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Migraine aura with type 2 diabetes

T

TinksMum

Member
Hello Everyone, I was diagnosed in February with a HbA1c score of 50 which is only just diabetic - which was a wake up call (although not sure why as my father developed it in his 70s - I am 62). Anyway I have been following LCHF diet and IF 14 to 16 hours a day, since and have lost about 1.5 stone. I had my first DN meeting in March and am due to be retested in June. I have been doing really well and felt very well but this week I have several days developed a migraine aura - not much of a headache with it and providing I drink plenty of water it usually wears off. I am just a little concerned that perhaps I am overdoing it. I am reluctant to ask for advice from my GP/DN as they will probably just tell me to eat more carbs! I have ordered a BSmeter but it has not yet arrived. I do naturally have a relatively low blood pressure so it may be that it is v low. I am still keen to lose weight so am only probably eating about 1000 calories a day. I am trying not to snack either to keep my insulin levels low. Does anyone have similar symptoms - do you think I should eat extra protein to up my calories or do you think it will pass? I am losely following Michael Moseley's 800 Fast diet but as I say I probably eat nearer 1000+ calories at the moment. My husband cooks superb food for me - mostly without carbs - he does sometimes thicken sauces with a bit of flour but I feel a tbsp flour split 4 ways is not going to hurt me. Other than this I am fit and well - certainly not showing any COVID symptoms.
 

Possibly a lack of salt (and maybe food) ?
When low carbing a drastic reduction in calories isn't really recommended.
Enjoy the superb food, just a bit more of it!
 
As a former migraine sufferer, @Goonergal might have some advice.

I occasionally get the aura which rarely develops into full blown headache so long as I immediately take a couple of Advil. I've never really been able to track to one particular cause though other than it occurring after a lot of stress. Luckily I've never had them regularly, yet it makes it difficult to pinpoint root cause.
 
Thanks for the replies. Lack of salt may be an issue as we eat little processed food and don't add it to veg - will try adding a bit more. Perhaps I will also eat a bit more fat - weirdly I seem to fancy cheese when it happens? I am mostly concerned as migraines have rarely featured in my life and don't really want to start taking any medication at all (including metformin!) and working at home for the last 4 weeks I can hardly say I am stressed.
 
bulkbiker said:
Possibly a lack of salt (and maybe food) ?
When low carbing a drastic reduction in calories isn't really recommended.
Enjoy the superb food, just a bit more of it!
Click to expand...
HI Bulkbiker
I enjoyed reading your story - an inspiration to me - also we love France and own a house there that (Covid permitting) we hope to go to in September for 3 months - but yes croissants were my downfall too! Can't wait to get a meter so I can test how much I am affected by them - I suspect they will still be a no no!
 
I've had carb flu a couple of times now, and it triggers migraines every time, usually lasting about two solid weeks. (Normally I just get them when I eat something wrong, or when hormones are acting up). You might be a bit low on electrolytes, which could also explain the cheese cravings (salt, calcium etc). Dunno if that's what is going on though, but I do want to chime in on the don't go low carb and low cal simultaneously for a longer period of time... You'll get deficiencies that way. Besides, life's a lot better when you can add in calories while still dropping weight and having good blood sugar control due to the low carb side of things. Bone broth might help. Once I moved away from my usual fare my normal blood pressure sunk to low blood pressure, (does the room spin, go black or do you see stars when you stand up too fast?) so adding salt in here and there might not be such a bad thing.
 
Thanks again - I have got into a good habit of not snacking and fasting for up to 16 hours a day so don't really want to stop that (and risk opening the flood gates again!) but perhaps I could add a high fat snack or two between my lunch and dinner? I do take magnesium daily and a multivitamin tablet but perhaps I have been long enough on the low calorie bit (nearly 8 weeks) and need to eat a bit more plus some salt! I have some salted pistachios in the drawer - perhaps this is the time! and yes this week I have felt rather lightheaded and seeing stars / semi blackouts - it is all making sense - much better advice than 'take some glucose'!!
 
There's very few people here who would advise taking glucose for anything other than hypoglycemia. A low calorie/low carb diet is a way to kick-start weight loss and normalising bloodsugars, but it isn't advisable beyond 8 weeks. It is a crash-diet after all, and we're not designed for those. After that, low carb/high fat is the way to go, and your intermittent fasting is excellent. Why add in snacks? (Unless you really want to of course. But every time you snack there's a insulin response, and you want to narrow those down as much as possible.) Just bulk up the meals you're having. I know I love the cheese and bacon I put in my cauliflower rice or scrambled eggs. Pistachio's are rather high in carbs, ( https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/nuts ), so careful with those... I have mine in moderation, but when a nut is salted, it's really easy to just down the whole package. Better go for pecans the next time you shop, for instance. (LOVE salted pecans!!! If you really want a treat, melt some extra dark chocolate over them...!).
 
I used to suffer from chronic "common" non-aura excruciatingly painful migraines long before I ever had diabetes, and since being diagnosed six years ago and starting low carbing this has actually more or less stopped them completely. (Most of mine were hormone or stress related but I had a few trigger foods as well. And regarding cheese - blue cheese was one of my foody migraine triggers - but i can eat some now! )

Something I was told early on as a migraine sufferer was not to go too long without eating (though I was never a regular breakfast eater!) and at one point about 30 years ago I had a few migraine related hypos - completely unrelated to diabetes and I never knew what they actually were until very recently, but they were related to not having eaten for a while. If you do a forum search there have been several discussions where other (ex)migraine sufferers have had similar experiences with low carb putting an end to migraines. So my suggestion would be to carry on with low carbing, but not together with calorie restriction, and perhaps be a little cautious when fasting.
 
All good suggestions above.

my only comment is that I have only ever had 3 or 4 migraines, over a 30 year period, and in every single case, the meal immediately before the migraine started had in it some combo of dairy, citrus, sugar and chocolate. Alcohol was present twice.
I no longer eat lemon cheesecake with choc shavings!

So I am confident that my migraines aren’t just triggered by food, they are triggered by specific food combinations.

obviously, I have no idea whether my anecdotal experience is relevant to you, but you may find it worthwhile thinking about what you are currently eating. What have you introduced alongside your changed way of eating? What are you eating more of? What new combinations? Is there a particular food or combo that you have prior to the symptoms? Even 24hrs or more beforehand could be impacting.
 
Thanks all, yes I will obviously have to bulk out my meals but after 40 years of low cal low fat that comes hard - I do struggle to eat more than about 500 cals in a meal - hence the 1000 cals a day, but I shall have to learn - I suspect I have been eating too much veg to fill myself up - as I said all new way of thinking, but I am certain the IF is good for me - with lots of little snacks it is very easy to eat way too much - as I know to my cost - and as it is better for my blood sugar I shall have to start hunting out some low carb much higher fat recipes (or get my husband to!) so that I can eat more calories in a meal.
 
A slightly different perspective is my experience. A lifelong migraine sufferer with full on aura and just about every symptom going I have not found that food is a trigger, though dehydration is potentially one and is more common when swapping to low carb eating
Mine are mostly hormone related, the frequency and severity definitely changing at different hormonal stages of life. Puberty, pregnancy, peri menopause and hoping for a final shift to less frequent post menopause). And here may lie a link in that in changing to LCHF (please add some calories) does for some effect hormone regulation. (Not just for women of childbearing ages either, many other hormones). Usually for the better but it is still a change that may be altering your migraine patterns.
 
Just from my own experience there is no need to fast or restrict calories to control diabetes, and the weight just evaporates without effort.
It is indeed totally at odds with the usual advice, but it is what I found out when I was in my early 20s, back in the 1970s, and have been told is wrong ever since, but nothing else works.
 
I have developed a headache aura after going keto. (I’ve been on keto for a month now to try and sort out a different problem I’m having with my BG sensitivity to steroids). I have thought of a number of causes, like you. Dehydration, lack of protein, lack of salt etc. I’ve not really got to the bottom of it yet. I get them when my BG is very low, but not always. I get them in the early morning and it goes away on its own after breakfast. It also goes completely for at least 3 days if I take a rehydration sachet. I have no history of having headaches at all so this is new for me. I’m still working on it so if you find the reason for yours I’d love to hear from you. xx
 
 
New California US type 2 diabetes lady. Upon reading a few of you mentioning an aura you refer to as a migraine headache aura, please beware of assuming it was migraine or in my case for years an "ocular migrane' or any other migrane like I did for years. I am now in early 70s,diabetes 6% H1c, eat healthily with lean protein and green vegetables. All ok. I've never had a headache in my entire life ever. A year ago at the dinner table in a retirement center I love and live at, I had an aura I usually do when Ihave them of right turquoise and gold octagonal lined with silver spanning my lower left field of vision the arching over it down to right corner. Identical every time since 1996. No pain,, beautiful, but hard to experience with people present. I was at a neurologist office in Dec for sleep apnea Ivehad forbears (neurologists often manage sleep apnea in the usa) I in general first visit questions i mentioned the auras and years etc in passing. He seemed surprised and asked if I'd ever had a Deja Vu etc and yes I have now and then,but not a big deal. He said that most people that have auras without headaches have temporal lobe epilepsy. I was shocked. He sent me to a hospital outpatient for a EEG test. Painless and 35minutes. Sure enough, I have temporal lobe epilepsy. Not the kind like in the movies with convulsions and not related to diabetes or food. Caffeine from coffee or tea affect the brain though. I'm still shocked that other doctors were so clueless about the cause. Please be careful and dont assume auras are from headaches beat to rule out epilepsy. Temporal lobes area contains the hippocampus which is your memory and intellect. Serious stuff.
 
It’s not just sodium (table) salts you need but potassium and magnesium. The rehydration sachets have these too. Try and up your intake of these electrolytes on a daily basis and see if that helps.
 
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