Hi all,
Just had a quick question about the “heal your headache diet.” Is this mainly used for paid reduction or dizziness reduction? I rarely get pain/migraines but have been diagnosed with VM. The thought of doing this diet makes me really sad. Also, is it something you are supposed to do forever?
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No the diet is not forever. You start introducing foods back into your diet one at a time that you have been avoiding and see if your migraines are triggered by that food within 2 days. If no symptoms, then that food is okay for you. I already know that aged cheese and wine are out for me permanently. They always trigger migraine and dizziness. I feel good on the migraine diet and I plan to avoid most of the high trigger foods like Chinese food with msg and other foods with msg, aged cheeses and alcohol. Im not ready to test foods yet because I have only been on the diet three weeks. It is helping me.
Thank you for your reply, @rosjane. I am debating wether or not to try it. Three months is just a long time for me to cut out all of those foods and I don’t know if I could actually make it.
Its used for both. I never classified my headaches as very painful, more of just a head pressure. So in a way I am similar to you. It works, but you gotta stick to it as best you can for at least 2 months. If you see results, then supposed to go to 4 months before reintroducing foods. Its not so bad, I’m cooking some butternut squash and rosemary chicken right now (-:
Thank you for your input, @ander454. I do not know if I have any triggers but I guess I wouldn’t know unless I truly try the diet…It is very hard for me to stick to one thing. I am a hormonal eater and tend to binge on foods a lot so well see if I can do this. How long have you been on it and have you noticed much of a difference?
Yeah, I would call myself a vascular eater. I never felt hunger in my belly, always the head. Hence why I think I have had chronic migraines for a long time but haven’t really realized it. Following the diet can be rough for a while because your body had to adapt.
I’ve followed the diet on/off since January 2018. Whenever I was really bad, I would switch to the diet and notice I got better over a couple weeks. Eventually I noticed I could avert the “really bad” days completely by following the diet and would get consistent symptoms and progress. I guess the biggest thing I notice on the diet is not immediate relief in symptoms, but consistent symptoms that slowly fade.
You could try cutting out just some of the high tyramine foods like cheese, chocolate and fermented foods, and alcohol. Usually its the foods that you love the most that give you the symptoms. For me it was binging on cheese, dark chocolate, every kind of nut imaginable and avocados everyday. I was desperate…;the dizziness/vertigo, blurry vision, and severe headaches were making me so nervous I was afraid to leave the house. I also have to stay out of the malls with sensitivity to light and noise. All these things added up which put my brain over its threshold. Hope you give the diet a try.
That meal sounds so delicious. I am going make that rosemary chicken and butternut squash dinner tomorrow. Thanks for the idea!
Oh yeah, I never have any of those. The things I cheat on now is stuff like peanut butter, onions, legumes, orange juice, etc… mostly health food that’s not healthy for migraines. 
And gosh its so hard to describe to relatives what I can eat. I just end up bringing my own food everywhere in a cooler in case I can’t eat my relative’s food.
I agree, my neurological symptoms are rarely painful (though there was a phase in this condition when I was flat out with full on possibly basilar migraines which most definitely were!)
Whatever the aetiology behind MAV, I suspect a lot of these restrictions are to help avoid symptom exacerbations. ie it may not be that these things actually worsen your long term prognosis, but if you don’t address them you will feel worse in the meantime.
As per my update on another thread, I’m now fairly sure caffeine is causing me trouble and has actually given me a full on relapse so I’m presently trying to stay away from it as much as possible.
One thing to note though: the diet has varied in usefulness over the course of my condition - sometimes it’s been so bad that the diet would probably have made no difference, but as things have become less intense I’ve found it can help and been more able to see the subtle changes.
I’ve actually been experiencing an increase in ear fluid sensation recently when I have become a bit lax with coffee and chocolate discipline. Cutting back on these things has decreased those fluid sensations and subsequent neurological troubles and I hope I’m going to get back to my trend of improving again …
I’m not seeing any issue with dairy or the odd glass of red wine though … which is nice! 
I know you aren’t on meds these days but Dr Silver wrote that the two main reasons preventatives failed to control migraine were because of continued use of painkillers and/or caffeine!
Must admit I always say I don’t get headaches with MAV. Solely vertigo. I never equated head pressure as being a ‘headache’ at all. It was a very late symptom development for me anyway but I never did. However @dizzy3 told me that is the migraine headache, that head pressure.
Spot on. Just like other triggers. You can’t identify what’s causing what if you are 24/7 dizzy. Well I couldn’t. Just seemed impossible. Helen
I think the idea is to control the migraine attacks of which painful heads, dizziness are both symptoms. Helen
The foods you love are high on the migraine list and could possibly be causing some your symptoms. They say the foods you love and eat the most are the ones causing the symptoms. Try cutting those foods out. I know its not easy but you’ll be encouraged to stay with the diet if you start feeling better.
Hi.
Like you I don’t get the painful headaches either. It was probably that lack of headaches that meant I was is diagnosed as having BPPV for 12 years instead if MAV…
Why would the thought of doing the diet make one sad. Some plp have found they recovered solely by the diet. Isn’t that an incentive. No drug side effects.
https://www.mvertigo.org/t/lauren-kossacks-blog/16071
There are various different diets out there. Some seem stricter than others. I haven’t read the book but I have read Lauren Kossack’s piece, kindly posted on here by @Jessyka_Nettleton recently and which includes a diet version very similar to the John Hopkins diet I’ve seen. You might find it answers your questions. Helen
I have a strong suspicion these are just different presentations of different extents of a similar underlying issue, but should be treated as MAV not BPPV. (the whole ‘loose’ crystal story does not stack up if you understand the anatomy and consider it from an engineering perspective).
Yes, indeed. I can, looking back, see why it was confused initiallyand the label then stuck like Superglue and nobody could see around it but it morphed very gradually into full on MAV. A VRT person later repeated the mistake. You only hv to sit up couple of mornings with vertigo and they start telling you, it’s two different things now. Rubbish. Different manifestation of same thing. I know some plp do get BPPV alone, true.
@Onandon03 I think the diet makes me sad because I enjoy food, and I enjoy many kinds of food, so the thought of eliminating many food types upsets me. I’m also a young person so I enjoy going out to eat. Right now I have been drinking caffeine every day so I think it would be good if I went back togoing off of that. I’m just questing wether or now I should do the full on diet or just eat whatever I want but just in moderation.
Camille if it’s any help I’d dump the caffeine and as much chocolate as possible and see how you go with that. I think I’m ok with dairy for example so I still eat cheese and drink milk.
The other thing I suspect is increased symptoms if I have a very sweet desert. Moderation needed there possibly.
Hi @turnitaround. Yea I honestly think I need to dump the caffeine. I was actually doing pretty well a few weeks back with what I was doing. The caffeine seems to make me irritated and not wanna do anything. So I think I’ll start with that.
I’d cut it out slowly, that will make it easier whilst also not upsetting any equilibrium your body has reached with it.
