One of the first substances that springs to mind when you think of food allergies provoking migraines is chocolate. The correlation between this guilty pleasure and the excruciating pain of migraine headaches was made during a large study the results of which were published in Lancet(1).Chocolate is one of the few foods which has been investigated in double blind controlled studies, to determine how much of a trigger it really is - unlike many other food products, which have merely been included as part of larger studies using a wide range of possibilities.These double blind, focused studies, apparently left ambiguity on the subject. A 1974 study undertaken at the London Hospital apparently concluded that whilst chocolate may be a trigger, it wasn’t a significant one(2). This was a full five years prior to the Lancet study, which ranked chocolate near the top of the list along with other triggers, considered predominantly to cause migraines.Another study done in 1997 also used a double blind protocol and placebo to try and pinpoint chocolate as an aggressive migraine trigger - again with inconclusive results. The study, carried out at the University of Pittsburgh, Pain Evaluation and Treatment Institute, concluded there was no difference […]
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In 1979, the highly respected Lancet Journal published an article identifying caffeine as a suspected migraine trigger. Various theories about caffeine and other substances in products that contain caffeine have since been explored.As is frequently the case with food intolerances, one person will not react to a specific food, whilst another can suffer a severe reaction to the same food. Consider the shellfish - a killer for some, a healthful food for someone else.Caffeine is a double edged sword when it comes to migraines, as many believe it causes them - yet it is a major ingredient in many headache medicines as well. Many studies have been carried out, focusing on the efficacy of caffeine when used to relieve migraines; as a natural vaso-constrictor, it would seem that caffeine might help rather than intensify migraine pain. Several studies have shown that when caffeine is included as an ingredient in migraine medications, relief is faster and more complete(1).However, there is some evidence to suggest the link between caffeine and migraines hinges on a borderline addiction. Weekend headache or Sunday migraine often occurs when the usual daily routine is disrupted - or in other words, when a person sleeps in and misses […]
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There are many treatments, drugs and therapies on the market today to treat the symptoms of migraine headaches or prevent them altogether. Some work well for some people while other sufferers find little relief. Because of the wide spectrum of success and failure among sufferers, scientists and researchers continue to look for more options to treat this debilitating condition.The latest weapon against migraine is surgery. This is not a new procedure and has been used in facial plastic surgery for some time now. This surgery has only recently been initiated in the US and involves removing the corrugator muscle found above the eyebrows. The theory is that the surgery eliminates migraines by eliminating the muscle, responsible for negative interaction with nerves around the area creating the migraines. This is an extremely drastic and radical approach to traditional treatment against debilitating migraines.The surgery targets the trigger point where migraine headaches usually begin. The pressure will be removed once the muscle is eliminated which should alleviate pain. This procedure does not help all migraines. It will only work for corrugator muscle triggered migraines and the specific nerve group in the head. The doctor will […]
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