How to Avoid Your Triggers for a Headache!

[Baking_Bud]

A friend sent this to me last year, as she knows I am the lucky recipient of frequent headaches. The list has really helped me to remember what might be a good food item to avoid. Hope it helps you too if headaches come knocking at your doors a lot!

From USA Weekend Magazine, 12/18/2002: Eat Smart by Jean Carper

SIDESTEP YOUR HEADACHES

What you eat and drink can trigger the pain -- especially during seasonal stress.

Recently, a friend who began having recurring headaches was told by her doctor to stop eating blue cheese. To her amazement, the pain went away.

Naturally, says David Buchholz, a neurologist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the author of a recent book, "Heal Your Headache: The 1-2-3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Pain". He says chemicals in foods and beverages are common headache triggers in the thousands of patients he has treated. What kind of headaches? All kinds. Buchholz makes no distinction between migraine, tension and sinus headaches, considering them all forms of migraine.

At the holidays, headache triggers are everywhere: nuts, chocolate, cheese, caffeine, alcohol. And they conspire with another seasonal headache-maker, stress, to raise your risk.

Science isn't sure why it happens, and it's not clockwork. A specific food will not prompt a headache every time in everyone or even the same person, although it contributes to the likelihood of headaches by pushing your tolerance level over the top. Generally, more triggers mean more risk, so sipping a glass of red wine and nibbling on a chunk of chocolate when you are under stress boosts the odds.

Discovering your own headache triggers will take trial and error. Clouding the picture: A food-induced headache might appear immediately or take a day or two to show up.

Contributing Editor Jean Carper is an authority on nutrition. Contact her at jeancarper.com. For the scientific sources of today's column, visit usaweekend.com.

[Baking_Bud]

BEWARE THESE 10 FOODS, INCLUDING ORANGES AND PEANUT BUTTER

Neurologist David Buchholz finds these most likely to incite headaches:

-- Caffeine. It's the top dietary cause of headaches. It constricts blood vessels, which eases pain, but when it wears off, the vessels swell with a vengeance, and the pain returns. So caffeine can relieve a headache but then start a vicious cycle. If you give up caffeine, you may have withdrawal headaches, lasting a few days to a few weeks, but eventually the blood vessels will calm down.

-- Monosodium glutamate. This flavor enhancer is a potent trigger, even in tiny amounts. And it's everywhere, hiding under names such as "natural flavorings" and hydrolyzed protein. (Autolyzed Yeast Extract too!)

"The best way to avoid MSG is to eat food made from fresh ingredients," Buchholz advises. "Otherwise, read food labels carefully."

-- Chocolate. Probable culprit: the chemicals theobromine and phenylethylamine in cocoa, which is the foundation of chocolate candies and baked goods. White chocolate, which doesn't contain cocoa, does not cause headaches. It's unclear whether the chocolate substitute carob triggers headaches.

-- Processed meat and fish. Hot dogs, salami, bacon, pepperoni, lunch meats, and some sausages and hams are preserved with nitrites and nitrates, chemicals long known to trigger headaches. Check labels. Certain seafoods -- smoked salmon and trout, caviar, anchovies and pickled fish, such as herring -- provoke headaches because of fermentation or chemicals.

-- Strong cheese. Aged hard cheeses -- blue cheese (Stilton, Maytag, Roquefort, Gorgonzola), old Cheddar, Gruyère -- are highest in tyramine, a headache-inducing chemical. Some people also react to yogurt, sour cream and buttermilk. Safe: cottage cheese, ricotta, cream cheese and processed American cheese.

-- Nuts. Virtually all nuts -- pistachios, walnuts, cashews, Brazil nuts, pecans and almonds -- as well as peanuts (technically a legume) and coconut contain high concentrations of the headache culprit tyramine. That also means nut butters, including peanut butter. Seeds, such as pumpkin and sunflower seeds, are not a problem.

-- Alcohol. Red wine, cognac, brandy and other dark liqueurs, spirits and sparkling wines, including champagne, are most likely to trigger headaches.

One reason is that they contain more "congeners" -- chemicals that give the beverages their distinctive color, flavor and aroma as well as inspire headaches. White wine is safer for those prone to headaches.

Vodka, which is low in congeners, is least apt to be a trigger. Suspect: balsamic vinegar, because of fermentation.

-- Certain fruits. Citrus fruits and juices, bananas, raspberries, red plums, papayas, passion fruit, avocados and raisins are potential troublemakers. Also: other dried fruits, if they are preserved with sulfites, which is noted on labels.

-- Certain vegetables. Whole onions (especially when raw), sauerkraut, pea pods, lentils, and lima and navy beans.

-- Fresh yeast-risen baked goods. That includes freshly made doughnuts, bagels, bread (especially sourdough), soft pretzels and coffeecakes. Solution: Let them sit a day, or buy day-old products. Packaged commercial breads in supermarkets pose less of a threat. Beware of croutons and bread crumbs that are seasoned with MSG.

Good news: Despite popular opinion that spicy food causes headaches, there's no evidence it does, Buchholz says. So eat spices and herbs with abandon.

[evorg]

Thanks for this interesting post. My 14 year old son suffers frequent headaches for no apparent reason. We've done the obvious things like having his eyes tested, resricting his time on the computer, playstaion and TV, but he still suffers headaches. After reading this post I realise he does overindulge in chocolate quite often. I will certainly look more closely at his diet and make some changes, which are definately worth trying.

[Baking_Bud]

Hi Evorg!,

Glad you found the post useful. As a frequent sufferer myself of headaches, I KNOW how distressing finding yourself so often with one is. For a 14 year old, it just isn't fair for him. I hope you can narrow down what his triggers are.

Mine are mostly centered around MSG, autolyzed yeast extract, and those derivatives. Truly, I thought I had a brain tumor many years ago before I found out what was making mine happen. I had two sons in different schools, and a wonderful beef bowl place right inbetween them. On a weekly basis, I spent 4 days with bone crushing headaches. One day when I brought one home and started to eat my healthy veggies, chicken, and rice, I got a long distance phone call from a friend. Not wanting to be rude and eat while we talked, I put the bowl in the refrigerator. A short time later, my temples started to get that 'weird feeling' that I KNEW meant a headache was on the way. A lightbulb in my brain went off, and all of a sudden I wondered if the MSG in the food could be my trigger? Took 2 aspirins to combat the oncoming headache, and then later tried the chicken bowl again. BINGO! It was obvious that this food was what preceeded each bone crushing headache. I stopped getting them, and the headaches became manageable as it then opened up a world of LOOKING for ALL of the products it is in. From soups to cheetos, nothing seemed to be free of that stuff. My favorite easy to cook stuffing has MSG, which deals me a NON STOP 3 day one!) I asked them why they needed it with tons of other added flavor enhancers, and the woman rudely told me that at least they were honest enough to list it. That most companies try to hide it in terminology most won't detect > that is until they get a headache! So I am a label reader, and if I get a headache from a product I DO call them. I may get a headache, but there are others who literally can't breathe from the stuff and end up in the emergency room. I even found it on chicken meat from a local food place, that they didn't even know about. Woman was nice and talked to the people they bought the chickens from. Turns out they 'bathe' the chickens and turkeys in a solution of MSG to make their meats taste better! Even she was shocked.

Keep a journal surrounding the onset of each headache to see if you can identify the food product launching your son into headaches. Most snack foods unless they say MSG free use it, so take a close look at his fun foods too. If food out smells INTENSE or you think that it just smells too good, like honey barbecued wings from a location near all of us, then you will usually find MSG or a derivative in it. My youngest son loves those darn wings, and I try to convince him that they need to ride in my trunk home. Smell just KILLS ME! For most people MSG isn't a problem yet >>> and I say YET. I think mine happened earlier because I LOVE all oriental type of food where it traditionally was found. Little did I realize how much adding it had taken over our markets too, until I had to educate myself to avoid the headaches.

Let us know if you find out anything. A headache isn't also instantly following the trigger, so hence the need to be a food detective.

Best of Luck in stopping your son's headaches. Cool cloths > I use an gel one from the freezer, and a dark room to let the eyes rest, seem to help. The 'stress' from the headache can tense you up even more. Relaxations techniques will help greatly.

Always With My Best, Baking Bud