Foods That Triggers Migraine, How To Track?

A migraine attack can last hours, sometimes days and even weeks. In fact, the condition is so disturbing that it can greatly hinder your day-to-day activities. It is the worst sound effect you can experience.

Migraine is a disease of cause and effect. All it need is an excuse to spark it off. It could be an allergy to a certain food, skipping a meal, overeating, watching too much TV, stress, over exertion, or simply taking a walk in the sun. The reason vary from person to person.

More than half of the people who suffer from migraine have a family history of it. The exact cause that triggers migraine remains a mystery. The mechanism involves an instability in the blood flow system. Basically, arterial constriction is followed by dilation (swelling), and this precipitates a migraine headache.

The following are common food triggers of migraine:

Cabbage







Brinjal







Pineapple








Tomato






Canned Fish






Alcohol (mainly wine and beer)






Smoked Meat






Chocolate






Cheese






Yoghurt






Bread






Cakes

A number of people are sensitive to foods containing monosodium glutamate, food colors and artificial sweeteners present in jams, jellies, etc. Other foods less likely to cause are apples, corn, cow milk, eggs, soya bean, walnuts and wheat.

Tracking the culprit



There are many ways and means of sparing yourself the agony of a migraine attack. And that calls for discipline. Maintain a food dairy and write down the food you consumed on a daily basis and the time and date you got migraine attack. Within a couple of weeks, you will be able to find some correlation between your food and your migraine attack.

Once the culprit is nabbed, eliminate that food item from your menu completely and keep a check on whether the frequency of your migraine has plummeted. If it hasn’t then there could possibly be two or more food groups, containing similar causative agents (amines), which could be setting off the attack.

The quantity of that particular allergen also counts. For instance, you may get a migraine attack when having tomato soup but tomatoes cooked in vegetables may not be giving you any trouble at all. Thus, you can conclude that eating too many tomatoes may trigger a migraine attack but eating one or two may not affect you at all.

Once you detect the cause behind your migraine, you may be able to defend yourself against future attack. All you have to do is inculcate a certain amount of discipline. Avoid the offending food, no matter how much you like it. Take preventing measures if it is premenstrual, stress-related or due to skipping a meal and, soon enough you will find the flashing of bulbs in your head fizzle out. And if you are lucky, you will actually forget what it is to have a migraine.

Recommended by Dr. Anjali