Migraine Triggers

Hi - I've been reading some articles in the news lately about migraines. My daughter developed them severely as a child so I wanted to share what ended up being her one and only trigger: foods that contain vinegar : salad dressings, pickles, relish, salt and vinegar chips, sub sauce.

We had gone to doctor after doctor, kept food diary but couldn't figure out. I then realized that she craved food with vinegar, so I eliminated it all from her diet (much to her chagrin) and her weekly migraines stopped immediately. When I look at online sites about migraine triggers, vinegar is not mentioned in their list (just pickled food is listed). I'm sending comments to the online sites to try and get them to add this to their lists.

Just thought I'd pass along as it was immediate relief for my daughter.

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Originally Posted by ebhappydc

Hi - I've been reading some articles in the news lately about migraines. My daughter developed them severely as a child so I wanted to share what ended up being her one and only trigger: foods that contain vinegar : salad dressings, pickles, relish, salt and vinegar chips, sub sauce.

We had gone to doctor after doctor, kept food diary but couldn't figure out. I then realized that she craved food with vinegar, so I eliminated it all from her diet (much to her chagrin) and her weekly migraines stopped immediately. When I look at online sites about migraine triggers, vinegar is not mentioned in their list (just pickled food is listed). I'm sending comments to the online sites to try and get them to add this to their lists.

Just thought I'd pass along as it was immediate relief for my daughter.

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I wonder if vinegar wasn't listed because it's to much of a generalization??? Not all vinegar is created equally and also pickling foods results in chemical changes/fermentation which would alter each food and the pickling agent differently from another. Pickled food listed is likely because fermented foods could be a culprit which isn't exclusively foods in vinegar hence why it wasn't listed as such. Salt and Vinegar chips could have brought her migraines on for a completely different reason and just coincidental that they are salt and vinegar flavour. It is true though that we are generally most allergic to that which we crave. Also bare in mind, that a medical doctor has little to no training in nutrition so it's not at all surprising that numerous doctors didn't know the culprit. Good for you though doing the best thing which is elimination. It is still to this day the most effective method of establishing allergies/intolerances/sensitivities. I'm glad you were able to figure this out and that your daughter gained some relief as a result. Good Job Mum!!

I used to get terrible migraines. They would make me physically ill, and I'd have a "migraine hangover" the next day they took such a toll on me. I went for blood work and found out that my iron levels were extremely low. Started taking an iron supplement, and migraines no more!!!!