Headache and migraine
From The Nutritional Health Bible by Linda Lazarides (1997). This free database is provided for interest only. Linda's later writings refer to more up-to-date research.
Some causative factors- Caffeine consumption
- Chemical sensitivity
- Food intolerance
- Head trauma
- Liver dysfunction
- Poor posture
- Sleep disturbances
- Spinal or cranial bone misalignment
- Stress, tension.
Patients with food-provoked headache can obtain relief by avoiding a few commonly eaten foods. Mansfield LE: Food allergy and headache. Whom to evaluate and how to treat. Postgrad Med 83(7):46-51, 1988.
Test subjects were given a single dose of caffeine or a placebo. Headache resulted 24-30 hours after the caffeine was consumed, confirming that headache is a specific caffeine withdrawal effect. Tiredness was also an indicator of caffeine withdrawal. Bruce M et al: Caffeine withdrawal: A contrast of withdrawal symptoms in normal subjects who have abstained from caffeine for 24 hours and for 7 days. J Psychopharmacol 5(2):129-134, 1991.
Promising nutritional researchTwo post-menopausal women with migraine were treated with a combination of vitamin D and calcium, resulting in a dramatic reduction in the frequency and duration of their migraine headaches. Thys-Jacobs S: Alleviation of migraines with therapeutic vitamin D and calcium. Headache 34(10):590-2, 1994.
Of 43 migraine sufferers given a trial diet free of allergens, 13 experienced a 66% or greater reduction in headache frequency. 6 became headache free. Mansfield LE et al: Food allergy and adult migraine: double-blind and mediator confirmation of an allergic etiology. Ann Allergy 55(2):126-9, 1985.
Dietary treatment has been shown to be effective in most children with severe migraine. Carter CM et al: A dietary management of severe childhood migraine. Hum Nutr Appl Nutr 39(4):294-303, 1985.
93% of 88 children with severe frequent migraine recovered on a few-foods diet in a double-blind trial. In most of the children whose migraine was triggered by factors such as blows to the head, exercise and flashing lights, these factors did not produce migraine attacks while the children were following the diet. Egger J et al: Is migraine food allergy? A double-blind controlled trial of oligoantigenic diet treatment. Lancet 2(8355):865-9, 1983.
Of 7 migraine patients placed on a high-carbohydrate, low tryptophan diet, 3 of the 4 with classic migraine but none of those with common migraine reported an improvement. Hasselmark L et al: Effect of a carbohydrate-rich diet, low in protein-tryptophan, in classic and common migraine. Cephalalgia 7(2):87-92, 1987.
Patients suffering from cluster headaches, with low serum magnesium levels, experienced clnically meaningful improvements when treated with intravenous magnesium. The authors suggest that measurements of magnesium status may prove useful in determining the cause of some headaches, and in identifying those patients who would benefit from magnesium treatment. Mauskop A et al: Intravenous magnesium sulphate relieves cluster headaches in patients with low serum ionized magnesium levels. Headache 35(10):597-600, 1995.
81 migraine patients were randomized to receive magnesium supplements or placebo daily for 12 weeks. In weeks 9-12 the attack frequency was reduced by 41.6% n the magnesium group and by 15.8% in the placebo group. The number of days with migraine and the use of medications to control symptoms per patient also decreased significantly in the magnesium group. Peikert A et al: Prophylaxis of migraine with oral magnesium: Results from a prospective, multi-center, placebo-controlled and double-blind randomized study. Cephalalgia 16(4):257-63, 1996.