Migraine

Hello, I am quite new to the forum, but have a question about a possible trigger. I have had migraines regularly for about 10 years and have found many triggers over the years but may have discovered a new one I'd never thought of before. I have noticed migraines have been occurring frequently after eating bread. I often eat homemade biscuits on Saturdays and Sundays which is often followed later in the day with a headache or migraine, and have ruled out sleeping pattern triggers on the weekends. I seem to have been ok after eating store-bought bread during the week, but I think the homemade baked goods are doing it. Is this possible? What are some ingredients in bread that could be a potential trigger? Yeast or wheat flour maybe? I have also been headachey after eating cake, which had no yeast. Has anyone else experienced this?

I am thinking of starting an elimination diet to figure out what some of my food triggers might be. Any tips on this? I am off all medications so am working a little harder to pinpoint specific triggers and food is one I have never investigated much. There is no neurologist I can go to in my area, and the doctor where I work doesn't know much about migraines.

Any advice would be great!

It is actually listed as a potential trigger in the food trigger workbook which you may want to download to help keep track of your elimination diet.

Please keep us posted

Hey JavaGirl, it's definitely possible that bread could be a trigger. I know some migraineurs have trouble with warm, fresh-baked bread. Once it's allowed to cool, it's fine, and even reheated it's fine, but straight out of the oven can cause problems.

If you haven't seen our article about food triggers, you can find it HERE.

If you can get your hands on it, Dr David Marks wrote an excellent book called The Headache Prevention Cookbook, which reviews food triggers and provides some recipes he and his wife developed it.

Hope this helps.

Do biscuits have yeast in them? Or are you calling a certain bread biscuits.

If you know the ingredients, the food trigger worksheet LauraHOST linked for you would be a good place to start looking.

A headache diary is also a good way to notice triggers. There's one on this site, or you could use a day planner or a regular calendar. I've made my own table in Word, but there are many ways to do it. I figured out that chocolate (Boo!) is a trigger by looking at my headache chart.

Gretchen in Mississippi

Click on Manage on the toolbar on the home page. You'll see a link for Migraine Triggers. There are links to lots of information there.

Gretchen in Mississippi

hello Javagirl

You may have a gluten problem... Which is Celiac disease.. Which is that things contain Gluten are wheat rye and Barley that you body has trouble digesting.... I have read every lable cause i'm that way... You may need to ask your doctor about ..

heather

If you would like a copy of the Migraine and Headache Diary Gretchen referred too from our site, Here is the direct link.

Hope it helps!

I honestly don't know, but sitting here wondering, I came up with yeast, which you mentioned, and gluten, which someone else did.

Thanks all for the advice and links! I have been keeping a headache/migraine journal in a plain notebook, but I like the workbook format and printed it out and I think I will start using that! I also found the food triggers list, and that will be helpful as well.

Does anyone know any specific websites that talk about a link between specific ingredients in bread (yeast, gluten, etc.) and migraine? The biscuits I sometimes eat (biscuit to me is a round, flaky bread roll, not sandwich bread or cookies) have yeast in them, and seem to be the most troublesome for me. I am worried this may be a trigger for me and want to do some more research.

I haven't tried waiting until the bread is cool, maybe I should try that next.

Nope. I don't. But...

I did do a quick google search for "bread ingredients+ migraine trigger" and found a reference to underbaked break triggering migraines for someone. Apparently, it was attributed to the yeast not being fully activated, and the bread not rising properly. I'm taking this with a grain of salt, but there you go.

I also found another anecdotal entry on fresh bread causing migraine. Originally, the person considered yeast as the culprit. But then, on careful examination of the ingredients list of her flour, she found malted barley flour was included, which apparently contains tannins, which are listed as potential migraine triggers. Another for what it's worth.

Thanks Dragondrool! It seems like there are many things in bread or baked goods that could potentially trigger a migraine. Boo.

I will try to find out more so I can figure out which ingredient specifically may be affecting me. Blah.

You're very welcome.

Hi Java Girl and welcome! malted barley flour seems to be a trigger for me, so I am very careful about the breads I eat. I have a lot of food triggers, though, so I am very careful about everything I eat! Have you read any migraine books? The one MaxJerz mentioned is a good one relating to foods. It is a nice list of what you can eat, and if I remember correctly, it has a pretty extensive list of possible triggers as well. Teri's book is a GREAT one to read on Migraine. Good luck with your elimination diet. I have found some foods that automatically trigger me such as msg and aspartame, then others can be stackable triggers - like bacon (nitrates), so I only eat it if I am feeling really well and brave - ha ha! I have also found a lot of nitrate free meats,too. Plus, I am learning how to cook so many things from scratch. Good luck with everything.

Thanks Sherry! I would love to read some migraine books, but American books are a little hard to come by here, and really expensive at that. I think when I go home this summer I will try to pick some up. As far as the elimination diet....definitely not looking forward to it. But, you know, if it means less pain, I'll try it. Thanks for the advice!