Sugar and Migraines?
Is there a connection between sugar and migraines, or as we like to call them, migraine attacks? Could sugar be a hidden cause or trigger behind many migraine attacks today?
We should start by admitting that there is a difference of opinion about just how much sugar consumption impacts migraine symptoms.
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Some say that it’s a major cause or trigger, but most would admit that there is a connection between blood sugar levels and at least some migraine attacks.
To understand the connection, we need to clear up some misunderstandings about sugar. There are all kinds of terms floating around, like "unrefined sugar" (wow, that sounds natural!), or course there’s "natural sugars" (as opposed to supernatural sugars, I suppose) and "sugar from natural sources".
What sugar does…
When we talk about blood sugar, what we’re referring to is glucose. All these different types of sugars (and we could talk about all the different kinds in foods) impact glucose levels in the blood, though to different extents.
So if you want to make it real simple, you can simply say that carbohydrates such as sugar will raise your blood sugar levels.
But here’s the rub – they change glucose levels to different degrees, and on different time tables.
For example, if you eat a raw carrot, it’s sweet (if it’s a good one). It will raise your blood sugar levels.
If you eat a white bagel, it might not taste as sweet, but it will raise your blood sugar levels too.
However, there’s a difference.
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You could say it this way, to use a very rough analogy. The sugars in the carrot are carefully packaged up, using a lot of scotch tape and wrapping paper. The sugars in the bagel are hardly packaged up at all – in fact, you just pop open the lid and there you are.
So the when you eat the bagel, the package is very quickly opened and your blood sugar levels rise very quickly.
When you eat the carrot, your body unwraps the sugars slowly, and so your blood sugar levels don’t spike the same way – the glucose is gradually added to your blood stream over time.
Now there are other differences with different types of sugar, which can make the situation much more complex.
So could sugar cause migraines?
But we do know that the migraine brain does seem to have a special alarm that goes off when there are sudden changes. This could do with hormones in your body, with temperature, with sudden exercise, environmental changes, any number of things.
So these things do not cause migraine, but they can trigger migraine attacks.
What is the relationship between sugar and migraines?
Let’s be clear. This does not mean that eating too much sugar will cause migraine. In other words, neither is sugar a direct cause, nor could anyone get migraine disease by eating too much sugar.
But if you’re a migrianeur, predisposed to migraine attacks, eating a lot of sugar – and here we’re talking about "poorly packages" sugars – could lead to more attacks, more symptoms.
How?
It could simply by that alarm that goes off when there are sudden changes in the body. But for some people, it could be something more.
For example, some have noticed a "cumulative effect" – eating sugars over two or three days, for example, may trigger an attack.
Others have found that if they completely cut out refined sugars, they lessened or eliminated their migraine attacks after a time.
There could be some complex reasons for this relationship. We do know that glucose, insulin, and nitric oxide are closely related. We’ve talked about glucose, and if you know anyone with diabetes you know a little about insulin. But people with diabetes are also likely to have impaired nitric oxide pathways. Problems with these pathways could lead to problems with insulin, and with blood sugar levels.
A study in 2009 suggested that migraineurs are also more likely (than the general population) to have impaired nitric oxide pathways.
This could be at least one other clue into why migraineurs may be more sensitive to refined sugars (and refined flours and any poorly packaged carbohydrates) than most people.
Migraineurs should be cautious about blood sugar level spikes. One way people often address this is by using the Glycemic Index. Others have completely cut sugar out of their diets for several months.
What have you tried? Any success stories?
7 May 2012 @ 5:29 pm
Then why is it that, during a migraine attack, the only thing I want to eat are refined carbs (sugar-heavy)?
26 December 2012 @ 11:08 am
I also want sugary foods during a migraine. It may be that carb intake brought on the headache, then when the post-carb blood sugar drop happens, you want more sugar. Eating sugar makes you want more sugar. I have found that if I eat sugary foods, drinking two large glasses of water will prevent a migraine. But I am working on reducing my sugar intake.
11 July 2016 @ 4:07 pm
Me too years ago. recently I found I should not have done that. sugar only made it worse although it feels good when you eat it. Try stop sugar and all sweet food and see if stopping sugar helps
11 July 2016 @ 4:09 pm
By the way, when you take sugar, it takes one to three days before your migraine starts. So it is hard to notice the link between them.
30 May 2012 @ 6:08 am
Yes! About a year ago I realized that around each major holiday (you know, when you either eat the cookies while you make them or end up eating an entire apple pie that was left over from Thanksgiving dinner) I’d get a migraine. Then I started to realize that I’d feel headachey more days than not if I regularly ate anything containing sugar. I put the pieces together and have cut out almost all refined sugar from my diet. Instead I use real maple syrup, agave, or raw honey – all of which are much lower on the glycemic index and don’t spike your glucose level (with the inevitable nose dive a little while later) the way refined sugar does. I try to drink more water and if I do eat something with sugar, i try to dilute it (though this could be in my head) by drinking a lot of water. I also found that as much as I’d love to be a vegetarian, I need the protein from meat, so I try to have some meat (organic chicken), nuts, and greek yogurt every day. I stick with whole grain breads (though I don’t eat much) and try to eat everything in as natural a state as possible. I ‘graze’ throughout the day and try to keep my glucose level as steady as possible. I believe this helps a lot! I also noticed that I didn’t have a ‘holiday headache’ this past holiday season. Honestly, just knowing that too much sugar could trigger a headache makes me not want to eat it anyway, so I don’t miss it.
31 May 2012 @ 1:09 pm
Evelyn, I absolutely agree. It’s the same with me. I have fewer migraines when I cut out the refined sugars and eat the way you mentioned. It was a hard lifestlye for me to get started on but very worth it. Any time I get away from it and start eating alot of sugary foods and candies I am in bed or on the couch for a wk or longer with migraines. It starts a cycle. It’s not worth the suffereing.
4 June 2012 @ 5:54 am
Hi Kelly! I also found this stuff called Lipigesic – you can buy it at the drug store (it costs about $20.00 for 8 doses, so go to the website and print down a coupon) – and its a combination of feverfew and ginger and you take it sublingually at the first sign of a head monster. I used it the other day and it worked!!! I won’t take prescription meds for anything unless I absolutely have to and actually found that the triptans (as well as other pain meds like fioricet) might work sometimes, but when they don’t – look out, cuz you’re in for a doozy. Something else you might want to investigate that I just happened to look up yesterday (i’m ALWAYS looking for a cure) is your copper level. Google this and check it out. I also take magnesium (as people who get head monsters are notoriously low in magnesium), riboflavin, fish oil, co Q10, B-complex, and I just started taking feverfew. They say vitamin C is a very effective pain relever when taken in high doses too. I know its a lot of pills to take, but its a more natural way to prevent those dreaded monsters from eating up my life. Pharmaceuticals are just so bad for you. Since I’ve been on this regimen, I get them much less often, they’re not as bad, and don’t last as long (used to be three days), and I’m so, so grateful and thankful. Doctors don’t know much about this so they just prescribe pain meds, which actually dehydrate you and make things worse. Speaking of which, you need to keep yourself hydrated and keep your plumbin’ hummin’, if you know what I mean, cuz constipation can cause them too. Good luck.
24 March 2013 @ 4:02 pm
Evelyn-your reality sounds much like mine-only you wised up sooner than I did. I LOVE sweets and probably always will…. but if it means no more headaches, then it’ll be worth it to give this up too. I’ve found some yummy cookie recipes that are very low in refined sugar/glycemic index foods, and those help tremendously when I get my cravings at night. For now, I’m just happy to have made it 2 weeks.
I’m curious how you’ve progressed since you first posted this?
26 August 2013 @ 7:35 pm
Hi Suzanne!
Well, I fell off the wagon a while back and started eating sugary stuff again. Not a lot, but if there was cake in the room, it was in my mouth (and I’d eat someone else’s piece too). It didn’t really seem to bother me . . . UNTIL about three months ago. I was working part time on an organic farm, and this was bull work (I’m 58 and in really good shape, but there was a lot of lifting and carrying heavy stuff). Every day I started my day with oatmeal, pecans, and maple syrup (but I’d somehow worked my way up to at least 3 TBLS. in the oatmeal – I know, I’m ashamed) and then I’d have a bunch of mixed organic fruit (raspberries, nectarines, cherries, strawberries, watermelon, and pineapple) that I’d cut up ahead of time and store in mason jars. After about three weeks, I got a head monster. The pain was actually not as bad as in the past, but it still lasted three days. Three weeks later I got another one, and three weeks later another one! Now, this was NEVER my pattern – I was a once every 1-2 month gal. And along with that was I never felt safe (ya know, always feeling like anything could tip the scales). By the third one, I had started to really feel crappy, both physically and emotionally, cuz I’d always feel I was on the verge of one and that depressed me. I went and had my back adjusted and my doc told me all the heavy lifting could be causing it (problems with trapezius muscle), so I quit that job and stopped carrying a shoulder bag, but I still felt crappy. Then about a week later, I ate some RASPBERRIES (fresh, organic) and the next day felt like I was getting another one – this was only a week later! That was it – it was war! I started doing some frantic research and realized that fruit/sugar was the culprit (like, I guess I didn’t remember how good I’d done before). There are also substances in fruit and other foods called TANNINS that some people are sensitive to that can trigger head monsters. Then there’s TYRAMINE that’s in foods (actually, raspberries have tyramine AND tannin), and THAT can trigger one too. I’m already sensitive to NIGHTSHADES (tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, and eggplant). Nicotine is also a nightshade, which is probably why I abhor cigarette smoke cuz it’s a trigger. The thing is, these chemicals are in good food – fruits and veggies, so if you have a sensitivity to them, it probably won’t just be one fruit or veggie, but others too. Research these chemicals – you’ll be amazed. I also had a colonic the other day and was told I have a lot of sugar in my body. That’s all I needed to hear. I stopped ALL sugar (even my beloved maple syrup – at least for now) and am severely limiting my bread (one piece a day). I bought some Xylitol, which is a natural sweetener (google it). I stopped all fruit. I have acupuncture twice a week to work on my shoulder so that won’t be a trigger and am careful about picking stuff up and repetitive movement. I make my coffee (French Market Coffee – it’s coffee and chickory and has less caffeine) weaker so there’s even less caffeine (which has really never been an issue). Hot showers. Trigger point massage. Watch how you sleep – don’t lie on your belly with your head turned to one side. Sleep on one side. Exercise – I walk about 45 min. a day. I also take a heaping teaspoon of unrefined organic coconut oil a day and do oil pulling with it every day too. I’m trying to drink more water. Reasearch, research, research . . . I’m determined!
15 June 2012 @ 3:16 pm
Evelyn I will check out the lipigesic and the copper level info online and see what I think. I am already taking Mag., B2, & fish oil. Have tried Fever Few in the past but it didn’t help. I have had migraines for most of my life but the past 2 yrs they have pretty much dominated my life, at times getting 20 a month. Not getting much help from the Drs. They just put me on Topamax and tell me it’s the best there is even though I am still having them! So I have done alot of research on my own trying to find natural remedies. One thing that helped me alot but that I slowly got out of the habit of unfortunately was EXERCISE! I am getting back into it now…it’s difficult when you feel so bad but it’s well worth it in the end. It has by far been the thing that has helped the most…that and getting rid of all the junk from my diet. I had gradually worked up to exercising 45-60 min. at least 5 days a wk and sometimes more. It was the best I had felt in so long I can’t even remember. Then I started getting lazy…BUT the headaches are just not worth it so I am getting busy again…it is slow going right now as I just have to do what I can do in between migraines and right now exercise can even bring them on…so it’s very frustrating..it will just take time and patience again but I’m going to keep going til I get thru it! 🙂
30 December 2012 @ 11:16 pm
Kelly, my husband had debilitating migraines for the last few years – July 2011 thru Jan 2012 he had them 20 to 25 days per month. He tried feverfew, fish oil, magnesium, B vitamins, topamax, nortriptylene, immitrex, etc. He finally went to a migraine specialist in Nashville last January. That made such a difference, seeing an actual specialist instead of a general neurologist. She has him on a couple of different preventative drugs – depakote and nortriptylene together, with relpax and naproxen as abortives. In the past eleven months, he has only had 2 days of migraines that didn’t respond to meds. I don’t know if this is any help for you, but seeing a neurologist who specializes in migraines really changed his life. I wish you the best of luck!
4 June 2016 @ 3:25 am
Hi Natalie.
I did the same but eventually they started coming back. I would surmise it’s the bodies way of becoming immune to the meds….. Only when I cut out all sugar related products did I start to see a change…. that with exercise. Also something else which I forgot to mention…Oxygen! Deep breathing exercises, (I do “Chi Gung” classes…but simple deep breathing once a day in a well oxygenated location…ie. Out doors in the park or so…) helps allot. Also explains why exercising works too….lots of huffing and puffing gets the oxygen levels up.
11 July 2016 @ 4:33 pm
I have a book my little daughter bought me. It is titled “Heal your headache, the 123 program” by David Buchholz, M.D. The book said that those medicine works by thinking your vein. But overtime, your body will have to expand the vein to tell you to stop something harmful. That means the medicine will stop being effective overtime. That is why I did not go to migraine specialist, They do not have solution yet.
11 July 2016 @ 4:34 pm
“Shrinking veins”, sorry for that typo.
11 July 2016 @ 4:36 pm
They work by shrinking veins. Sorry for the typo
4 June 2016 @ 3:10 am
Hi Kelly. What about cutting out sugar? Did you try this in combination with exercise…. have been doing this for 5 months, together with a mild dosage of Treppiline and it’s like a miracle! Even lost 3.5kgs in last month. Note. 1st 2 months not much happened on the weight side as Treppiline is supposed to retain water. But last month or so I’m seeing huge benefits. Every part of one’s body seems to be working so much better! Keep up the exercise and try cutting sugar out….then watch in amazement as you feel better and better.
3 August 2012 @ 9:01 am
Kelly – have you ever tried propranolol for migraine prevention? I took Topamax for over a year, and it reduced the severity of my headaches, but I had a lot of eye pain while on it (and it affected my concentration/understanding, etc.). Now with propranolol, and following a gluten-free diet low in refined sugar, I’ve just gone 4 weeks without a migraine!! Compared to 10-15 a month. Good luck.
24 March 2013 @ 3:57 pm
Dee-are you still gluten-free? and more importantly, how are the headaches???
24 March 2013 @ 3:55 pm
I have been ‘off’ sugar for 2 weeks now-basically all the yummies I crave (ice cream, girl scout cookies, choc cake, lemon bars, etc). I’m taking saffron supplements to help with the cravings. Fingers crossed, but NO headaches yet! I’m feeling really encouraged and am trying to gather as much ammunition as I can on this to stay motivated. However sad it may be, this may be yet ANOTHER trigger. I’ve already given up all alcohol (cut out 90% of my headaches here alone), and caffeine.
25 September 2014 @ 5:48 am
My young friend Becca 13yrs old has migraines triggered by refined sugars in food. Is there an alternative to refined sugars she could use in cooking as one of her favourite hobbies is Baking/cooking. She finds sugars hard to resist when all her school mate have them everyday. So I thought if there was an alternative she could make her friends cakes she could share with them. Thanks
21 October 2014 @ 1:57 am
Try coconut sugar, it’s lower gi, xylitol, also low gi and I’ve just read about another one on ‘vegusto’ website (a vegan food website), it’s a sugar from a certain palm tree, also low gi and contains vitamins., it’s called Organic Palmyra Jaggery. All these are natural and you can find them on the internet. Good luck.
19 February 2015 @ 11:45 pm
I suspect that sugar is one of my triggers now, too. I had already identified wine, caffeine, and aspartame as definite triggers, and I cut them all out. Msg sometimes seems to trigger me, but not as reliably. I figured all of this out after reading How to Heal Your Headaches. Coincidentally, I have recognized that I have sugar sensitivity issues, but never connected them to migraines. I am working on weaning myself off of them using Radiant Recovery. I gave up added sugar for Lent two years ago and had withdrawal symptoms for a week. As soon as Lent was over, I was back to sugar. I am hoping that the Radiant Recovery plan will help me with a more long lasting solution. I am only on step two, but a number of anecdotes from others on the program are that their migraines reduced.
Part of the program is eating a bit more protein at regular intervals throughout the day. I have noticed when I do this that my sugar cravings are not as bad. Now, to just be consistent about it… Look up the author Kathleen DesMaisons, if you’re interested.
27 February 2015 @ 1:16 am
If I have more then 3 mg of sugar in a day I get a migraine and it will last from 2 to 5 days, I’m throwing up every 40 min’s or so mins. the whole lent of the migraine. I have so much pain I have ripped off my big toe nail, got it caught on the carpet so many times and never felt it because the pain in my head was so bad. I have broken all the blood vessels in both my eyes from throwing up so hard. And this has been going on for 50 years. I just want it to end.
11 July 2016 @ 4:21 pm
I had such bad headache as yours every weekend. And return to work like nothing happened. After decades of suffering my little daughter helped me figure out that I have a lot of fruit every weekend. Oh my. It is not only fruits, all type of fructose, maybe all types of sugar are triggers for me. Now I have only mild Migraines when I cannot resist to eat some fruits which I love the best. I am not a female, just not lucky.
6 June 2015 @ 2:14 am
Man! I am glad (and sad) that I am not the only sugar migraine sufferer. Getting a hold on my diet had been the ultimate factor in getting rid of my migraines. When the bad migraines hit, for the most part fioricet works. I have many triggers, lack of sleep, caffeine, sugar, strong chemical smells (perfume, air fresheners, etc). But, the worst is sugar. When I eliminate sugar from my diet, I suffer from less headaches. I am so easily triggered by sugar, that I can eat a bite of a cookie and immediately get one. I would strongly suggest getting rid of all artificial (and most natural) smells in your home. Once I went “fragrance” free I also cured my headaches. I hope this suggestion helps! I am always looking for support and advice about headaches. But, avoiding sugar is WORTH not dealing with these terrible migraines. Everything in moderation guys!
18 October 2015 @ 2:51 am
I found that sugar triggered my migraines by accident over a year ago, I’d never heard of the connection before. I had stopped eating refined sugars for other reasons. I was having a huge amount of migraines at the time, including stomach migraines, and I realised that after quitting the refined sugar the migraines stopped pretty much immediately. My diet is still pretty much 100% refined sugar free, I just allow myself an odd treat which my body seems to be able to handle…if I do get a migraine it is really mild. I also don’t eat bread because of the sugar content and my partner is gluten free so I don’t have a lot of pasta etc. I wish I’d know about this 26 years ago!! 🙂
11 July 2016 @ 4:03 pm
I think bread should be fine if it does not have a lot of sugar, at least in my case. Bread (basically starch from grains) release sugar very slowly in your body and it is mainly glucose that can be absorbed fast.
14 March 2016 @ 3:43 pm
I have a horrible migraine. I feel really sick.
I had cut out sugar from my diet (even fruit!) for months. Decided to splurge a few days and BAM, migraine today.
22 March 2016 @ 11:39 am
I used to get migraines about once a month. My mother had them, both daughters , and four of five grandchildren get them. There is no doubt that Vitamin B2 is a very significant preventive measure, cuts them at least in half, or more with all of us. This is being upheld by scientific studies. Odd that it is hard to find over the counter, but easily available online.
11 July 2016 @ 3:58 pm
Thank you for your info. I will try. By the way, cutting sweeten food including fruit has been effective for me. Yes, my mom and one of my sister have migraine as I do. I do not know if it has anything to do with races. I am a Chinese, by the way.
17 April 2016 @ 2:46 pm
I wonder if some of the fruit reactions are related to histamine. Some fruits are notorious for causing histamine release from calls in the body – Raspberries, strawberries, citrus. Histamine is a massive trigger for me as well as sweet things (although I haven’t yet managed to itemise which sweet things are the worst and if it’s just refined sugar), I’ll just keep changing my diet and see what the results are, always hopeful.
11 July 2016 @ 3:54 pm
I has migraines but no allergy, not even of fruits. So I think it has no relation with histamine. Diane, I found that I was in the same situation as you described too. My daughter showed me online articles that published recently saying that a few in a million may have gen errors causing low fructose tolerance. some fructose is OK, but not a lot. So try to avoid high fructose food. especially those made of corn syrup, basically including most sweetened (processed) food today. Of cause no fruits, but it is said that strawberry and banana contend less of it. I know watermelon, cherry, and apples are the worst for me.
There are some food contend less sugar, I choose only those less than 4 grams per serve.
11 July 2016 @ 3:43 pm
My little kid suggested that one type of sugar called fructose, typically corn syrup, could be a trigger. So I cut sweet food, and it works. I could not say how lucky I am to have the little kid. I stopped my life-struggling migraine in my earliest memory, and simply by cutting fruit and other sweet food.
Wow!, I would like to spread this message to anyone that have migraine. Just make a try, it does not hurt you, you losing nothing by not taking fruit, pop, cake, McDonald drink, and fruit, plus whatever you think may contend sugar. you can eat artificial sweetening instead.
Sometimes, like today, I have mild migraine symptoms when I cannot refuse to have some fruit, like one box of strawberry and two banana, a day ago, that are said to contend less fructose. And this symptom remind me to spread my successful story to stop my migraine.
12 July 2016 @ 7:16 am
Wheat and sugar are sprayed with roundup at harvest time to make it easier to process. Anything sprayed with roundup can cause daily migraines in some people. You just need to be aware of this!
12 July 2016 @ 12:29 pm
After 30 hours of migraine, I come back to this webpage just find your new post, Diane. You may be right. My migraine became much worse than when I was in China. And each time I go back to China my migraine gets better even when I eat some ice cream, yogurt, and peaches that I used to eat before. My wife said there are must be some differences between food here and those in China. Roundup could be one of them.
12 November 2016 @ 12:14 am
I cut out all sugar for two months (even fruit). Today I ate a very sweet dessert and almost immediately got a migraine. It was such a clear connection, and so not worth it at all.
4 December 2016 @ 10:27 pm
Migrainer for over 10 yrs. I would usually get a migraine 15 days outta a month. I’ve been cutting out sugars from my food intake for the last 4 weeks. And I haven’t got a migraine in all that time except once – when I had a sugary drink (sweeter than coke) at a Korean restaurant (which I also puked that night so bad bad overall). I like Indian tea every morning and evening and that needs some sweetner. So I add about 1/2 teaspoon of raw unfiltered honey. And also since it’s difficult to cut out all sugar – I’ve given myself a 10g limit of sugar a day. Cut it out of your diet for a week and notice a change.
17 February 2017 @ 7:45 am
I tried very kinds of exercise every morning so it’s been better. My migraine is disappeared.
9 March 2017 @ 8:47 pm
For the past year number of years my headaches had been increasing to the point where it seemed like no matter what I did or what I ate, I’d get a headache. I started doing “week without sugars” and finally, this past February (last month) I stopped eating sugar altogether. Lo and behold, my migraines stopped. Seriously. And today I confirmed my hypothesis: I had just one spoonful of brown sugar on my oatmeal, and guess what I had all afternoon? Yup. My very first migraine since January. I’m off sugar for good. Besides, Big Sugar has been misleading us all along and has really cooked the books when it comes to research findings on the effect of sugar on our bodies. They’ve been as bad as the tobacco companies. Current thinking in fact is that sugar is worse than tobacco.
Oh, and along with not having migraines, I’ve lost weight and feel sooooo much more energetic and happy.
It has also compelled me to stop eating processed food as well. It feels great.
13 March 2017 @ 12:01 am
Hi!!
kelly have u tried combination of Diclofenac and paracetamol. This work best for me!!
24 March 2017 @ 12:52 am
Anyone eliminating all fruits to cure a headache should make sure that they are getting vitamin c, and citric acid in their diet through supplements or something not to sweet like lemons, maybe limes if they arent too sweet. Vitamin C deficiency is not good.
23 January 2018 @ 6:31 pm
There are quite a few vegetables that contain vitamin C. So unless you aren’t eating them you shouldn’t be at risk of deficiency.
31 March 2017 @ 4:37 am
Migraines all my life. Now 50 and noticed loads of food triggers in particular sugar ( even in bananas). On high dose of propranolol and avoiding sugar as much as poss has helped a lot although currently have bad head.
9 April 2017 @ 12:42 pm
I feel like articles like this don’t get it. I can’t eat sugar at all. Corn syrup, honey, agave, sugar alcohols, you name it. For some reason I can eat small amounts of Splenda, and the natural sugar in fruit does not bother me. But for the others, even to have some in such small amounts as helps yeast rise in most bread will trigger a migraine almost instantly. The effect is that I have to make all of my own food, as sugar is in everything. Using Topamax has helped a lot, as everything used to be a trap. Now I have a little more leeway. But it bothers me when doctors don’t believe me. I now have bones that won’t fuse together four years after a serious accident, and I feel that the two things could be interrelated, but they dismiss what I am saying as though I must be eating sugar and not realizing it as sugar is in everything.
12 April 2017 @ 4:50 am
I am 65 and have had migraines for the last 50 years. They have run my life. I avoided going out, making long term plans and a host of other things. Until about 2 months ago I have been heavily dependant on triptrans and painkillers. In desperation we all search the internet for an answer (aren’t we lucky we have this tool?!).
I have recently completely cut out sugar (of any description), am eating more fats, drinking full fat milk, and strangely drinking coffee again (no sugar tho). This month I have only used 6 triptrans, (normally 15), and I can work it back to having cheated on my sugar the day before. So for me sugar is the enemy!!! Although msg, alcohol, stress can also set me off, but I am very careful to avoid these if I can.
I personally found the answer with the Angela Stanton Protocol. Through the internet and was just lucky….so very lucky to click on the link. I feel more energised, more focussed, and almost ‘normal’ again. Hopefully I will get better and better, but the biggest gift I have been given is one of hope!
13 April 2017 @ 12:14 pm
Hi Anne,
So sad to hear you’ve had these migraines for 50 years! omg. Well I can say that its been almost 6 months that I have cut out all sugar (except honey (1/2 teaspoon in my tea) twice a day). Sugar is definitely a major culprit, and I hope you are able to completely stop the triptans soon! BEST!!! x
11 May 2017 @ 5:31 pm
I’ve suffered a lot with migraines in the past as I got them a lot. However since I’ve completely cut refined sugar out of my diet I have noticed a decrease, I’m not getting them as much as I did and there has definitely been an improvement. I can’t say if it’s definitely from cutting the sugar but it’s a hell of a lot better since just doing that!
30 July 2017 @ 9:04 am
I stopped eating any thing contains sugar like fizzy drinks chocolate, sweets etc based on the book (never be sick again) written by Dr Raymond Francis.
I used to get a headache almost everyday, and i cannot live without painkillers.
In a week time, i noticed that my headaches decreased from an attack every day to 1 attack every 3/4 days, some time a week! For me it’s a miracle.. then i start googling about sugar and migraine, and found this article.
So ues people there’s a relation between eating sugars and headaches.
4 March 2018 @ 1:01 am
Try a can of peaches in heavy syrup instead I swear by it, it helps with nausea, shakes, the coldness feels nice (put it in the fridge) I’ve never gotten a rebound migraine from eating this, I drink the sugary syrup. =O I guess what fiber is let in the peaches must keep it from spiking too high? Maybe it’s all in my head? Maybe it’s the potassium? Or the water? Or all? *Shrug* who knows but try fruit, (the juicy ones) not bananas though as too many of those and ouchy.
19 February 2019 @ 3:28 am
I have suffered from migraine all my life I am now 60 I found one almost instant trigger easily many years ago strong coffee an easy one to sort but , still the migraines came. I think I have after all these years found the other one since I haven’t had a migraine for a while. And yes the answer is sugar related. It is not one particular type of sugar i.e. carbs, chocolate etc it is more complicated. It is all about the balance of sugars at any one time as we all know the body likes balance in everything and I have found that too much in the body or too little at any one time I go out of balance and the aura pops up and a pain over the eye feeling sick yawning every two minutes and an insatiable appetite. If its too much sugar I have to wait hours until the body deals with it, if its too little sugar which you should be able to work out if you keep an eye on what you are eating this can be solved in about thirty mins by eating a bar of chocolate. It took me years to work this out because I have never before looked at it from this perspective always looking for a specific trigger. Try this approach before giving in to pills.
3 April 2019 @ 3:26 pm
Switched to Carnivore diet 8 months ago. Haven’t had one migraine since. It’s definitely the carbs/glucose for me.
14 February 2021 @ 7:53 pm
If I eat enough sugar to trigger a migraine I get lots of little infections too. It feels like the two are related, that there must be an organism causing the migraine. So I am researching the immune system and found that zinc is something that can help migraines. It is also good for the immune system. I did start trying it and now the little infections have ended and I can eat more carbs (like a whole sweet potato) without a migraine. I haven’t dared to eat fruit or sugar to really test it out, though. I think I was deficient in zinc, based on all of the little infections I used to get suddenly after eating too many carbs (sinus sticky mucus, lungs felt cottony, conjunctivitis, bacterial vaginosis, yeast infection, and once an infected belly button!). But taking zinc must be done carefully so as not to overdo it or a copper deficiency will result, I have read. I took one zinc pill (50ug) the first day before I became aware that a body can only handle 10ug at a time, and then about 10ug on 4 separate occasions (by opening the capsule and sprinkling out about that much powder), and tapered off at 5ug, but not every day, and feel much better now that my sinuses have cleared up. I haven’t gotten a migraine since, and that was a week ago. I am optimistic.
14 February 2021 @ 8:01 pm
I’m sorry, I gave the wrong amount of zinc in my last message.
I am using 30mg zinc pills, (not 50ug).