Summary: Current Status Of Jim's Migraine Reduction Efforts

​Overview: 

• Closely monitor and log a wide variety of daily activities:  foods consumed, amount of sleep, exercise, etc.  
• Identify actions that contribute to (or help) my migraines.
• Strive to change only one item at a time in order to more easily determine what does and does not impact my headaches.
• Project start:  Feb 9, 2017

Results: 

• Significant reduction in frequency and intensity of migraines
• Reduction of use of prescription migraine pills from 5-7/month to 1-3/month

Learnings:  What I Need To Do To Keep My Migraine Rate Low

• Food
  • Avoid foods on my Migraine Trigger list (below).  These are foods I have definitively found cause headaches for me.
  • Eat foods from my Migraine Safe list (below) - adding one unsure or untested food every couple of days.
• Eat heartily during the day.  (Prior to this program I would eat things like salads and fruit between breakfast and dinner.  This left me famished in the evening, which lead to heavy eating late at night.)
• Do not skip meals.
• Have mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks.  (Low blood sugar between meals tends to be a headache trigger.)
• Eat no high-sugar desserts any time after dinner - ever.  (e.g. Cake, Cookies, Pie, Ice Cream, Sorbet, the majority of restaurant desserts, etc.)
• Consume no calories after 9:00PM.  (I sleep better on an empty stomach.)
• Go to bed no later than 1:00AM.  Going to bed too late results in unrestful sleep.  I'm convinced a deep, restful sleep is a key part of being headache free.
• Eliminate daily consumption of caffeine.  Caffeine is a great headache cure.  However in order to work it must cause a spike/stimulus of the nervous system.  Daily caffeine consumption reduces the ability for caffeine to stimulate the system....because you already have a chronic high level of caffeine in the system.  My first action when I get a headache is to take 2 Excedrin and a cup of caffeinated coffee.  Most of the time this cures the headache.
• When possible sleep or nap after taking prescription headache medicine. 

Jim's Migraine Trigger Foods

• Grocery Store Rotisserie Chicken (They're loaded with a variety of things, including lots of salt.)
• Raw Citrus (Lemon or Lime - including the juice).  
• Balsamic Vinegar - especially Balsamic reductions
• Asian food eaten in restaurants.  (I presume either soy sauce used in cooking or MSG is the culprit.)
• Pizza (I believe this is a result of the high carbs in the crust.)
• Processed Meat:  Deli meat, pepperoni, bacon, etc.
• Processed foods that have MSG, Nitrites, Nitrates, etc.  (e.g. a pre-packaged Tandoori Chicken spice caused me problems.)

Jim's Migraine Safe Foods

• Meat & Fish
  • Beef
  • Pork
  • Chicken
  • Salmon
  • Mahi Mahi
  • Sausage I cook myself (i.e. it doesn't have preservatives)
• Vegetables
  • Asparagus
  • Brussels Sprouts
  • Tomatoes
  • Potatoes
  • Sweet Potatoes
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Onions
  • Cabbage (raw)
  • All lettuce
  • Red / Yellow / Green Pepper
  • Jalapenos
  • Avocados
• Fruit
  • Blueberries
  • Dates
  • Figs
  • Prunes
• Dairy
  • Milk
  • Cream
  • Yogurt (Lightly sweetened.  I eat Greek Gods Honey flavored - the full fat version.)
  • Mainstream cheeses (Mozzarella, Provolone, Cheddar, Smoked Cheddar, Smoked Gouda, Pepper Cheese, etc.)
• Nuts
  • Macadamia Nuts
  • Nut-Based Crackers (e.g. Blue Diamond Almond Nut-Thins)
  • Walnuts
• Other
  • Eggs
  • Corn Tortillas
  • Refried Beans
  • Rice - White and Brown
  • Tortilla Chips
  • Salsa
  • Tamales (These have so many ingredients it's tough to give them the OK categorically.  I get tamales from two sources that work well for me.  A third source looks like it causes problems.)
  • Wheat without yeast (e.g. Triscuit crackers)
  • Olive Oil
  • Apple Cider Vinegar
  • Pork & Beans (This doesn't align with Bacon being on the trigger list.  But for some reason Pork & Beans are ok for me.)

Untested Foods  (I haven't formally checked these.  I may never check the ones that have a wide reputation of being a headache trigger.)

• Widely recognized headache triggers:
  • Peanuts
  • Soy Sauce
  • Chocolate
  • Blue Cheese
  • Parmesan
  • Sauerkraut
• Cashews 
• Bread - both yeasted and sourdough
• Cooked Citrus (for example, what about beef or chicken marinated in citrus and then cooked?)
• Scallops
• Shrimp