.  There have been small-scale studies, and some of the triggers are so common and strong that they are generally accepted- wine, cheese, chocolate are the big three.  However, as was explained in Heal Your Headache, there are many other micro-triggers.  These are triggers that won't necessarily give you a headache by themselves, but if you combine them over time, they will cause a headache.  Think of your brain as a vase.  At any time, there might be water in that vase.  For a long time, the vase could be sitting at half full, but then you eat some nuts (a micro-trigger) and that water level goes up a bit.  Then you eat an avocado and a banana, and now the vase is very close to full.  Let's say that day you get dehydrated and suddenly your vase is overflowing and you have a migraine.  Any one individual thing would not cause a migraine, but when you add them all together they do.  This is what makes it so hard to figure out the cause of your migraines.  You're lucky if they are hormonal, because then they are predictable.  When I first started getting migraines, I knew when they were coming.  The only solution the doctor could give me was that maybe going on oral contraception might balance out my hormones.  It did not.

So, I'm going the 30 day migraine diet so that I can say for sure whether or not my migraines are being caused by triggering foods.  It's a long list of foods because everyone is triggered by different foods, so, you have to eliminate them all, because you don't know which ones might be adding a little bit of water to your vase.

Photo by Jason Wall