Posted by Ueli (212.28.158.201) on December 13, 1999 at 21:09:00:
In Reply to: Dietary Triggers posted by Nanci O'Sullivan on December 13, 1999 at 10:34:15:
Most of the 'triggers' listed in this thread up to now are the classical migraine triggers, copied since Adam and Eve to every other migraine site/book/panphlet, without giving much thought about the inconsistencies it contains.
A few examples:
Protein rich foods:
Why only red meat and not white meat (fish, poultry) also? They contain about the same amount of proteins, so if only red meat is a trigger it cannot be the proteins (as a class) but only one (or a few) very specific protein (which I ask the compiler of such lists to name, please).
Why does baking beans turn them into triggers, but apparently not cooking them?
Caffeine:
If this is a trigger, then why mention chocolate separately?
BTW: I am reading CHMB now for 10 month, and there have been very few (if any) that
convincingly claimed caffeine as a trigger. On the other hand many report that a strong coffee helps in fighting a CH attack and promotes the uptake of medicines.
MSG:
If it's recommended to avoid MSG why mention separately some foods, like hot dogs, pastry, gravy? And who at this time of the millennium does make gravy from scratch. A prefabricated product is bought and improved on at the best, and the main ingredients in these little bags is what? - MSG !!!
Many hard cheeses do develop MSG as they ripen.
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Conclusion:
Life is hard enough with CH, don't make it any harder by following some obscure, catch-all lists, thrown together for an entirely different malady. Instead, do some careful observations about what might be a trigger for you, and don't make a statistics out of one case!
The main triggers to look out are probably:
Alcohol:
Probably every CHead knows if this is a trigger for him or not.
MSG:
This poison is contained in the larger part of all prefabricated and packaged food and food supplements. If you suspect to be sensitive to it, watch out for out-of-schedule attacks, shortly after a meal, look if some attacks are skipped after a guaranteed MSG-free meal. Try if you can, trace back to the food containing MSG. Keeping a diary may help in this pursuit.
In my case: MSG triggered attacks are much longer than 'regular' ones (1 - 2 hours against 15 - 20 minutes) and build up and decay of the pain are slow (against a very fast raise and abrupt end for 'regulars').
Nitrates:
Added often to meat products. They may be a CH trigger too for some.
Histamine:
Is contained in nuts, could be a trigger for some.
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Wishing all much luck in trigger hunting,
Ueli