Lemon oil/lime oil/additives in general as triggers?

I haven’t been able to find much info on this, in the form of either experiences/anecdotal evidence or actual facts.
I’m mostly asking because I’m considering a med with lemon/lime taste added; after lots of looking through info sheets I finally found out that they use actual lemon oil/lime oil for the taste. My guess is that the amounts are small, but do you think it may act as a trigger? Heck, I don’t even know why citrus fruits are triggers, OR how such oils are extracted. There is no other choice, without the added taste, unfortunately.

Feel free to discuss similar additives/taste agents in general, by the way. I’m thinking mostly about medications, and not stuff used for food (which would most likely be triggers), though.

/Tran :slight_smile:

Hey Tran,

My list shows that citrus are under the category of histamine triggers.

I also hesitated to take a med because they added a citrus oil: d-limonene. I researched what i found was that the oils you get from the skins of fruit are bioflavonoids and actually reduce histamine production. Take that med Tran!

Do you know there is a website called: Migraenikerforbundet: migraeniker.dk/english/docum … graene.htm

This website claims that it’s the processing of citrus into concentrates that makes them triggers. I don’t know if that makes any sense at all. If I did, i would have posted it sooner. I’m just adding it here now for interest sake.

I know I’ve said it a dozen times already, but as long as you asked, don’t forget, those gelatin capsules that they put meds in = MSG. There really is no hiding from MSG.

Kim is the expert when it comes to the fine print on supplements. I mainly look for soy, which i’m allergic to.

Take the med, the more bioflavonoid the better :slight_smile:

Julie

I know you’re not talking about food, but this site might be helpful in trying to figure out which foods are triggers. It categorizes them depending on what they contain instead of what food group they belong to. This way you can do a search on any food to see if it contains any of offenders:

altmedicine.about.com/od/popular … nediet.htm

Julie

Tran -

I’m gonna go off on the MSG thing again. (Sorry :frowning: )

I personally would be more concerned with the MSG in any meds we take (its in alot of the fillers) than say any citrus. Unless, of course you know that citrus is definitely a trigger for you. See, I can say that because citrus has never bothered me. MSG has, and DOES!!! :shock:

I truly believe, that more of us are badly affected by MSG (because its hidden everywhere), and its incredibly hard to pinpoint.

I often wonder - who put together the official “Migraine Trigger List”??? I can (and do) eat most of the things on that stupid list as long as it doesn’t contain MSG.

Ok, I’ll shut up now. Julie’s fault. She got me ranting again.

p.s - If my ranting about MSG helps one person down the road, it will be worth it. :smiley:

Oh yea - one more thing:

msgmyth.com/

Kim :wink:

Thanks Kim,

I’ve been trying to pull her out of the closet and get her to rant about that.

I know we each need to make our own list of what triggers us. I know that any fermented dairy does it for me. anything else I’ve added back, so far, i’ve been fine with.

thanks for the link, Kim, i’m going there next.

So she’s right, I’m to blame for her rant and I enjoyed every minute of it :mrgreen:

Julie

Great website, so go to the link Kim posted and click on the link: Hidden names for MSG and read carefully.

You have to make your life’s work : avoiding MSG.

But first, I have GOT to get up the courage to run the experiment to see if I’m truly sensitive to it. okay, this weekend, i’ll have my husband buy a jar a Accent. Do they still sell that stuff??

Julie

Unfortunately Jul, I believe they still do sell that garbage. Right there in the spice aisle.

It should be banned, right along with aspartame. Thats our wonderful FDA , always looking out for us. :shock:

Kim

I think the FDA should ban itself :x

Come on now, lets be a bit fair:
“All meats, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, as well kombu are excellent sources of glutamic acid. Some protein-rich plant foods also serve as sources.”
Glutamic acid + sodium = MSG, no? They’d pretty much have to ban all mean and animal products, and probably a bunch of plants as well. :wink:
I mean, far, far from everyone is sensitive to MSG. People on MAOIs (antidepressants) can’t eat pretty much ANY of the amines - they don’t risk migraines, they risk potentially lethal hypertension. I doubt they blame anything but the meds. Likewise, I think we should blame migraine, not the food.
Not to mention that the human body can’t function without glutamic acid - although we can live without it in our diet.

Don’t get me wrong, though - I avoid it as much as you guys, and it sucks that it’s so darn hard, but it would be impossible to ban all possible sources of it. I do agree that it sucks that they spray it on stuff, though.

(I hope this doesn’t make anyone upset or anything - if it did, I’m sorry!)

/Tran

Is that quote from the website Kim linked us to? if it is, i would question that also. How much glutamic acid and free glutamate ends up as MSG in the body. I have no idea.

Kim, as far as I know, was not talking about avoiding glutamic acid, or foods with free glutamate, but MSG.

Okay, i see where you’re coming from - comparing the MAOI-takers and their risk of hypertension with ingesting amines with MAVers and their risk of a migraine if taking MSG. (you are a little G)

Well, give Kim this much, Tran - she said it was a rant coming and going, okay? I asked her to do it and maybe I shouldn’t have. MSG has given her a hell of a time and she has a hell of a time avoiding it. So it gets her going. I appreciate what she has to offer regarding her knowlege re MSG.

I have wondered about long-term effects on people who don’t show a sensitivity to MSG. That’s something else i may be driven to do a search on.

Thanks to both of you, Kim and Tran, for your input.

Julie

— Begin quote from “AZdizzy”

If my ranting about MSG helps one person down the road, it will be worth it. :smiley:

— End quote

Then it was worth it, Kim :slight_smile:

And it was a great rant! :mrgreen:

Julie

— Begin quote from “Tranquillity”

Don’t get me wrong, though - I avoid it as much as you guys, and it sucks that it’s so darn hard, but it would be impossible to ban all possible sources of it. I do agree that it sucks that they spray it on stuff, though.

(I hope this doesn’t make anyone upset or anything - if it did, I’m sorry!)

/Tran

— End quote

You’re right, we can’t get away from it - it’s impossible. as strict as I am with my diet - and you sound pretty strict too (BTW, tell me sometime if you’ve been able to find some fruits and veggies to add to your diet), i wonder if i’m still getting some hidden MSG. And then my next thought is always - “but am i actually sensitive?” i HAVE to test that!

I know i posted it somewhere else, but i use a product made by Environne, it’s a veggie wash. It’s won awards for removing chemicals from food. Although a bottle of it might seem expensive, you use so little of it, i’ll bet this $15 bottle will last a year. Everything I buy gets washed before I put it away.

P.S. It’s okay Tran, we’re just talking here, trying to figure things out, right?

Hey Tran -

No, you haven’t upset anyone. :smiley: We’re all here to learn.

— Begin quote from ____

"Tranquility wrote:

All meats, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, as well kombu are excellent sources of glutamic acid. Some protein-rich plant foods also serve as sources."
Glutamic acid + sodium = MSG, no? They’d pretty much have to ban all mean and animal products, and probably a bunch of plants as well.

— End quote

Well, what you are not understanding here is, yes, glutamate in its natural form (bound) is harmless. Yes, we all need it to survive. Its very common in many foods.
Glutamate in its “free form” is not harmless. Its a toxin. Its made in a factory, and its called “Monosodium Glutamate”. Its the processing of glutamate that makes it become MSG. So, no, Glutamic Acid + Sodium does NOT equal MSG unless its processed. Then we are talking a very different story.

— Begin quote from ____

Tranquility wrote:

Likewise, I think we should blame migraine, not the food.

— End quote

I apologize if I came across as blaming food. I have never claimed (nor will I ever) that MSG is the cause of my MAV. I don’t think thats possible. I CAN say with all certainty that MSG does indeed aggravate my MAV symptoms. If I had not discovered what MSG was all about, I would have given up the migraine diet after a couple of weeks, yet thankfully, I chose to continue with it and tweak it, and eventually found a major contributing factor in my suffering. I shudder to think - I’d probably still be home-bound and unable to care for my daughter had I not pursued it. But, thats just my own experience.

I’m sorry, I don’t know much about MAOI’s (antidepressants) or amines, but I hardly think thats a very good comparison. Please, correct me if I’m wrong. :smiley:

I’m not one to be pushy on my opinions of MSG. I can only tell my story. I don’t mean to sound like a smart-*ss about the diet in general either. I mean it when I say, I can eat just about anything on it, as long as it doesn’t contain MSG. Tran, you are definitely correct when you say “not everyone is sensitive to MSG”. Thats true. I just hate to see people suffering through that diet, not getting results.

I say this: If you are doing the diet, and not seeing any results, give it up. If you truly want to give up MSG, then do your homework. Go on the Caveman Diet for 2 weeks and see if you get results. If you are reading labels looking for “Monosodium Glutamate” and thinking you are avoiding it - you aren’t. My motivation was simple. I wanted my life back. Avoiding MSG was the key for me. It was the absolute hardest thing I’ve ever done, and certainly I’m not cured. I still have MAV and all of its crappy symptoms, but at least I’m not homebound and spinning 24/7 anymore. :mrgreen: