The goal of a 2015 Russian study titled Gluten Migraine, was to study the prevalence of migraine among patients with celiac disease and to assess the efficacy of a gluten-free diet in its treatment. There were 200 celiac disease (CD) patients and the
CD group had migraine syndrome four times more often than the control group. The attacks were more frequent in CD patients who were older than 50 years old.
The migraines disappeared in 25% of patients with migraines who were on the gluten free diet and the reduction in the intensity and/or frequency of attacks was observed in 38% of patients.
This is the study conclusion:
We revealed the clear association between migraine syndrome and CD and the high efficacy of gluten FREE diet in the treatment of migraine symptoms.”
I would suspect similar results if you have gluten sensitivity. And here is some gluten-migraine feedback from 4 different women in my community:
- HUGE decrease in my migraines now that I eat more cleanly. I used to start to get headaches immediately upon eating gluten-y meals
- I had them frequently from teenage years right up until my Celiac diagnosis in my thirties. Once gluten was gone so were the migraines
- Stopping gluten stopped my migraines
- My migraines always came from gluten and dairy
Of course there is also an anxiety-gluten and the depression-gluten connection so getting the gluten out of your diet will help with both anxiety and depression most of the time too.
I talked about all this on The Chronic Headache & Migraine Summit.
The other topic I covered is the autoimmune condition called Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) which is one of many possible contributing factors for both migraines and anxiety. Of course, with any autoimmune condition gluten removal is key.
I also cover low serotonin as one possible cause of migraines (and anxiety) and the use of tryptophan (instead of SSRIs). An amino acid like tryptophan or GABA also helps you break the gluten addiction so you don’t have to rely only on willpower!
Have you got questions or comments? Please post in the comment box below.
Dear Trudy, I enjoy reading all your articles and I’m so thankful for you and also the alternatives other than our usual mainstream medicines and doctors! We live in South Africa. I have been on Venlafaxine 225mg per day for over 7 years now when I had my daughter. I had a very very hard pregnancy (hyperemesis gravidarem) followed by postnatal depression which then also led me to a psychiatric hospital twice in the winter season. I am still on my medication but would one-day really want to taper off. Both my parents have passed away with heart attacks and so I am extremely aware of the damage that the medication is doing to my heart too…nevermind the severe constipation I experience too. I have done your questionare and am taking L-tryptophan..1500mg twice a day. Gaba doesn’t seem to help me much with the anxiety though. It starts with anxiety, then moves over to deep depression. Certain circumstances trigger it, like my mom’s death in December 2016 and other things which I have had therapy for..also Winter blues ect. I changed my diet to clean meat and veggies, also fermented raw milk kefir, bread and vegetables, ECT. I have moved away from ordinary grains a bit and sugar. I try exercise and get sunshine. I also supplement with Omega3 fish oil, zinc, magnesium, high doses of vit C, B vitamins, vit D (4000-5000 units per day). I don’t feel a huge difference but I think it has helped me a bit with SAD. Sorry for my long comment, but I wanted to ask your advice concerning my daughter too. She is 7 years old and has shown severe sexual behavior, masturbating on a continual basis. I had spoken to her regarding this not realizing the guilt and shame that I had also added on. I realized that and apologized to her. We are very careful and fully aware of what she watches on TV and where she goes and we are very open on boundaries regarding her private parts. I realized we needed professional help to find the root of her behavior to help her. The psychologist immediately said that this situation is very severe and that we need to first start with anti-anxiety medication to help her…seems like it’s related to anxiety. I didn’t realize that cause she doesn’t have the same symptoms as me. I felt so terrible for not acting on this sooner as so many alarms went off in my head when I saw her doing this for the first time!! You can just imagine my heart when the psychologist said that she needs immediate medication & also that it’s anxiety. I know it’s not the answer after all my research but I also understand her thinking…first calming her making it easier to do therapy with her. But I have no peace about medication even when my psychiatrist advised me to increase my medication…thats when I started on this journey. I have decided to first get my daughter assesed to find the root then go from there. May I please ask what your advice Would be regarding supplementation? I opened up the Gaba capsule & have been giving it to her 3 x a day then also some magnesium, vit C, B vitamins..fish oil, coconut oil. I thought of trying to also get some bit B 3, but without the flush.? (Andrew Saul)..I don’t seem to see any difference with the Gaba..but although she is not like a child with ADHD… like I also said..she doesn’t have the same symptoms as me. I thought of also trying sceletium ECT What would you suggest? Thank-you for taking the time to read through my very long email!!! I so appreciate it!! Look forward to your response, kind regards, Nicole.
Nicole
I can’t offer specific advice but can share that if I was working with her I would NOT support the medication route and would continue to try and figure out if she is experiencing anxiety and if yes address that. GABA is for physical anxiety, tryptophan (and sceletium) works on serotonin and more worry-type anxiety.
Finding a functional medicine practitioner is going to be key. I’d also have her sex hormones tested and address this if needed, also figuring out what could be impacting them (like xenoestrogens from plastics, scents, cosmetics etc) or hormones from meat or dairy, or even hormones from bio-identical creams you or your husband many be using.
This paper (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4912646/) offers some insights: The onset of childhood masturbation “is reported to be associated with a genitourinary tract infection or a stressful life event, and sleep difficulties have been more common among these children. One study reported a low estradiol level as a possible association” They say this “as a whole, it was observed that parental education and instructions such as changing diapers more frequently [not applicable for your daughter], using cotton underwear, and distracting the child and engaging him/her in other activities during the episodes led to a reduced occurrence of the condition in most of the followed cases”
Hi Trudy, thank-you so much for your response. We don’t eat any meat with hormones or antibiotics..even the dairy.. I’m hectic about scents and use soap that doesn’t have toxins in them..but I will most certainly look into every area just to make sure. We have contacted a lady who does assessments too to just see what the root is psychologically, but I believe that every area needs to be addressed. I gather that if it is the anxiety & we give the right nutrients it will help her in other areas too. Interesting for me that Trytophan creates vit B3. .which is also used in higher dosages to help psychosis ECT. Thank-you again! Take care
Hi Trudy, I’ve followed your blog for a few months now. Thanks to you, I’m also a fan of Organixx and the Food Network. Thank you for your work. About a month ago, I experienced an ophthalmic migraine (blotchy kaleidoscope vision) lasting about 1 hour, nausea, vomiting…Scary.
I have noticed a decrease in “regular” migraines (meaning, not ocular) I used to have in my late 30s (about once every 1-3 months) to now about 1-3 a year, in my mid-40s. I’m 45, Latin-American, regular menses, diagnosed with HTN 4years ago (which is stable/controlled with Lisinopril, 10mg). Almost 4 weeks after that opthalmic migraine and the nausea still continues off/on. I know it’s not essential oils because I stopped diffusing since that event. No new foods/medications.
Any thoughts on which foods/supplements/EOs I could focus on to treat this ocular migraine? My primary care physician referred me to neurology, which I plan to see….but, I’d like to see if food/EOs therapy would help before I start adding more pharmaceutical medications. Any guidance/help greatly appreciated. Much gratitude, Catalina
Catalina
Migraines are not my area of expertise but I’d start with an oligoantigenic diet, look at high histamine foods, gluten and medication side-effects to start. The amino acids can help in many instances too – tryptophan for low serotonin type migraines, GABA if there is muscular tension and DPA for pain. I highly recommend out checking Erin Knight’s work – she co-hosted this summit and her site is https://www.engineeringradiance.com/