Citrus trigger

[babs1234]

I made some marmalade yesterday for friends. I love it but haven't eaten any citrus fruits or marmalade for over a year. I licked the spoon once and within an hour felt a headache coming on, by the end of the day had a full blown migraine. Coincidence? I don't know but I'll not be touching it again

[Cally01]

😱😱 that sounds like a trigger !! Xx

[Cat00]

The prodrome stage of a migraine starts at least 24 hrs before you get any pain. This would suggest your migraine started the day before and there for it couldn't possibly be the citrus that triggered it.

[babs1234 in reply to Cat00]

Hmmm where do you get these facts from? I have drank a shot of alcohol and got the pain in Half an hour. Someone was on here a while back saying he walked into the bedroom after his wife had sprayed perfume and he ended up not being able to go out because it triggered a migraine

[Cat00]

The facts about the Prodrome stage of migraine are very numerous I wouldn't know where to start. Try just putting 'Prodrome migraine stage' in google and you should get a lot of hits. This was discussed extensively at the ' Migraine World Summit 2017' and by Professor Peter Goadsby (Kings College London) at The Migraine Trust.

My understanding of it is our migraines start a long time before we feel any pain, it can be days before we get any symptoms. The reason people believe they are being triggered by various things, such as chocolate, perfume, citrus etc is that when we are in the Prodrome stage of a migraine we are particularly sensitive to our environment. The migraine is already starting to affect the way are brains are functioning, some things are being ramped up others dampened down. We are more sensitive to smells, taste, light, sound, movement etc while other parts of are brain being stimulating in a way that makes us crave sweet things or feel the need to yawn a lot, get sleepy.

I have chronic migraines and my specialist agrees with this also, many years ago she told me searching for triggers was pointless. The only thing she really did feel strongly about was that the need for regular sleep, the same amount of sleep at the same time of day had substantial influence on migraine. She also agreed that 'eating regular meals' has little effect on migraine which I happen to agree with also as for the past 3 years I have done the 2.5 fasting diet. I have to keep charts of all my migraines (for at least 10 years now) this fasting routine has had no effect on my migraines. Hormones can obviously have a huge impact on migraines also.

That is not to say people are not 'allergic' to things or they don't maybe get a bit of a headache when something stresses them, but it does mean it is not the mechanism for triggering migraine. There is enough evidence in brain scans migraines are well and truly active long before pain, unless it occurred days before it cannot be the trigger, for the migraine is already in full flow.

[Cally01]

I don't fully agree with all of your notes cat00. I also listen to the summit and fully get the stages of prodrome. You can get migraines within hours of triggers. For many people it's smells, chocolate, sunlight etc.

I get an aura migraine and visual disturbance almost immediately if a bright sun gets in my eye's.

I also get an aura migraine within hours of eating chocolate, it doesn't take days and i know this because i never eat chocolate but once in a blue moon the craving wins and i give in, thinking I'll be lucky because i haven't touched it in months, but it gets me!! Never lucky. Do my best never to touch it.

[Cat00 in reply to Cally01]

Craving for chocolate, aversion to bright lights, increased sensitivity to smell are all known symptoms of the prodromitry stage of a migraine which is why they would be very likely to occur together. I can't find who in the Migraine World Summit talked about this specifically because I didn't buy the Summit package so cannot back-reference. However there are many other sources, this being one of them -

functionalneurology.com/mat...

Migraine in children - headache.imedpub.com/preict... (after table 2.)

Chocolate is likely to have nothing to do with triggering migraine, the reason you are craving chocolate is because your are already experiencing the prodrome stage of migraine which is known to trigger such cravings -

This is an article from The Department of Neurology, LSU Health Science Centre in LA, USA

"A prodrome can be present in anywhere from 10–80% of migraineurs (Russell et al 1996), depending on reporting patterns and different definitions. These symptoms may not be reported to the physician without prompting. It is not the same as aura and there are no validated criteria for its diagnosis (Tipper 2001; Evans et al 2002). In the majority prodrome may precede the headache phase by 1–24 hours but in a few can be up to 48 hours early. If it lasts for more than 6 hours and less than 48 hours prior to headache onset, it is nonevolutive prodrome (Tipper 2001; Evans and Mannix 2002; Kelman 2004). Symptoms tend to be vague and nonfocal and can be divided into systemic, neurologic and autonomic. Latter consist of nausea, constipation, yawning, fluid retention, polyuria, feeling cold and diarrhea, whereas systemic symptoms usually are food cravings, anorexia, and feeling tired. Neurologic symptoms range from irritability, malaise, depression, lethargy, disinhibition, photophonophobia, fatigue, and hyperactivity, or musculoskeletal symptoms (muscle tenderness, and stiffness) (Tipper 2001; Evans and Mannix 2002; Rozen 2004; Kelman 2004). Many patients notice mild cognitive difficulty. Appetite changes may include cravings for starchy or sweet foods; leading to the erroneous idea that chocolate is a trigger factor (Marcus 1997). Rozen (2004) described redness of nose as prodromal symptom in a young woman. Recognition of the prodrome is important in the early treatment paradigm (Evans and Mannix 2002; Kelman 2004), as the attack can be aborted in the pre-headache phase in up to 60% of patients (Luciani et al 2000; Rozen 2004)."

More info -

migrainetrust.org/about-mig...

migraine.com/blog/triggers-...

You are entitled to believe what you want, science is not gospel ( not that I believe in God but you know what I mean ) however it should be a good thing that people who for years believed they couldn't eat chocolate, citrus, whatever because they wrongly thought it triggered migraines can actually eat these things. What it should tell people is that if they are craving such things more than normal they should make sure they have a triptan on them if they go out for day etc. Migraines limit us enough without avoiding food and light etc.

Apparently up to 20% of people may not get a Prodrome stage of a migraine at all, there are always exceptions. Also one of the speakers at the Migraine World Summit specifically said that they use Nitroglycerin to trigger migraine in the lab therefore foods high in nitrates may cause problems for migraineurs although there appears there is little evidence for this.

[Cally01 in reply to Cat00]

Yeah i seen all of this too. It's a nightmare to navigate 👍

[tog12]

this is an interesting topic. I have had migraines from the age of 5, even as a child I found a headache would start within hours if I ate certain foods, the trigger foods have changed over the years but the symptoms still the same. As I have grown older other facters have caused the migraines, Hormones being one which I can feel different the day befor.

[Suludo18]

When I feel a particular something has triggered a migraine, I read the ingredients and there's usually preservatives, artificial sweeteners, msg, etc. I took artificially sweetened Metamucil two nights in a row and both times got a migraine within an hour.

[Suludo18]

I've always heard that citrus is a culprit but it has never bothered me that I know of.

[babs1234]

It’s definitely one if my triggers