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Dairy Products

I was in the process of narrowing down. Perhaps I am still. My suspicion is dairy products - milk, cheese, creamers and the like.

I had been keeping a log of food I ate before a migraine but never suspected dairy. However, I read somewhere that it is also an accumulation of ‘bad’ stuff in the body which ultimately triggers the migraine. Thus, I had a tough time figuring out what triggered it because it sometimes triggered a migraine and other times not. Possibly if I hadn’t eaten a lot of dairy products for the week, it gets excreated before it builds up. At other times, the amount consumed accumulated over a few days was so large, it just triggered.

Mhy journey - I ate fish noodle soup with milk one night and I had a migraine the next day. I thought it could be the fish or perhaps MSG. I asked my sis after the migraine and she denied putting MSG. On a separate occasion, I ate a cheese birthday cake - only a tiny slice. I almost died with migraine the next day. I had pizza another time and had migraine the next day again. But I was puzzled since I eat pizza regularly and it never occurred to me.

So I decide to stop eating dairy products and 6 weeks ago. Lo and behold, my migraines was at bay.

One day before sleeping, I decided to have a 3 in 1 hot chocolate. The next day I felt terrible and knew a migraine was coming. I looked at the hot chocolate package and true enough - there was milk products in it.

One thing I realized was I always threw up when I had a migraine. So, I was thinking, is it the upset stomach which affected the head or vice versa. A little research confirmed that the stomach and brain are linked - thus the term gut feeling. Thinking back, I do remember my stomach feeling queasy before a migraine.

Interestingly, the cheese in a Mac’s Fish O Fillet doesn’t affect me; nor does Hagen Daz and Magnum ice cream. Then again, as I mentioned, it could be an accumulated amount of dairy before it triggers my migraine and the amount I ate those times was not much.

I hope it helps someone reading this.

* I had been drinking coffee with milk my whole life and now drink black coffee. I heard that coffee helped headaches. Unfortunately, the more I drank coffee with milk, the more my migraine became worse.

  1. Hi Ice Dry,

    Thank you for sharing your journey with us. Diary, and many other foods can trigger a migraine attack for some people with migraine disease. On the other hand, there are folks who don't have any food triggers!

    Coffee and migraine disease can be a double edged sword. Some people find coffee helpful in relieving migraine pain. There is a small subset of people with migraine disease for whom coffee can make migraine disease worse. This is the case for me. I have 1-2 cups of coffee a day, any more and I'll get rebound headache.

    Keep us posted on how you are doing,
    Nancy

    1. All dairy is a trigger for me with one odd exception. Organic, unsweetened greek yogurt relieves my nausea and helps lessen the pain as well as helps me with migraine hangover. Umsweetened soy milk also hleps me.

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