Diet and migraine- could they be linked!

[etaketak]

I've been doing a grapefruit diet this week- very strict, lots of grapefruit and egg and salads and some meat. No sugar, fats oils carbs. I've don't the diet a few times before for a quick weight loss as can lose half a stone in a week.

Anyway, yesterday was day six of the diet and I had a headache all day, this gradually got worse, was keeping me awake last night, is still here this morning. It's like a throbbing pain and it gets worse whenever I move. Is this a migraine? Could it be linked to my diet?

Yes!

But not necessarily in the way you think.

If you are dieting migraine can be a nightmare and your diet does sound like a migraine in the making for me.

Hunger is a massive migraine trigger so dieting has to be done very carefully. If you are getting a low blood sugar because of your diet, your body will not like that at all.

Equally migraine likes regularity - regular meals, getting up at the same time, going to bed at the same time, having loads to drink. If your diet has changed this, again, recipe for disaster. If I don't have lunch within a 30 minute window every day, I start feeling really ill and too late there will be a migraine.

Finally you have cut out a lot of food groups - fats, sugars AND carbs. For lots of people migraine seems to be linked to activity of the vagus nerve. So changing diet can be a good thing to help control migraine but you have to do it carefully to avoid all the hunger triggers.

Your vagus nerve basically controls your appetite. It is what makes you hungry and tells you that you need to eat a load of carbs and sugars even though you might, in my case already be fat It's why low carb, low sugar diets are so in for helping diabetes, if you cut them down, your appetite reduces as well as losing loads of weight. So much less feeling hungry (good because less migraine) and less eating of fattening foods.

So a good migraine diet would be cutting out sugar, low carb, healthy oils and fats, wholegrains, high fibre, loads of veg - still making sure you didn't get too hungry between meals but slow weight loss 2 pounds a week. A bit like the healthy Mediterranean diet everyone is recommended!

Yes it is, but the weather Is also a factor. In particular the high winds we have been having can trigger migraine .My family are migraine sufferers and our symptoms often coincide. There are quite a few studies about this on line. In one study in North America they tracked sufferers for two years and found a significant increase just before the Chinook winds.

They advise taking migraine meds before the attack when high winds are forecast .
In your case I would try the diet again and see whether you still get them when the weather is calmer. Although it is faff, keeping a food diary does help. Regular small meals really help me.

I’m guessing it’s sugar and maybe even caffeine withdrawal. After a couple of weeks without sugar this will fade but honestly when I cut out fizzy and sugar etc I felt rough for the first 2 weeks; energy less and headachey but then my body adjusted and I felt amazing!!!

Although I’m not sure your diet is manageable long term. I cut out sugar, cake,coke,fizzy drinks. (So all the junk) but still was eating meats and veg etc so getting all the food groups.

These are very useful replies, thank you. I've not had a migraine before and can't believe how painful they are. It's slowly going and I don't feel like I need to be in a dark room at the moment which must be a good sign. I had a nice sugary cup of tea hoping that that was the answer