Migraines are characterized by throbbing head pain, Usually located on one side of the head, often accompanied by nausea and light and sound sensitivity.
There are many theories about the causes of migraines, but many sufferers say attacks can be triggered by certain types of food (including aged cheeses, chocolate and red wine), changes in climate, emotions, medications and hormones. The hormonal component may help explain why women are more prone to headaches and migraines, since they are subject to more hormonal swings than men.
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TREATMENT FOR MIGRAINES
There are medications available for the treatment of migraines, and some of those medications help with certain types of migraines and others do not.
There are preventive medications, taken every day, that can help reduce the number of attacks, and abortive therapy that helps stop the symptoms of a migraine after the attack begins.
The connection between headaches and allergies goes back decades. In fact, the earliest connection was made 84 years ago.
In my pediatric and allergy practice, many of my patients (including children and adults) found relief from their headaches when they avoided a common food in their diets. I published my observations for the first time in a report on 50 patients in 1961. The title of the article was "Systemic Manifestations Due to Allergy." Although fatigue, mental and emotional symptoms were present in 49 of the 50 patients, some 26 complained of headaches. In 10 patients, headaches were a major complaint, and in 16, they were a minor complaint.
In a subsequent article in 1975 in the Pediatric Clinics of North America, I said:
I see a lot of youngsters who complain of headaches. Not infrequently, some of them have been to family physicians, ophthalmologists, otorhinolaryngologists (ear nose and throat specialists) and neurologists. And when such children have been found to have normal blood pressure, normal sinus x-rays, normal skull x-rays and electroencephalogram, normal vision and normal findings on physical and laboratory examinations, either the mother or physician is apt to conclude, "Johnny's complaining of headaches to get attention. He must be suffering from an emotional problem"
In this article, I cited the observations of several leading allergists, including the late Jerome Glaser, who published an article in 1954 entitled, "Migraine in Pediatric Practice," and John T. McGovern and T. J.
Haywood, who wrote a chapter on allergic headaches in Frederic Speer's classic book, Allergy of the Nervous System.
Several years later in a commentary in The Lancet entitled "Food Allergy" a British physician, Dr. Ronald Finn, said:
The concept that certain foods can produce abnormal reactions in susceptible individuals has a very long history. Dr. Finn also reviewed reports in the medical literature dating from 1919 by researchers who noted that food allergens can be absorbed through the digestive tract. He also referred to the pioneer observations of Albert Rowe and Theron Randolph. Dr. Finn explained that immediate swelling and itching are easily recognized symptoms of an allergic reaction, and the patient can then easily avoid the offending food. But, he noted:
Food allergy reactions are usually more subtle, and the patient does not realize the cause of these symptoms. Indeed, food allergens are usually favorite foods which are eaten regularly, often in excess.
In 1979, another British physician, Dr. Ellen Grant, published the findings of her study of 60 migraine patients. The majority of her patients were women whose average age was 39. The mean length of migraine history was 18 years.
Most patients showed other symptoms, including lethargy, depression, anxiety, dizziness, abdominal pain and menstrual problems. Others gave a history of recurrent infections, especially cystitis.
In studying her patients, Dr. Grant noted that a migraine was sometimes precipitated by foods containing amine, especially cheese, chocolate, citrus fruits and alcohol. When her patients discontinued these foods, there was a highly significant decrease in the number of headaches. Yet, only 13% were completely headache-free.
In studying 186 migraine patients, she advised them to use elimination/challenge diets similar to the diet I recommend. Some 126 attempted it and 85% became headache-free. The most common foods causing reactions were wheat (78%), oranges (65%), eggs (45%), tea and coffee (45% each), chocolate milk (37%), beef (35%), corn, cane sugar and yeast (33% each).
Another British researcher, Dr. Joseph Egger, placed his headache patients on a limited food diet and found that 93% of 88 patients experienced relief.
Drs. Jean Monro, Jonathan Brostoff and associates studied a group of British patients with severe migraines, which they said affect about 20% of the population, with more women suffering than men. They found that two-thirds of the people with migraines/severe headaches were allergic to certain foods as shown by an elimination diet and subsequent challenge. (In an elimination diet, certain foods are eliminated for a period of five to 10 days. Patients observe changes in their symptoms during that time. If they improve during the five-to- 10-day elimination, they then challenge, or reintroduce, one food at a time to see if symptoms reappear.)
U.S. investigators who have noted the diet/migraine connection include O'Banion, Bahna and Mansfield. In a 1986 article, Mansfield said:
A large body of literature supports a role for food allergy as a cause of migraine.
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He cited reports in the medical literature as early as 1977. He also reviewed clinical reports by Vaughn, published in The Journal of the American Medical Association in 1927 and reports of others published in subsequent years. I was especially struck by this paragraph from Mansfield's report:
In 1952, Unger and Unger published a manuscript in the Journal of Allergy entitled, "Migraine is an Allergic Disease" Thirty-two years later, Monro, Carini and Brostoff would publish an article entitled, "Migraine is a Food Allergic Disease." Such is the pace of progress. To find out more, you can check out Yeast Infections How To Treat.