Does sugar affect anyone with dizziness?

I am following the Heal Your Headache diet. Sugar is not listed as a food to avoid, only aspartame. I suffer mostly from constant dizziness, rarely headaches but I think sugar is a trigger for me. Has anyone else noticed this as well???
Thanks

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It does affect me. Any kind of sugary snack or dessert causes MAV symptoms to increase. My disequilibrium increases to start with and after that it can be a range of symptoms.

Molly

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That sounds like what it does for me too. Glad I am not the only one. Sometimes I think it’s in my head since sugar isn’t listed as a trigger in the book. I can eat a very little bit but not much at all. It also depends on how many other triggers I have going on in a day.

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Ah yes. The other triggers - sometimes keeping track of triggers feels like a full time job! (Although I should add I don’t always do that.)

When I was first diagnosed with MAV, the basic instructions I was given was “low salt, low sugar, keep your water intake balanced all day, have a set schedule & take note of your specific triggers”.

Sugar is a definite trigger for me. Especially processed food and sugar heavy desserts (bye chocolate cake!).
If a dessert is prepared from scratch and is light on the sugar, sometimes that’s okay.

Good luck.
Molly

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Yes sweets are a trigger for me especially in large quantities all at once. I can shake and feel really jittery almost like with too much caffeine

OK, glad to hear I am not crazy about all of this. Yes, I can have like one cookie but that’s it. Anything more than that and I am spinning. I try to avoid sugar totally but once in a while I give in with a very small quantity. I do feel like this migraine diet is helping some. I go to the doctor’s at the end of the month and I can’t wait. He is a neurologist at Duke who specializes in migraines.

Some people it seems were given some useful advice. I have read somewhere very recently that salt and sugar both affect ear pressure in a similar way. I cut salt to a bare minimum long ago then included bacon and ham having seemingly proved them triggers. Recently I have noticed sugar it seems is giving me a bit of tinnitus and affecting my balance. Couple of weeks back one tiny Fondant Fancy seems to have done it and yesterday 2 tablespoons home made Toffee Sauce may have been a trigger. And how. Currently repenting at my leisure as they say and periodically kicking myself for my stupidity. But constantly restricting what one eats is so tedious. Ice cream the posh real dairy sort, seems to have had a similar effect and that contains alot of sugar.

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Sugar is instantaneous vertigo for me. As are all the artificial sweeteners.

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+1 sugar is poison. I also get sugar cravings during migraines and give in and feel more shitty.

keto helps fix all this.

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Enough time on keto and you stop wanting the sweets. Your tastes shift to other flavors. I don’t like sweet anymore but I do like bitter and earthy flavors. I tolerate sour and occasionally need some salt. Which makes a lot of sense metabolically. Vinegar and citrus are common migraine triggers - sour is bad. Sugar is a trigger because glucose robs sodium from the potassium/sodium gates and causes cortical spreading depression - bad. Salt is a trigger unless your potassium/sodium gates are wrongly balanced and you need salt. Earthy and bitter can’t hurt you as none of them - except dark chocolate and very dark wine - are common triggers. Umami is a crap shoot because of the MSG component and all it’s hidden names.

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I get less tinnitus if I avoid late evening eating and big dinners and give my body a rest from metabolism for a bit longer. I call them mini fasts.

I’ve done very low carb for the past 6 weeks along with taking 3 grams of ginger per day to re-sensitise insulin. Feel good and exercising again. Back on the carbs now as I’m trying something new but will retreat back to it if things go in the wrong direction. AIP is my baseline diet however.

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AIP? Which is?

Autoimmune Protocol diet

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I was thinking I could use 40 days of AIP as a nice reset. Harder to do cooking for four. I’ve been lazy about diet lately. Sometimes I get overwhelmed and forget the basics. Something about constant pain (spinal nerve) makes everything else so much harder, even the stuff you know will help.

Pain like that is so draining. Meal preparation can be a great strain with any illness. As can having to cater for various different dietary considerations. All extra work. I’ve just made Lemon Meringue Pie for others to gorge and me to resist! But my resolve is strong. It’s not cold yet!

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Masochist.

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