Type 2 diabetes and migraine

[Jesste]

I have suffered from migraines since the age of 11, usually having an episode twice or three times a year. However in the last ten days I have had four migraines, two so severe that I was admitted to hospital with a suspected stroke.
I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in February of this year with a hmcA1c reading of 60. Since then I have lost one and a half stone in weight and reduced the level to 43 with low carb and intermittent fasting and now weigh 9 stone 8lbs and a BMI of 22. However I have read that there is a link between migraines and blood sugar levels. Any advice would be so helpful. Whilst I want to be diabetes free I can't cope with the level of migraines I am now experiencing

 

[MrsA2]

Tagging @Goonergal who is our resident expert on migraines

 

[Ronancastled]

My GP but me on beta blockers in my mid teens my migraines were that bad, I was having an episode every single week.
It still had them into my 40s but the severity reduced, became ocular only, no residual headache.
Then after my T2 diagnosis I hit low carb & lost the excess weight, think I've only had a single episode in 3 years.

There are many new treatments, encourage your GP to prescribe you one of them

 

[HSSS]

I have suffered from migraines since the age of 11, usually having an episode twice or three times a year. However in the last ten days I have had four migraines, two so severe that I was admitted to hospital with a suspected stroke.
I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in February of this year with a hmcA1c reading of 60. Since then I have lost one and a half stone in weight and reduced the level to 43 with low carb and intermittent fasting and now weigh 9 stone 8lbs and a BMI of 22. However I have read that there is a link between migraines and blood sugar levels. Any advice would be so helpful. Whilst I want to be diabetes free I can't cope with the level of migraines I am now experiencing

My sympathy. I too have had migraine since a similar age. Full on numbness, pins and needles, patchy blindness, headache, vomiting, the full works. Anywhere from a few hours to 3 days. They have varied in frequency throughout my life and have also had a couple of “stroke” suspected admissions in that time. I haven’t found specific triggers but tend to notice an increase after a stressful event/illness etc. Big hormonal changes have also changed the pattern each time and now peri menopause has drastically increased mine again. I’m praying when I finally reach the full menopause hormone change they slow down or cease. In the meantime finding the right treatment Prescription helps a lot. I have changed mine yet again recently and getting far improved relief.

Many people find going low carb and keto reduces their migraine. Sadly this didn’t happen for me. What makes you attribute it to that? Did the increase come only in the last 10 days after more than 6 months of low carb successfully before that? Have any other changes happened in the same time period? Did you have diabetes medication prescribed or statins or anything else? Lifestyle changes beyond food that might have triggered more? What have the drs suggested?

Has anyone checked your magnesium levels? On very low carb these can drop and have a definite association with migraine. There are some forms of mg supplements that are better aimed at helping migraine than others if needed. Some forms are better for sleep or constipation or energy for example too.

there are prescription options for prevention too. Not just beta blockers but things like low amounts of amitriptyline and a few other options.

 

[Robbity]

There are a number of us on the forum who have found that a low carb diet has actually helped avoid/prevent our migraines, and there are some old forum discussions about this. But this probably isn't much help to you!

I suffered from frequent chronic "common (i.e. no auras or actual sickness)" migraines from my teens, many of which were hormone related so I was guaranteed at least one a month., but frequently suffered on a weekly basis. Like @Ronancastled my migraines often lasted several days, which I spent in agony in bed in a darkened room, and I also eventually ended up permanently on beta blockers as a prevention. The only actual painkiller that worked for me was sumatriptan/imigran. One of my best non medical discoveries was that I could get light sensitive lenses for my glasses, which have been a great help!

Migraine can be inherited and my mother also suffered badly all her life, and one of my nieces does too , but much less so. Some actual triggers for me were bright and/or flashing light (hence the lenses) , some sounds, stress, those female hormones, and a small selection of trigger foods (dark chocolate, blue cheese , red wine, and weirdly, very very rarely, prawns). I also at one point for a short time suffered from a few mild migraine related non-diabetic hypos many years before I ever heard of T2, and only fairly recently discovered what these actually were, although I had been told not to go too long without eating.

Age put paid to my hormone related migraines, but it wasn't until after I was diagnosed with T2, and started eating a low carb/ketogenic diet that they've finally stopped completely. I no longer need the beta blockers, and can now actually (and initially VERY cautiously!) enjoy those trigger foods. I've not had a migraine for about eight years, and I credit this to my current LCHF/ketogenic diet and the fact that my brain likes those ketones much better than carbs for fuel.

And I agree with the others - you really should be seeing your GP about a prescription for both prevention and relief of those migraines.

 

[Jesste]

Thanks for the advice HSS and Ronancastled. I think they were triggered by varied blood glucose levels. Because I had lost the weight and only just in the pre diabetic range I began to introduce some carbs again. This may have caused spikes in my blood sugar levels. I will take a magnesium supplement and I will also drop the intermittent fasting and return to low carb to see if that helps. In the meantime the GP has prescribed bascapan for the terrible sickness and triptans. I also take statins and ace inhibitors for high blood pressure. My blood pressure has reduced substantially since losing weight. Also has anyone returned to eating some carbs after dropping below the diabetic range?

 

[Jesste]

Thanks Robbity. I was put on beta blockers a few years ago following a severe migraine. However I found that I was sweating intensely whilst walking and becoming intensely tired. I researched the problem and found that some beta blockers can inhibit the livers ability to release glucose for energy. They stopped the migraines but they also gave me, at that time, pre diabetes. I stopped them and my blood glucose returned to normal until recently and I could exercise again but the migraines returned.

 

[Goonergal]

Hi @Jesste and thanks for the tag @MrsA2

Sounds like you’re having a lousy time @Jesste , to put it mildly. For me there does seem to be a link to blood sugars as eating a ketogenic diet since diagnosis has made my migraines completely vanish - it is now over 5 years since I had one.

And that’s from a point of complete despair in the late 90s where I began to doubt I could continue to hold down a job due to the migraines - I was hospitalised a few times, exhausted all standard prophylactic medications as well as running through all the ‘triptans’ for acute treatment. I also had a couple of rounds of very unpleasant in-patient IV drug therapy.

By the point of my type 2 diagnosis they had ‘improved’ to the point that the prophylactics had been ditched but I was still treating 6-8 migraines a month. For them to have completely disappeared is by far the most significant impact on my quality of life resulting from my change of diet.

When you think about it many of the prophylactic drugs (or at least those in use when I was seeing the consultant) have a main purpose for epilepsy and a ketogenic diet is sometimes prescribed for childhood epilepsy.

I would say 2 things, firstly my migraines initially got worse, I think because I didn’t take enough electrolytes on board. Secondly while many here have reduced their migraine frequency on low carb, there are no guarantees.

Ironically it wasn’t until I’d got rid of the migraines that I learned of the work of Dr Angela Stanton. She has migraine herself and has spent a long time developing a protocol (dietary) to manage and hopefully eliminate them. It is complex, but having looked at it, by serendipity I’m following much of her advice. She has an active Facebook group, to which she contributes herself and on a personal level with those sharing information. You can find it here:

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Her book is available on Amazon and is currently free with Kindle Unlimited: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fighting-Migraine-Epidemic-Migraines-Medicines-ebook/dp/B076BZG2V3

Really hope you find a solution.

 

[MrsA2]

Hi @Jesste
Sorry I couldn't reply more fully last night.
I too have had migraines, and still do have the occasional one. I supplement magnesium and now add extra salt to my foods - which is my nod towards Angela Stanton solution. When I get The warning signs I takea pinch of salt under my tongue and it seems to stop it. Extra water daily too.
My key trigger is bright or reflected light, so tinted lenses and a baseball hat are in daily use.
I think my migraine have reduced since retiring, and again after moving to low carb.
Hope yours start to settle down soon by sticking with lowcarb

 

[Jesste]

Thanks for all your advice. I have ordered the Stanton book and ordered some magnesium supplements as well. I've gone back on to a tight no carb diet again. Oh how I miss potatoes. I can do without other carbs. I'm also using xylitol to sweeten garden berries to have with cream as a pudding. I don't want to feel so deprived, otherwise I won't stick to it in the longer term.