January 1, 2024
I’ve had classic migraine headaches, on and off, since the age of 13. Lucky me. A classic migraine means a migraine with an aura or a visual disturbance, like a black spots or lines. The aura comes first, then the headache sets in. There is a brief period of time between the aura and the headache where I feel perfectly fine. If I can get to two Advil during the visual part, the headache never gets horrible. If I can’t get to Advil (or another pain reliever) the headache is horrendous and coupled with nausea.
My mom used to get them and she was a good mentor about it. “If I take some medicine and rest for 30 minutes in a dark room I’m pretty much OK”. She didn’t dwell on the fact that she was plagued with these, she managed it. She also didnt get them every day. It was roughly once a month.
If I were super strict about zero gluten for a number of months, would my migraines would go away? Does eating gluten create inflammation, which triggers my migraines? I wouldn’t know because I haven’t had the will power yet to be 100% gluten-free for a long period of time. Since I identified my gluten sensitivity and significantly decreased my gluten consumption, I can’t say I have noticed a big difference in my migraine frequency. Maybe a bit less. I’m guilty of wanting to find simple, black and white solutions to complex problems. I have feeling my genetics are big part of this puzzle, but we all know lifestyle counts too! Knowing that I can improve my health with things that I can control feels good.
I have read that for people with Celiac’s Disease, there is a link between migraines and gluten. The current research suggests that there’s a connection between the gut and the brain that may affect migraines, even though it is not 100% clear how it works. So even though I haven’t made a strong correlation, I’m pretty confident that ditching the gluten will only help my migraine plight.
