After 3+ years of daily dizziness post surgery and total disability was recently diagnosed with VM. I have all the symptoms and more and am unsure what to do next. How do I start a migraine elimination diet and keep track of everything? The resources from doctor contradict themselves.
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It seems like there are resources available on the forum to help you start a migraine elimination diet and keep track of everything. Here are some articles and handouts related to migraine elimination diets that you may find helpful:
- Comprehensive Migraine Diet: migraine_elimination_diet_comprehensive.pdf
- Dr. Surenthiran’s 6 C’s handout: DrSurenthiran.pdf
- Headache Elimination Diet: handout_ha_elim_diet_patient.pdf
- Hidden Sources of MSG: Hidden Sources of MSG.pdf
- Johns Hopkins Headache Center diet handout: carey_hopkins-Migraine-Diet.pdf
- Lost and Found: What to Eat handout: Vertigo Tales and Tastes Lost and Found - WHAT TO EAT (USA).pdf
- Magnesium information: Magnesium_October_2013.pdf
- Migraine Trigger Foods and Migraine-Free Foods Lists
- Tyramine-safe food list
- Vestibular Migraine Diet image
Feel free to explore these resources and start your migraine elimination diet journey! Remember, the community here is very friendly and eager to help, so don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any more questions or need support.
Welcome @Belle! Best of luck with the diet. I personally found the diet was not sufficient and I needed medication. Your mileage may vary.
The diets were never any help to me either, but some people definitely find some improvement so it’s worth a try. If you’re not already keeping a diary of your symptoms, you might want to start. It could help you figure out if there are any triggers for your symptoms.
I’d like to suggest two good websites that have helped me in addition to those suggested above.
VEDA is an advocacy and educational organization for people with vestibular disorders. They have lots of good information on their website.
Dr. Timothy Hain is an internationally recognized researcher and practitioner for people suffering from balance and dizziness, including VM. His website is loaded with information. Don’t let the look of the website put you off – this guy is the real deal.
seconding Tim Hain’s website. His treatment flowchart has become the gold standard
Hi Belle,
I’ve personally experienced improvement by following the HYH diet, but not everyone does.
The following are the foods the foods I eliminated at the request of my consultant:
- Cheese
- Chocolate
- Red wine
- Caffeine
- Citrus
- Chinese food
- Full-fat milk
- Processed meat
- Monosodium Glutamate (MSG)
When starting the diet, I made lots of mistakes as I wasn’t aware MSG had lots of different names. You will soon become confident at reading food labels & recognising MSG, so don’t put pressure on yourself.
As @sfnative mentioned, a food diary is a good way to recognise potential food triggers. I keep a food diary, and this has been a helpful tool. In the diary I also put my sleep patterns & my menstrual cycle, so I’m aware that this could potentially be a trigger for symptoms. Sometimes it’s very easy to blame food for symptoms, but it could be other triggers.
I used two great resources to help me with meals & they were The Dizzy Cook and Through the Fibro Fog. The Dizzy Cook also has resources on the different MSG names, and how to navigate the diet.
Thank you so much for all the incredibly helpful information! How did you get someone to help you with the elimination diet process? I was give a book title by the diagnosing doctor and told to do it on my own. The book is not clear at all.
Thanks again!!
Belle
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That’s absolutely no problem 
I didn’t have anyone help me. My consultant informed me of the potential triggers & I actively avoid all of these in my food.
There is a book called Heal Your Headache - The 1.2.3 Program by David Buchholz & many have found this useful. Also, If you access the John Hopkins website, that provides information about what foods to eliminate.
As I said before, you will make mistakes at the beginning but that’s completely normal. If you access the Dizzy Cook website she has a ton of information to help. I’ve copied & pasted some links below that I found helpful when starting the elimination diet:
Migraine Prevention Diet : Johns Hopkins Lupus Center.
In the third link there is a list of alternative names for MSG. I personally found recognising MSG in food products really tricky at first, but you will soon become confident at this with practice.
I hope this helps you!
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