This is so true! I used to have almost daily migraines for over 25 years. I went very strictly gluten-free and casein-free 12 years ago and haven't had a migraine or headache at all since then, except when I had the flu once. My sister noticed how much better I was feeling, and she tried this with her daughter, who has rheumatoid arthritis, and it went into remission. Now my sister mostly avoids gluten, too. My youngest (now adult) son has Autism. His autism symptoms greatly diminished when we put him on a very strict gluten-free and casein-free diet when he was younger. We also added the supplements B6, magnesium, DMG, sublingual B12, low dose melatonin, probiotics, and vitamin D3. He also needs to avoid high fructose corn syrup because about 1/3 of it has traces of mercury in it. And we all avoid yellow dye #5, which makes ADD worse. We have been buying organic products and foods for many years now, and have a small garden. I noticed that I am reacting to emulsifiers, and Xanthan gum, and Guar gum lately, and these are in a lot of organic products, so that now I cook more from scratch.
Back when I used to get headaches, artificial air fresheners, artificial perfumes, artificially scented candles, and cleaning products like bleach, ammonia, and certain laundry detergents made them worse. I now make most of my own cleaning products for over 5 years. I wish I had done this sooner. It's cheaper, and works just as well. And I add a few drops of organic, food-grade scents like vanilla, almond, peppermint, anise, lemon, and lavender oil, from the baking section in my grocery. I put them in colored glass spray bottles, and cute shakers. I buy cleaning vinegar by the gallon, and then dilute it by half with distilled water when I need it. This makes it very cheap. I use baking soda to scrub with. I use borax to get rid of mold in the laundry. I use food grade hydrogen peroxide, and dilute it with distilled water, for disinfecting. I use organic drinkable vodka in a spray bottle to replace the more toxic rubbing alcohol, and to disinfect things.
When our landlord replaced all the carpets and flooring all at once everyone in the building got sick, including the landlord. She didn't open her windows and got so sick that she had to move out and live with another family member, and sold the house. We had to move, too.
Hi Dr. Osborne, I'm so glad you covered this topic. I realized a few months ago that artificial sweeteners were giving me really bad migraines. I couldn't figure out what it was for the longest time and then it occurred to me one day after I had been drinking Crystle Light all day long for about a week. I was literally getting them all day long. I couldn't take enough migraine pain medication to keep them away. They would bounce right back. Anyway, I was really glad to see that you had artificial sweeteners as one of the triggers. Now I know for sure. Thank you.
My ocular eye migraines 1)Hormone fluctuation= yes, i got them when pregnant and the pill birth control. Now menopause and hashimotos and compounded(no allergic fillers) Levothyroxine(T4) and Liothyronine(T3). 2). Stress= yes! this really is true with emotional and chronic acute family stress. I got a migraine on a VERY EXCRUCIATING family stress. 3.Artificial sugar/ Sugar I got migraine drinking Crystal light aspartame and also Splenda( chlorinated sugar) 4)Spices...so many MSG and "other flavors" mystery stuff... 5)Chinese food..married to an Asian so this was difficult because Chinese food is SO HEALTHY..NOT...Asian restaurants use MSG and its the gluten in soy sauce. You ask for MSG free or No MSG. They dont do it!! And rice is a grain and is contaminatef with arsenic. 5) Caffeine...yes!!! the Bulletproof coffee in the morning ..after 3 months, gave me occular eye migraines. Also Beachbody Energize has caffeine and sugar. I limit caffeine.
Bromated flour can be one reason people react to certain flours. Also there is aluminum in certain baking sodas. Some free-flowing agents, like Amorphous sodium aluminosilicate, in Salts, powdered milk, and spices can be a problem. Antifreeze, like propylene glycol, is added to ice creams, salad dressings, baked goods, E-cigarettes, and other products so they don't freeze during storage or transport. Processed oils can have traces of the solvent hexane in them. Many chemicals used here are banned in other countries and are sensitizers, and irritants. Anything with bromine, fluorine, aluminum, cyanide, copper, hexane, and arsenic generally should be avoided, even though it is convenient to buy products with them added to it. Some people say that certain breakfast cereals have common iron filings added to them to fulfill the iron supplementation requirement. That would be very irritating! And folic acid is added to most bread products now. Folate is better for health reasons, but I think they add folic acid because it is more stable, and maybe cheaper. Folic acid can build up in your system if you can't convert it to folate fast enough, if, for example, you have a methylation problem, like an MTHFR defect. I think this alteration of the food supply might be one of the triggers for the increase in Autism lately. Also, milk used to be a good source of vitamin D, but since factory farms are keeping their animals indoors more of the day, we have had to add it to milk artificially. And being indoors, the animals get sick more often, so they are given antibiotics. And cows used to get bacteria that make B12 from grazing outside on grass. Now, even cows need to get supplements! I wonder if we can isolate the bacteria that make B12, and serotonin and take that as a probiotic.
Alcohol often has sulphates added to it in this country. I react to the sulphates in alcohol. You might want to try drinking wine and eating foods without sulphates to see if your headaches are better. Alcohol that is not organic, can concentrate the residues of pesticides like glyphosate.
Vitamin B2 and the herb Butterbur helps my oldest son with migraines caused by hydrocephalus. He also benefits from acupuncture for pain. He gets terrible migraines from Aspartame sweeteners. It's frustrating, because Almost everything sweet has Aspartame added to it, including almost every chewing gum. (Except for Glee Gum).
