the question is as stated. Are all mavers sensitive to dietary-triggers, and if so to what extent?
Mikael
i can not speak for others but it is a big trigger for me especially the headache part. Since I have eliminated all the trigger foods I have not had a really bad “headache” in about two months . While the other symptoms still exist the headache part has been very controled with the elimination of all and I mean all of the trigger foods listed on the diet I was given.
It is not even worth it to me to try and reintroduce some foods as i had headaches so bad prior to going on the diet I will just live without them for the rest of my life most likely.
My diet now is simple but healthy and I have become creative with it to make it more interesting each day.
I am definitely sensitve to food triggers. For me, they don’t cause headaches. Instead, they send my world topsy-turvy, making it hard for me to tell up from down, and everything rocks back and forth, not to mention the sudden falling that starts up. I can identify food triggers pretty easily as most of them will effect me in less than a half hour, often while I am still eating.
Brian
— Begin quote from “Brian B”
I am definitely sensitve to food triggers. For me, they don’t cause headaches. Instead, they send my world topsy-turvy, making it hard for me to tell up from down, and everything rocks back and forth, not to mention the sudden falling that starts up. I can identify food triggers pretty easily as most of them will effect me in less than a half hour, often while I am still eating.
Brian
— End quote
Mine effect me too while I am still eating…not a long term reaction but very short time before I can tell if I ate something I should not have eaten.
— Begin quote from “MikaelHS”
the question is as stated. Are all mavers sensitive to dietary-triggers, and if so to what extent?
Mikael
— End quote
I may be an unusual case here but I have not noticed any dietary triggers. I am currently trying to stick to an anti-migraine as well as an anti-menieres diet not because I am feeling better on this diet but because I will do whatever I can to avoid having a vertigo attack and there is the possibility that this is helping even though I really can’t feel anything. I haven’t noticed any change in my headache carsick feeling and my vertigo attacks have been so episodic and random it is hard to tell if this is helping or not. I wish I could find a food trigger, it certainly would help.
Oh, what I would give for a plate of real lasagna or a piece of cheesecake or a brownie with ice-cream or a cinnamon bun with lots of butter. At this point even having salt on my spinace would be a treat.
I’m only sensitive to MSG. The other well-known triggers don’t bother me.
I doubt anyone could say that “all” Maver’s have dietary triggers. But I would venture to say that some never find their triggers because it can be really difficult. For me, my reactions in the beginning were delayed by as much as 36 hours, but I believe that had something to do with what Bucholz talks about in his book as having to do with the “threshold”. But I don’t know for sure.
Kim
Mikael,
Food/drink triggers are Caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, msg, too much sugar. Non-food triggers are not getting enough sleep (less than 7.5) plus not staying with the same bed time each night. Also…must keep Stress at a fairly low point. Bottom-line…i cannot over due it with too many activities because alot of stimula aggravates the condition. I try and keep things simple. No big surprises. Sort of borring but worth it for the time being.
Joe
Two hours after eating a lot of spinach for lunch, I had a full blown vertigo attack (dont often get these in the day). I have kept diaries for over 20 years now so have pinpointed some of the triggers, but it is hard to do this, as if your trigger threshold is low, the food wont have an effect.
Christine
I kept a diary for many years and found that MSG, and sulfites (wine) and even pizza are triggers for me.
Karen
Same as Joe for me - except I haven’t had any alcohol for a few years, so don’t know about that one. Also can’t eat Papa John’s pizza but Domino’s seems okay … go figure. I don’t really like Domino’s. (Can’t afford either one right now so it doesn’t really matter.)
And I have to stay away from artificial sweeteners, broccoli(!?), decaf coffee, processed meats (i.e., lunch meats, sausages, etc.), the smell of vinegar(!) … & wearing blue too often. (Okay I’m probably kidding about wearing blue, but it seems like sometimes just *imagining *I’m gonna get a headache will bring on a headache, ya know?)
Some of this stuff goes straight to giving me the hot spikey headaches while others just makes me dizzy & nauseous & all-over headachey.
I have definite food triggers which create headache (mainly because of neck pain), sometimes dizziness, and usually achiness in my joints and hands.
– anything containing tyramine such as aged cheese, tap beer, deli meats, dried fruit and some yogurts. Apparently over-ripe avocados have it too.
– chocolate, coffee (even decaf), sour dough, nuts, alcohol in general but perhaps not vodka, and Asian foods with MSG.
All of the above can mess with my head. Fortunately (as of today) I have stopped taking St John’s Wort which has MAOI properties. MAOIs prevent the breakdown of tyramines in the body. Maybe I’ll be much better off without SJW and the sensitivity will drop.
Scott 8)
Scott said:
I have definite food triggers which create headache (mainly because of neck pain), sometimes dizziness, and usually achiness in my joints and hands.
I also suffer from neck and shoulder pain and my physical therapist has suggested that I may have cervical vetigo, in addition to migraines. Scott, do you mean that certain foods may cause this neck pain or have you been diagnosed with a second illness?
Also, I forgot to mention that I avoid deli meats, and anything smoked or fermented.
Karen
— Begin quote from “KarenS”
I also suffer from neck and shoulder pain and my physical therapist has suggested that I may have cervical vetigo, in addition to migraines. Scott, do you mean that certain foods may cause this neck pain or have you been diagnosed with a second illness?
Karen
— End quote
Hi Karen,
Cervical vertigo is very, very rare and requires some sort of physical injury to cause it. I can guarantee with 99.9% certainty that your neck and shoulder pain are all just migraine and, of course, migraine is the root cause of your dizziness. It’s one disease only that is causing all of this garbage. Yup, if I eat a migraine trigger, I get almost instant neck and shoulder pain which then produces referred head pain. Sometimes I’ll be dizzy first and then it starts.
edit: Karen – have a listen to the first few minutes of this talk. Adleman explains why the neck is involved:
mvertigo.org/audio/migraine_management.mp3
Scott 8)
Scott:
Thanks for the response. I have been dealing with migraines, vertigo, ototoxicity (toxic poisoning of the ear which resulted in 80% vestibular loss so my balance system has been damaged) and this neck and shoulder pain for a few years. Different doctors tell me different things and they all describe my symptoms with the exact same adjective “interesting” (maybe to them!). I am curious as to why none of them knew that my neck and shoulder pain is caused by my migraines, or atleast is related to them. Some seem to think it is a result of my balance disorder, but I had this pain prior to my ototoxicity diagnosis and loss of balance. So, it could very well be associated with the migraines that I have had for a much longer period of time.
How many migraine sufferers have the neck and shoulder pain, too?
Thanks again!
Karen
Hey Karen,
I am curious as to why none of them knew that my neck and shoulder pain is caused by my migraines, or at least is related to them.
Yeah, it’s ridiculous that you’ve been to all of these docs and they just don’t understand it. They simply don’t know because they were never taught this information. Instead of sitting there and sounding stupid, I guess they choose to say “interesting” and then go on to say “it’s probably all in your head” … or “it’s anxiety”. Complete BS. Grab a copy of “Heal Your Headache” by Dr Buccholtz (from John’s Hopkins) off Amazon:
(NB from admin: this image links to a product this member has found helpful and at the same time helps fund the site: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. More recommended products here. Thanks for your support!)
He describes all of this perfectly and explains why the neck and shoulders are involved in more detail than Adleman’s talk.
The takehome message Karen, is that it’s all migraine related: neck pain, shoulder pain, headache, dizziness, vertigo, anxiety, IBS. Treat the migraine and all of this other stuff will vanish.
Scott 8)
Can’t say that I have any dietary triggers as such. When I was in remission for 18 months with & without meds I ate anything I wanted & didnt have any problems. In fact I could push myself to the limit - had a 3 day drinking binge & I was fine.
I havent noticed any foods making anything worse this time round. I stuffed myself full of cheese just to test the theory a few months back & I felt no worse & nor better.
To be fair though I have been on a very strict diet for a year now - no booze, no sugar, no yeast, no fast food etc because of my IC.
I try not to think about this too much or I will no doubt start to have triggers!
— Begin quote from “dizzyrascal1983”
Can’t say that I have any dietary triggers as such. When I was in remission for 18 months with & without meds I ate anything I wanted & didnt have any problems. In fact I could push myself to the limit - had a 3 day drinking binge & I was fine.
I havent noticed any foods making anything worse this time round. I stuffed myself full of cheese just to test the theory a few months back & I felt no worse & nor better.
To be fair though I have been on a very strict diet for a year now - no booze, no sugar, no yeast, no fast food etc because of my IC.
I try not to think about this too much or I will no doubt start to have triggers!
— End quote
when you say you were in remission do you mean it just went away and then returned? And then when it did return was is the same , etc.
Now are you on medicaiton…
The reason I was asking is it seems that in the last week or so my symptoms seemed to have diminished, is that possible and if so does it mean that it is just sitting in the background waiting to rear its head…
Scott:
Thank you for the information. I am one of the few who has never been told that any of my symptoms were psychological. I have had so many obvious and undeniably related problems that I suppose the doctors were able to identify and eventually classify some, and try to search for others.
I know how frustrating it is when we cannot find a cause for a specific problem, so It must be terribly frustrating when the medical community treats a patient like they may not even have an actual problem.
I will definitely check Dr. Buccholtz’s book out.
Karen