Anyone stop having migraines since going low carb/losing weight/controling sugar

I used to get migraines when I left home to go to college, and got married very soon after.
I did not have medication as my husband used to take it, I would go to find it and there would be an empty bottle, again.
Luckily I got rid of the husband, and the migraines went when I was free to eat low carb back in the 1970s.

yes, there are others on here who say their migraines have gone completely. Am sure they will post in due course
@Goonergal

I'm just coming up to a year after diagnosis and have had 2-3 in that time so they do seem to be reducing. Mine can be triggered by light so I don't expect them to go altogether but the reduction has been an added bonus to low carbing

You might be interested to Google Dr Elena Gross who has plenty to say about sugar and migraines

Yes early on very few migraines after starting low carb 7 years ago, and I've had none at all now for much of that time. Previously a lifelong chronic "common" migraine sufferer.
There have been a number of previous threads about this.

I've wondered occasionally whether this relief has been due to many low carbing members eating low enough carbs for their diets to actually be ketogenic, and ketones are related to assisting with brain issues, e.g.treatment of epilepsy. (My brain certainly prefers a keto diet!)

Robbity said:

I've wondered occasionally whether this relief has been due to many low carbing members eating low enough carbs for their diets to actually be ketogenic, and ketones are related to assisting with brain issues, e.g.treatment of epilepsy. (My brain certainly prefers a keto diet!)

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The more likely answer is the move away from really bad processed foods towards plainer foods. Same thing happens for many migraine suffers who move towards even very carb-heavy, wholefood plant-based diets.

Hi @Ronancastled

Yes! The total disappearance of lifelong chronic migraines is the number 1 benefit for me of ketogenic eating. Way above reversal of type 2 as the symptoms of the migraine were far more debilitating in terms of my day to day life. They were all consuming.

I’ve gone from treating 6-8 a month (which was the limit of medication imposed by a consultant as I’d ended up in a right pickle over using the ‘triptans’ and had to be hospitalised to get off them) to not having a single one now for 3 years and 7 months.

My personal theory is that it is to do with blood sugars. A ketogenic diet is often used to treat epilepsy in children. Many of the prophylactic drugs that are used in the treatment of migraine have as their primary purpose the treatment of epilepsy....

I saw a consultant at the headache clinic at the National Hospital for Neurology for many, many years and when discharging me he did say there was ‘anecdotal’ evidence about keto and migraines. I follow his predecessor (whom I also saw for several years) on Twitter and tag him in relevant tweets!

A good person to look up on this topic is Dr Angela Stanton. She’s doing a presentation with Dr Shawn Baker (of the carnivore site meatrx) in the next couple of weeks (don’t have the details to hand). Editing to say it looks like a members only thing, but here’s a link (via Twitter).

@Bex72 is another who has seen improvements as is @Bildad

Perhaps we should have an ‘ex-migraineurs’ corner somewhere on here!

Well I didn't suffer with migraines but did suffer from asthma- gone since doing keto. So many benefits.

Occasionally I still get migraines.

I have had one migraine since diagnosis.
I also have headaches if I'm getting high or low, it's the first symptom.
I get in Keto a much more clearer brain function and more energy levels.
And I suspected that food was the cause, and flickering lower strip lights.
Funny that not having so called healthy carbs, is far more healthier for most of us!

There has been a lot of research in how diet affects certain brain conditions.
My brother in law died a few years ago and he was advised to lower his carbs intake, when he was diagnosed with brain cancer, two remission later, the mass was too much to control. But I know how much having fresh food helped.

I used to carry meds around, like Sudafed, or paracetamol, when I was out of the house.
Stay safe.

I used to have 2-3 migraines a month. And not the light effects and headache (like my dad), but whole body agony and sensitivity to everything. Got diagnosed, brought blood glucose levels down and migraines went to every six months or so. Blood glucose became less controlled a couple of years ago, migraines came back. Now I'm on a prophylactic drug which almost works.

Goonergal said:

My personal theory is that it is to do with blood sugars.

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When you say "to do with blood sugars", are you specifically referring to diabetics?

Well I’m going to buck the trend and say I’m actually getting more now that also last longer and are less predictable in their pattern.

Mine started at puberty age, continued badly til my pregnancy’s and after the third we’re only an occasional issue and often more mild. Going low carb/keto didn’t appear initially to have any effect 3 yrs ago. Now I am hitting a certain age they have become noticeably worse again in the couple of years. I almost always get the full aura of visual disturbance and numbness/ pins and needles on one side of my body followed by crippling headaches most times regardless of prescription medications that used to be more effective, nausea, occasional unstoppable vomiting, light sensitivity and a difficulty communicating. The after effects of bruised brain, fatigue and brain fog now last at least a second day often into the third. I laugh when people walk around claiming migraine rather than headache but are still functioning comparatively normally. I’m bed ridden with zero option.

Stress and hormones seem to be my main triggers rather than foods etc.

Perhaps they would be even worse again if I still ate the way I used to. Without a parallel life obviously I can’t say.

HSSS said:

I laugh when people walk around claiming migraine rather than headache but are still functioning comparatively normally. I’m bed ridden with zero option.

Stress and hormones seem to be my main triggers rather than foods etc.

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My mum used to get them badly, which is why I know that despite suffering occasional headaches (Even seemingly bad ones), I know never to claim migraine. Don't think I've ever had a headache that didn't disappear within an hour of taking Paracetamol and a couple of glasses of water.

And yeah, it seems that a lot of people get them regardless of diet.

Sorry to hear you have it so bad.

I have had migraines for the last 45 or so years. I was suffering with them on about 15 or so days a month. I never experienced any aura with them but an intense headache. The day after was not unlike a severe hangover.
I have only had one since I went keto 2 + years ago. I am not sure if keto did it as I also stopped my diet Pepsi habit at the same time and I suspect that was actually the main cause.
The 1 migraine I have had was due to my over consumption of 100% cocoa chocolate. Apparently a full 100g bar is a little too much
I would agree with @Goonergal that the cessation of migraines is better than the diabetes remission. Migraines caused me more physical pain and disrupted my life much more than diabetes.

This one might be interesting cluster headaches rather than migraines ..
https://www.metagenicsinstitute.com/articles/ketogenic-diet-provides-cluster-headache-relief/

Beating-My-Betes said:

When you say "to do with blood sugars", are you specifically referring to diabetics?

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No, but this isn’t the place to expand further - don’t want to derail the thread. Happy to discuss if you start a thread elsewhere and tag me in.

Goonergal said:

Happy to discuss if you start a thread elsewhere and tag me in.

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Probably not worth it. But thanks for the offer, anyhow.

Beating-My-Betes said:

The more likely answer is the move away from really bad processed foods towards plainer foods. Same thing happens for many migraine suffers who move towards even very carb-heavy, wholefood plant-based diets.

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Well for at least my early life and most of my later migrainey life that's definitely NOT the sort of food my mother - an excellent cook - provided for us, and later what I cooked for myself. Certainly when I was no longer responsible for shopping & cooking for the 5-6 years before i was diagnosed with T2, I suffered from continuous brain fog due to my very much too high carb diet but this never caused more migraines. Most of mine were inherited (!!), and hormone or stress related,
sometimes triggered by bright or strobing light, certain high pitched sounds, occasionally by stormy weather, and rarely by a few trigger foods after I discovered what these were and was able to avoid them. @Bildad, one of these was dark chocolate, but while I've never tried higher than Lindt 85% cocoa since low carbing, I can now definitely occasionally scoff a whole 100g bar without any problems, and i can also manage a bit of blue cheese.

Robbity said:

Well for at least my early life and most of my later migrainey life that's definitely NOT the sort of food my mother - an excellent cook - provided for us, and later what I cooked for myself. Certainly when I was no longer responsible for shopping & cooking for the 5-6 years before i was diagnosed with T2, I suffered from continuous brain fog due to my very much too high carb diet but this never caused more migraines. Most of mine were inherited (!!), and hormone or stress related,
sometimes triggered by bright or strobing light, certain high pitched sounds, occasionally by stormy weather, and rarely by a few trigger foods after I discovered what these were and was able to avoid them. @Bildad, one of these was dark chocolate, but while I've never tried higher than Lindt 85% cocoa since low carbing, I can now definitely occasionally scoff a whole 100g bar without any problems, and i can also manage a bit of blue cheese.

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You're right! I guess my post might have been a little dismissive. Not that I don't believe that in many cases those triggers, and many other health issues, come from bad dietary choices, but I am aware that there are many other possible triggers. Same with brain fog. But alas...

I'm sorry for your pain.

I'll duck back out, now