Tyrosine/tyramine deficiency causing my migraine?
Hi all
I have migraine with aura's from time to time and I've started keeping a diary of the hours preceding a migraine attack.
I noticed that those times at about 1-3 hours before an attack, I ate some dark chocolate. I looked further into this and apparantly there is tyrosine in it that can cause an attack. Apparantly the tyrosine is not broken down in my system.
I looked into it further and a saw something about tyramine deficiency. Some symptoms of this is depression, apathy and grey hair. I'm not really depressed, but I don't feel particular happy either, but I do have some apathy (I once skydived and I didn't feel a single thing of emotion), and I do am completely gray.
I read about taking tyramine supplements but this can cause even more migraine headaches.
So I am wondering how this can be solved? It would be nice if the apathy and grey hair is solved as well, but my main concern is of course the migraines.
Stop eating dark chocolate is of course number one, but for those times it is in some nutrition that I don't know about? Are there indeed supplements I can take that helps me break down tyrosine/tyramine?
Thanks!
Hi RestUnknown,
Thank you for your question. Let's see what information I can give you that will help.
Good for you on keeping a detailed migraine diary which should be helpful in identifying any patterns your migraine attacks have and potential triggers. Foods high in tyramine may be a strong trigger for some people with migraine disease - it is for my son. These foods are not the cause of migraine disease, but can trigger a migraine attack.
When you get a moment, take a look at this article on a low-tyramine diet; https://migraine.com/blog/low-tyramine-diet-essentials/. Feel free to share this information with your doctor and/or pharmacist for more help.
Nancy
Well! That's the concerned post.
Well, that's a new one for me! I'm just starting a strict low-no tyramine diet because I am on an MAO inhibitor now. Quite the opposite! Has it worked for you?
Hi there- thanks so much for asking this question of this community member. I'm not sure if you'll hear back as this was originally posted so many years ago and I'm uncertain they are an active member. We definitely hear more regularly of folks wanting/needing to decrease tyramine in their diet, rather than the opposite. I wanted to invite you to share how your journey is going with taking the other route. We have this resource, you may've already seen on the topic: https://migraine.com/blog/low-tyramine-diet-essentials. We'd be interested in hearing how it's working for you. Glad you're with us. Warmly- Holly -migraine.com team.
Just starting here being warned so much about it. I have done my own research into this , however, and I have to say that there is NO solid proof of tyramine being a major culprit over period of 50 years medical research/studies. This is from 2016.Most go back to 70s or 90s. :Mirror mirror on the wall is tyramine a migraine trigger after all? Done by British National Health Trust. Maybe I should have read your link first...sorry. I will have a few questions for my doc tomorrow!...😀
Let us know how your appointment goes! Nancy Harris Bonk, Patient Leader/Moderator Migraine.com Team
