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Does Diet Affect Migraines?

Posted by Teresa, Volunteer Mentor @hopeful33250, Mar 19 11:22am

After many years of vestibular migraines, I found a doctor who suggested a book called, Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Approach. For me, this book was an eye-opener as it discussed the many triggers that can result in migraines. The one trigger that was true for me was diet. Several categories of food and drink were mentioned that can be triggers for some people prone to migraines. The ones that I realized were a problem for me were certain cheeses, caffeine, and chocolate.

This made me wonder if anyone else has found dietary triggers for your headaches. If you have found some of the dietary triggers, will you share them?

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Headache & Migraine Support Group.

Moderator
Lisa Lucier, Moderator | @lisalucier | Mar 21 11:14am

Tagging a few members who've mentioned diet and migraine who may have comments on this potential connection, @hopeful33250 @mcgrathcreative2 @mikaylar @kate2002 @jdiakiw @taterjoy @kathyb52 @richardfrancine @rwinney.

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Moderator
Lisa Lucier, Moderator | @lisalucier | Mar 24 2:35pm

@shaylala @dj0751 @karenakr @mlpults @shivaamedeo @californiazebra @lakesofdelray @pacer3702 @lakelifelady also may have information and/or experiences to share about the many triggers that can result in migraines, especially foods.

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Zebra | @californiazebra | Mar 28 7:32pm

Caffeine, chocolate and cheese are also triggers for my afib. I discovered the reason cheese is a trigger is the tyramine in it. Chocolate has both caffeine and tyramine. You might want to look up foods with tyramine. It’s a long list and I’ve identified several foods on it that are triggers for my afib. The tyramine lists online were actually created for migraine sufferers. They vary a bit so check more than one and vet the source.

Soy sauce is also a big trigger for me on the tyramine list. That eliminates a lot of foods. A lot of Asian foods contain soy sauce but I recently learned the hard way that many Mexican meat marinades contain soy sauce. Surprise!

Tyramine is an amino acid and won’t be on food labels so you need to memorize the tyramine food list.

Aged foods, cured and processed meats, fermented foods/drinks, nuts and seeds, overripe fruit, aging leftovers, and more. Best of luck in finding your food triggers.

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Mentor
Teresa, Volunteer Mentor | @hopeful33250 | Mar 29 7:02am
In reply to @californiazebra "Caffeine, chocolate and cheese are also triggers for my afib. I discovered the reason cheese is..." + (show)
@californiazebra

Caffeine, chocolate and cheese are also triggers for my afib. I discovered the reason cheese is a trigger is the tyramine in it. Chocolate has both caffeine and tyramine. You might want to look up foods with tyramine. It’s a long list and I’ve identified several foods on it that are triggers for my afib. The tyramine lists online were actually created for migraine sufferers. They vary a bit so check more than one and vet the source.

Soy sauce is also a big trigger for me on the tyramine list. That eliminates a lot of foods. A lot of Asian foods contain soy sauce but I recently learned the hard way that many Mexican meat marinades contain soy sauce. Surprise!

Tyramine is an amino acid and won’t be on food labels so you need to memorize the tyramine food list.

Aged foods, cured and processed meats, fermented foods/drinks, nuts and seeds, overripe fruit, aging leftovers, and more. Best of luck in finding your food triggers.

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Hello @californiazebra,

I appreciate the information on tyramine. I just found a list on WebMD with a listing of foods with high levels of tyramine. Here is a link to that list,
https://www.webmd.com/diet/foods-high-in-tyramine
Has anyone else found these foods to trigger migraines?

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