Tell us about your symptoms and treatment experience. Take our survey here.

caret icon Back to all discussions

Cutting out gluten

Last year I decided to cut out as much simple carbs as possible in an effort to lose weight. An unexpected side effect was that my monthly episodic migraines disappeared. I did an experiment and gradually brought back a few gluten-free carbs into my diet. I have had a handful of migraines in the past year, but they were triggered by other factors (certain red wines). But a handful is much better than every month. I would be curious to know if this would work on anyone else. Let me know if you try it. Giving up bread and pasta has been so worth it!

  1. Hi AK,

    Since I've been (mostly!) gluten free my morning head pain seems to be a bit better....I still have daily head pain but it seems one layer is a tad better.

    Does that make any sense?

    1. Hi I have migraines and celiac disease which means I am basically intolerant/allergic to gluten. I have been on a gluten free diet for 7 years. Everyone's triggers are different for migraine but even though gluten-free is very trendy right now there is not any evidence that it helps unless you have an intolerance (which is usually characterized by digestive symptoms) I find it more likely that you are sensitive to carbs in general rather than gluten itself. Anyways I hope you find a solution that works for you.

      1. Hi, I had daily migraines for more than a year, had previously had them maybe five days a month. I stopped eating gluten, and didn't get as many headaches, cut out corn and corn products, corn starch etc.... and headaches became even less frequent. After doing much reading about this, it is thought that celiac is only one manifestation of gluten sensitivity. It can also affect you neurologically. My headaches aren't gone, but much less. I think that having the daily headaches made my brain more sensitive, and I will unfortunately, never be headache free.
        Hope this helps.

        1. I've also been on a low carb diet (I'm vegetarian) since a couple of months. I have stopped eating refined sugar which triggered awful migraines. A diet plan containing too many carbs also gave me digestive problems which since have also disappeared.
          Since I dropped the carbs, I have noticed that I have fewer migraines. However as others have stated it doesn't make those awful daily pains in your brain to disappear.

          Please read our rules before posting.