I've been searching around for quite awhile now ... and I'm really interested in what triggers headaches, why they come so randomly but oddly around the same times daily, etc.

I'm wondering if specific foods, i.e. chocolate, cheese, milk, etc. are really triggers. I suppose from all the reports alochol is definitely a trigger... but cheese and ice cream? I love cheese... :( And what about smells, like perfumes and smoke? Stress? Excitement?

Anyways, what have you found from your own personal experience? What do you avoid when in/out of cycle?

Kim

Kim D wrote on Oct 28^th, 2010 at 11:04am:

I've been searching around for quite awhile now ... and I'm really interested in what triggers headaches, why they come so randomly but oddly around the same times daily, etc. I'm wondering if specific foods, i.e. chocolate, cheese, milk, etc. are really triggers. I suppose from all the reports alochol is definitely a trigger... but cheese and ice cream? I love cheese... :( And what about smells, like perfumes and smoke? Stress? Excitement? Anyways, what have you found from your own personal experience? What do you avoid when in/out of cycle? Kim

If all you got is a headache I would suggest avoiding all of the above.

                                Potter

Hi Kim,

From what I've seen here, as a general rule, food triggers for migraine are rather common.  For CH, not so much...although nothing is universal.

I've never been able to isolate any food or odor triggers.  In my personal experience, stress has never had any effect on my attacks, good or bad.  I will say that reacting to an individual attack with fear and panic can make an attack seem much worse. 

When in cycle, alcohol is an inevitable trigger for me.  All it takes is a swallow.  I won't touch it. 

Hope this helps.  You're liable to get responses that are all over the board, I'm afraid.  Lots of individual differences here.

Best wishes,

George   

For my husband alcohol (especially red wine) and stress are triggers. Even my aunt's spaghetti sauce with red wine in it was a trigger, so maybe's it's the tannins from that since the alcohol should have cooked out by that point. Or maybe just bad cooking as a trigger explains it...

I have found for myself no foods that trigger CH. The (in my case beer) just one will trigger a CH ,some times worse than others. But I have found if I mix the beer with a bottled water the headache is very light. Example: One beer,one water,one beer,one water,ect... OH AND PEE A LOT. Amazing what we will do to have a couple beers and play cards with the boys on a Sat. night.

DAMM BEAST!!!!!!!!!

It's another good reason to start a headache diary and try to chart your triggers. The only triggers I have been able to pin down are alcohol, sleep cycle disruptions, getting really, really hungry and sustained stress.

Others have posted that petroleum odors, strong perfumes, and certain "migrain list" foods were triggers for them. It's a trial and error kinda thing! ;)

Joe

Hi Kim!

I go back and forth with this whole food trigger thing.  During a really active cycle I tend to think everything is a trigger! LOL!  For me, I will get hit whether I eat particular things or not.  Things like alcohol or MSG during a cycle pretty much ensure a hit and will make it worse.   Stress is also a trigger for me but not like you'd think.  It's when I relax after being stressed or when I stop exercising that I get hit.  Oh and sleep triggers it too! 

George is right.... It's a bit different for all of us.

PF wishes,

Jeannie

Kim,

As was suggested, keep a diary.  Note the times you get hit, and the circumstances surrounding it.  One or two times can be coincidental, but if you get hit every time you eat a certain food stay away from  it "just in case".  It may or may not be a trigger, but why temp it?

For me any cured meats, which I love, and too much of hot dogs or cold cuts will get me.  Bacon or ham and I will get hit 20 mins. later. :'(  For a while I tried eating them under the idea that chronics can often drink without getting hit and thought I was getting by with it until about the third big helping of bacon.  I'm back on the bacon wagon.

Perfumes or fragrances are instant triggers for me.  I was driving a bus load of guys from our school soccer team last Fri following the State tourney (third place) and one of the guys in the back of the bus sprayed on some Axe.  I slammed the window open, turned the fan on my face, and slammed a 5hr energy, but it was still touch and go if I would be able to continue driving.  I hadn't any more than smelled it and my right eye closed and it hit.

We all vary on what triggers us.  I think oxygen mixed with other molecules gets me. :D  Just life is all the trigger I need.  Stress keeps them away, but when I relax later. . .

Keep a diary.  Learn what is your weakness, and avoid it as much as is possible.  Finally, NEVER leave home without an abortive and if possible a secondary with you.  THAT is the biggest trigger out there.

Jerry

Finally, NEVER leave home without an abortive and if possible a secondary with you.  THAT is the biggest trigger out there.

Jerry

Isn't that the gospel truth???? ;D

Joe

Triggers aren't food related for me-unless one considers beer and essential food group, and maybe it is-but things like chewing...anything...can kick one off. So can playing with my beard or moustache. You goota have one to know what I'm talking about. Even brushing my teeth on the effected side or lying down with pressure on that side. That kind of silly crap. I hate the beast. Not a nice guy at all doncha know? lance

I stay away from hot dogs and cured meats.

Callico wrote on Oct 28^th, 2010 at 11:32pm:

Kim, As was suggested, keep a diary.   Finally, NEVER leave home without an abortive and if possible a secondary with you.  THAT is the biggest trigger out there. Jerry

Dear Diary... today I ate ...  :P
But seirously, that is a good idea. Thanks!

And you're exactly right... it knows when you don't have an abortive!

Thanks for all the great advice. You guys are aahhmazing!

P.S. hotdogs are gross and pretty bad for you. Perhaps CH does have perks? :)

Quote:

P.S. hotdogs are gross and pretty bad for you.

Which is why they're so freakin' delicious, esp. with mustard and sauerkraut.

Brew wrote on Oct 29^th, 2010 at 12:44pm:

Quote: P.S. hotdogs are gross and pretty bad for you. Which is why they're so freakin' delicious, esp. with mustard and sauerkraut.

You forgot the onions, brother!  Yes they are good, especially if they are from a local butcher shop or sausage maker!

My faves are from Usinger's, but I don't even mind going kosher:

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Brew, why is that? It's not just hot dogs. It's everything that we really like to eat. Sweet grease and salty grease. Fat, sugar and salt. Regardless of how much we may know, or think we know, about nutrition, what we truly crave are the things that are the worst for us. Is it a matter of our not having psycho/physically evolved in time with our ability to satisfy our energy needs or is it something else? Ron

Who says those things are "bad" for us? Our bodies need protein, salt, sugar (or things that will break down into sugars), etc. Mankind has figured out ways to alter the basic food requirements so that they taste good, but even if we were cavemen, our bodies would still crave those things because we need them to live.

Hot dogs have additives that we don't need, and more salt than we require, but we still need protein and salt.

I try not to get too hung up about what I eat. As long as it's delicious and I don't overdo it (something which I'm prone to), I'm almost always good.

In my experience, it's obsessing with ANYTHING that will do the human body and psyche harm. In other words, it's not the object being obsessed over, it's the obsession itself that proves harmful. Health nuts, exercise nuts, food nuts, it all leads to the same place: OCD disorders. Not good.

In other words, don't worry - be happy. Hakuna matata.

Quote:

Hakuna matata.

I didn't know you were from Hawaii. ;)

Jimi wrote on Oct 31^st, 2010 at 8:59am:

Quote: Hakuna matata. I didn't know you were from Hawaii. ;)

It's Africa silly! ;)

Joe

Hakuna matata...there are no worries...I knew watching the Lion King with my kids a hundred times would come in handy someday...ok everybody sing...

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Also, very appropriate that's it's sung by the "lion faced"

"In all things moderation."  I would attribute the quote if I could remember who it was that said it. 

Jerry

Callico wrote on Oct 31^st, 2010 at 2:36pm:

"In all things moderation."  I would attribute the quote if I could remember who it was that said it.  Jerry

INCLUDING moderation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;D

Joe

Callico wrote on Oct 31^st, 2010 at 2:36pm:

"In all things moderation."  I would attribute the quote if I could remember who it was that said it.  Jerry

I've seen it attributed to Aristotle, Plato, and Socrates, but I could've sworn that they told us in school it was Epicurus.

Here's one for Joe:
"Be moderate in everything, including moderation."
Horace Porter

Regards,
Jim

Thanks Jim.  It's been a long time since I was in school, but now that you mention it, I do think it was Epicurus that told us that. :D

Jerry

My local grocery store carries uncured versions of both hot dogs and bacon (MMMMM, bacon). Allegedly it's the nitrates/nitrites used in the curing process that could be triggers, so look for the uncured ones at your local grocer.

The alcohol I have the biggest issue with is wine, particularly white wine. If a sip of white wine crosses my lips, game over.

My currecnt cycle (started in early August) I can trace back to a Yankee candle, Sun and Sand scent. I had been PF since April and then wham.

The crappy part of it is I'm an eposidic with Spring an Fall cycles, right at the vernal and autumnal equinox, but the freakin candle cycle bled right into my fall cycle.  >:(

primetime wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2010 at 11:53am:

My local grocery store carries uncured versions of both hot dogs and bacon (MMMMM, bacon). Allegedly it's the nitrates/nitrites used in the curing process that could be triggers, so look for the uncured ones at your local grocer.

This hurts to say...I have been involved in the food processing industry for 33 years...but it pisses me off when WE are involved in a fraud.....

"Uncured" means no "artificial" added nitrites/nitrates....the celery juice you see listed are "natural" additives...which "happen" to contain nitrates...which serve the same purpose. If you are sensitive to same...beware....green leafy vegetables are loaded with it.

Reminds me of the products containing "lemon juice" which "happen" to contain sulfites..and NOT required to declare same....

I am not sensitive to either...so don't tend to worry about...but if you are, again, beware....

Not enough energy to post the links...just google...it's all there....sigh....

Best,

Jon

Now I've got that stupid Lion King song in my head.....   

♪♫♪ Hakuna Matata ♪♫  ...What a wonderful phrase...♪♫ ♫

jon019 wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2010 at 8:46pm:

primetime wrote on Nov 2nd, 2010 at 11:53am: My local grocery store carries uncured versions of both hot dogs and bacon (MMMMM, bacon). Allegedly it's the nitrates/nitrites used in the curing process that could be triggers, so look for the uncured ones at your local grocer. This hurts to say...I have been involved in the food processing industry for 33 years...but it pisses me off when WE are involved in a fraud..... "Uncured" means no "artificial" added nitrites/nitrates....the celery juice you see listed are "natural" additives...which "happen" to contain nitrates...which serve the same purpose. If you are sensitive to same...beware....green leafy vegetables are loaded with it. Reminds me of the products containing "lemon juice" which "happen" to contain sulfites..and NOT required to declare same.... I am not sensitive to either...so don't tend to worry about...but if you are, again, beware.... Not enough energy to post the links...just google...it's all there....sigh....Best, Jon

Thanks for the info, Jon, it's good to know. My wife is intolerant of both nitrates and sulfites. I'll let her know. lance

jon019 wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2010 at 8:46pm:

primetime wrote on Nov 2nd, 2010 at 11:53am: My local grocery store carries uncured versions of both hot dogs and bacon (MMMMM, bacon). Allegedly it's the nitrates/nitrites used in the curing process that could be triggers, so look for the uncured ones at your local grocer. This hurts to say...I have been involved in the food processing industry for 33 years...but it pisses me off when WE are involved in a fraud..... "Uncured" means no "artificial" added nitrites/nitrates....the celery juice you see listed are "natural" additives...which "happen" to contain nitrates...which serve the same purpose. If you are sensitive to same...beware....green leafy vegetables are loaded with it. Reminds me of the products containing "lemon juice" which "happen" to contain sulfites..and NOT required to declare same.... I am not sensitive to either...so don't tend to worry about...but if you are, again, beware.... Not enough energy to post the links...just google...it's all there....sigh.... Best, Jon

Good info....I noticed on the package of new Oscar Meyer all beef franks that the curing process is done with celery juice.

I watched a show on the discovery channel about the actual hot dog-making-process. That's why I don't eat them. :)