Episode 90: Migraine Triggers, Prevention & Treatments & Coronavirus Update
This episode is all about migraines. Listen in as I cover different types of causes and triggers (which is really important to understand, it’s the #1 way to prevent them!), the migraine-hormone link, and different treatment options/symptom relief. Plus, an update on Coronavirus.
In this episode:
Update on Coronavirus
What you can do to keep calm & stay prepared
Supplements I’m taking & Foods I’m eating
The difference between headaches & migraines
Dopamine’s role
Food Triggers for Migraines
Nutrients of interest
Do you need a low histamine diet
The Migraine-Hormone Link
What’s Melatonin Got to Do with it
Natural Symptom relief
Resources mentioned:
Carb Compatibility Project (Available for free within the Funk’tional Nutrition Collective)
Eat to Achieve (Available for free within the Funk’tional Nutrition Collective)
How to Make your own Brazil Nut/Pepita Mylk
Community acquired pneumonia & Glutathione
Learn More About Functional Nutrition
Related episodes:
-
Erin Holt [00:00:05]:
Welcome to the Funk'tional Nutrition Podcast. I'm your host, Erin Holt, and I'm a board certified, integrative and functional nutritionist. I live on the Seacoast of New Hampshire and work with clients in my virtual practice all over the world through private consultations and online nutrition and functional medicine programs. Functional Medicine Nutrition is all about diving deep with people to get to the root cause of their health issues. And that's exactly what I tackle in this podcast. All things health, food and nutrition, unpacking current research, and almost a decade of clinical experience. I love to bring experts and thought leaders to the table so we can all learn together. Please keep in mind this podcast is created for educational purposes only and should never be used as a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment.
Erin Holt [00:00:55]:
Thanks for joining me. Now let's dive in. Hey gang, Glad to be back with another episode. I really do look forward to recording this podcast each and every week. Today we're going to talk all about migraines. This is a listener question that came in and I know it's pretty specific, the topic itself, but after working with so many women throughout the years who do experience migraines, I thought it was a pretty good topic to dive into. And even if you don't personally experience migraines, please share this episode with somebody who does because I think it could really help them out. We're going to dive into different types of causes and triggers for migraines.
Erin Holt [00:01:39]:
That's really important to understand if you do experience chronic migraines, what your triggers are, because that is the number one way to prevent them. And then we'll also talk about different treatment options and symptom relief. All that good stuff. I am not an expert on the neurochemical processes that happen in the brain during a migraine attack, so I reached out to my friends at McGarty and Associates. They do neurofeedback and I've been going there for a few years now, I would say three or four years if I had to guess. And it's been really helpful for me. I have a lot of colleagues and friends and even clients who also go there. The reason I started getting neurofeedback is because I wanted to downregulate my stress response and I really wanted to see if it would help with my autoimmune symptoms, especially when they were so bad back in the day.
Erin Holt [00:02:34]:
And it was really helpful. Now I don't have to go as frequently. I just kind of go for a tuneup or if I get a migraine I will go. They do treat a lot of migraines and have a good understanding of what's happening in the brain when you have a migraine. So I reach out to them so they could help me a little bit with the content creation for this episode, especially when it comes to some of the, the neurotransmitter stuff that I'm going to talk you through. And obviously, as it comes to neurofeedback as a treatment option, so big thanks to Jackie and Ray at McGarty and Associates. I'm going to link to them in the show notes. They're in Dover, New Hampshire.
Erin Holt [00:03:11]:
Highly, highly, highly recommend checking them out and having a conversation to see if they could be a good option for you, especially if you get migraines or if you're just a stress case or if you've got some PTSD. All of it is good. Before we get in, I do want to give a kind of an update about the coronavirus. I posted about this on Instagram. And listen, I'm not an expert. I'm not a doctor, I'm not an epidemiologist. I've been really paying attention to the news. I've read, I've watched, I've listened to everything I could get my hands on, CDC updates, keeping a close watch on what other trusted practitioners and docs are recommending and what they're saying, what they're doing.
Erin Holt [00:04:02]:
It is a pandemic. I don't think that's that it's something to completely ignore. I feel like there's this really big divide, at least on social media or in the people that I'm talking to in real life who are like, the media are sensationalizing everything and they're putting the fear of God in us. And that's very true. It's what the media does really well. But just because that's true doesn't mean that we should just completely ignore what's happening here. As of today, when I'm recording, it's Tuesday, March 3rd, I think as of today, there has been a confirmed case in New Hampshire, in the state that I live, also in Rhode Island. So we know now that it's, it's not only is it in the US but it's also reached the East Coast.
Erin Holt [00:04:46]:
So it's happening. It's spreading. I'm not freaking out, but I am doing things to prepare myself, my family, our immune systems, and definitely our household. And that's kind of the point of my post and of me talking about it on this show. I really don't think there's a reason to be totally paranoid and frightened. But I do think that we should all take some steps to be prepared. And I think that that sitting duck energy creates a lot of stress. So just sitting here feeling like, oh boy, something's coming, something's happening, and there's nothing I can do is it's really scary.
Erin Holt [00:05:30]:
So I'm saying some of this to kind of like soothe you down if you're in that, like, hyper paranoid state, but also to maybe rev you up a little bit if you're one of the people who are like, I'm going to ignore this and just pretend that it's not happening and not change anything. Just kind of go about my day. I think we need to be somewhere in the middle. I do have a plan. I shared it on Instagram, so you can go check that out. And I've also this week been sharing some antiviral foods and some just some nutrient dense tricks that I have up my sleeve and like, what I'm doing for my family's food. I think it's important to just reinforce our immune system and all that good stuff. So check me out over there.
Erin Holt [00:06:18]:
I'm kind of like posting every day some different things, so hopefully you can get some ideas and some tools to add to your arsenal. So I'll elaborate a little bit about my plan and before I do, just one last thing. Before I did get some kind of like, weird DMs for the most part, it was like a lot. Like, everyone was really appreciative. But if before freaking out and thinking that I'm just like totally feeding into the media hype by addressing it here on the show, be sure to actually read my Instagram post or listen to what I'm about to say. Because at the end of the day, I'm just recommending that people eat well, they get fresh air, and they wash their hands. So it's not exactly radical or sensational. It's just basic human life skills that we should all have.
Erin Holt [00:07:09]:
Okay? So I'm not saying like, you know, go out and become bubble boy, but I am saying, like, take care of yourself, wash your hands. So we know that those at the highest risk are the elderly and the immunocompromised. So if you're young and you're healthy, chances are your immune system will most likely be able to fight off this virus, no problem. All right, so that's the good news. The not so great news is what many of us are completely overlooking, and that is the fact that the US has over 12 million people over the age of 80, that's the elderly. On top of that, chronic disease affects about 133 million Americans. That's more than 40% of the population. Right? So just saying.
Erin Holt [00:08:05]:
Well, it's fine because the only people that are going to be affected are those with a condition or that are. That are older. It's not. I mean, that's a lot of people, right? So we gotta take care of everybody here. And I mean, that's kind of the push for vaccines.
Erin Holt [00:08:27]:
It's because we want to take on the responsibility of public health, right? So there's a lot of people who champion vaccines that are like, I don't get a vaccine for me, but I do it for this person and that person and that person who might have immunocompromised systems or the elderly. And like, that's the same thing here. And that's why you shouldn't just be like, I don't care about this. You should care about it because it's a public health concern for a lot of people. So even if you yourself are not at direct risk, other people are. And I guess that's kind of the point that I'm trying to drive home. And it's why I've been feeling a little frustrated with the people who are like, not my problem, not my problem, doesn't matter. Again, I don't think we need to be like psychotic, paranoid freaks about this, but I do think that we need to assume some of the responsibility to not transmit this disease.
Erin Holt [00:09:28]:
Something cool. A few studies showed that glutathione levels were lower in people with community acquired pneumonia, and that's what we're seeing with this strain of coronavirus. And the levels of glutathione were correlated to pneumonia severity index. So basically, the lower the glutathione levels in the person, the higher the severity of pneumonia. I've talked about glutathione on the shows, on the shows, on the show a couple of times before. It's an antioxidant. I've talked about it on episode 80, Staying Healthy Through the Holidays, and on episode 86, How to Prevent the Flu and What to Do If You Get It. So I'm not going to do a deep dive on glutathione here, since I already have, but it does play a big role in the lining of the lungs and it helps to reduce inflammation, which is really important in pneumonia.
Erin Holt [00:10:32]:
So the reason that I bring this up is because it is probably a good idea for those of us who do have compromised immune systems or who are elderly to supplement with glutathione right now. The one I personally take is by Apex Energetics. It's called trisomal glutathione. You can get that on my online dispensary. It's not an inexpensive product. It's, it's not cheap and that's because it's liposomal. Glutathione is hard for our bodies to absorb. So the, the better products, the more readily absorbed products are more costly, unfortunately.
Erin Holt [00:11:17]:
But I do think it would be something to be, you know, something worth supplementing with. And if you have an autoimmune disease, this is one of those supplements that you should really be taking long term, like every day in my opinion. It's something that I do. If it is completely out of your price range, you can look at an S acetyl form. So I know Jarrow. If I'm remembering correctly, Jarrow makes one that's S acetyl glutathione. That's less expensive and that would be a secondary option for you. So again, if you're, if you are immunocompromised, if you are in the elderly bracket, that would be something to consider.
Erin Holt [00:12:01]:
I'm not giving medical advice here that I will link to the study that I just, that I just mentioned. Okay, so what else can you do? If you're just like a healthy, young, vibrant person, what can you do? The first thing is always going to be eating well. Eat nutrient dense foods, Cut out your processed foods, very low sugar, lots of color pigment, rich fruits and veggies, all the antiviral foods. It's really important for your immune system. So don't overlook this piece. Like don't load up on the supplements if you're not going to at least baseline eat well. We're drinking a lot of my immune boosting hot chocolate. The recipes on erinholthealth.com I will link to it in the show notes.
Erin Holt [00:12:45]:
It is so good. I forgot I posted the recipe last year and I forgot how good it is. And we've been like cranking the stuff. I make it with Brazil nut milk. And I just posted in my, on IGTV a how I make Brazil nut milk. So I do like a Brazil nut and pumpkin seeds mashup and I show you all exactly how to do it. I did like a full blown tutorial video in my kitchen this morning. I was like, this should take like 10 minutes, right? Nope.
Erin Holt [00:13:19]:
Two hours later I was like still working on it. So please go watch it. Go watch that, for Pete's sake. Selenium seems to be really important here with, with this particular virus, so we want to load up on selenium. And Brazil nuts are a great source of selenium. I also bought some liquid selenium and I'm just going to do a few drops for myself, my daughter and my husband every day. And I'm also going to force it on my aunt who comes to babysit because she's elderly and I want to keep her safe and sound. And I'm also adding in.
Erin Holt [00:13:54]:
So the original recipe for my hot chocolate calls for reishi mushroom powder because that's really good for the immune system. I'm also adding in cordyceps. So I got mushroom powders, mushrooms, really, really great immune modulators. Reishi and cordyceps are two of my favorites. So I'm adding those to the hot chocolate. And I really love the way that the mushroom powders taste with cocoa, I just think. Or cacao.
Erin Holt [00:14:20]:
I just think it's a. It's a nice flavor mixed together. I also have been doing some energy balls with mushroom powder and throwing in different types of immune supportive herbs into the energy balls, and that's a great way to get them into kiddos. I'm to try to post a recipe onto Instagram. Basically just go to Instagram so you can see all of the immune supportive foods I'm making. I'm really getting crazy in the kitchen this week and I'm doing one antiviral immune boosting drink a day for myself and also for my family. So the hot chocolate that I just mentioned is one I'm doing. I have matcha powder.
Erin Holt [00:15:06]:
Green tea is an antiviral and I'm mixing that with spirulina. So adding a little bit of spirulina to it and doing a matcha latte or doing a turmeric latte. And I'm using that brazil nut milk to make all of those. And then I'm also adding in L Glutamine and some collagen peptides because supporting gut health is a really smart bet right now. Since the majority of our immune system resides in the gut, we do want to continue to reinforce that barrier system. L Glutamine is. It's a. You buy it in a powder form.
Erin Holt [00:15:39]:
It's an amino acid and it's fuel for the lining the cells that line your gut. So it helps to reinforce, like I said, that barrier system. And it's a pretty tasteless powder. So you can add it to smoothies or to drinks. And then doing some good quality probiotics is a good idea right now. Just some broad spectrum probiotics. Go to the health food store and pick some up.
Erin Holt [00:16:05]:
I have my favorite, but they're pretty costly, so I'm not even going to mention them on the show. And then cut out booze for a minute, you know, like just no booze or limited amounts, you know. And that kind of depends on how much you drink. Like I have the occasional glass of wine. I'm not worried about that. But like if you drink every single day, if you drink alcohol every day, if you have the nightly glass of wine or the night cap or the beer or more. You want to cut that out, dog.
Erin Holt [00:16:35]:
Alcohol is a direct gut irritant and it can negatively impact the immune system. So we want to just basically remove all the stuff that's going to. That's going to bother us and add all the things that are going to really support us. Hand washing. You got to wash those hands. I bought little mini Dr. Bronner's soaps to carry around. Listen, I cannot wash my hands with scented hand soap.
Erin Holt [00:16:57]:
I like gag. So I carry around my own soap like a psychopath. And that's what I do. And then those little antiseptic sprays. So if you're a do Terra fan, if you're a Young Living fan, whatever, buy this. You know what? Those hand sprays are so great to carry around. And spray down surfaces and spray down your hands. And then remember that you have to wash your hands for 20 seconds.
Erin Holt [00:17:25]:
That's directions right from the CDC. 20 seconds. So it's that happy birthday song. That's how I get my kiddo to do it. I noticed that she was definitely not spending 20 seconds washing her hands. So that's what we're practicing now. Either counting to 20 and showing off our counting skills or singing the Happy birthday song while washing. Absolutely positively prioritize your sleep.
Erin Holt [00:17:49]:
Daily fresh air. Daily fresh air. Daily fresh air. Daily fresh air. Get the heck outside. It's so good for your immune system. Moderate exercise, we don't want to overshoot because that can suppress the immune system as well.
Erin Holt [00:18:04]:
Hydration and stress reduction. Basically go Back to episode 86. Do all of that stuff. And then this is the big one. Prepare. Prepare. Because this might happen. Prepare for either working from home or for your kiddos having to stay home from school.
Erin Holt [00:18:25]:
If there is a big outbreak, schools might be closed to prevent further spread. I actually think that would be a tremendous idea. Super Inconvenient. But the CDC warned that disruption to everyday life might get severe. Right. So we don't, you know, it might not happen. Right. But prepare for it to happen, because what's the worst that could happen by being prepared? Nothing.
Erin Holt [00:18:50]:
Right. So I do. I do recommend just at least wrapping your head around what you would need. If you get sick, you'll have to plan to stay home to prevent transmission, and it might be up to a couple of weeks. And it's the same advice that I gave on the episode about the flu. Quarantine yourself if you get sick. Don't go out into public.
Erin Holt [00:19:13]:
Like, when I had the flu, I canceled all my appointments, all my babysitters, and stayed home so I didn't spread it to other people. And the way that I look at it, this is my role in public health, and I take that responsibility very seriously. This virus seems to be even more contagious than the flu. So we want to take good care of our community by not spreading it to, you know, the best of our ability. Right. And that's what I was saying about the vaccines. Right. Like that.
Erin Holt [00:19:44]:
It's like the same. It falls into the same category of supporting public health. And it's just good practice to stay home when you're sick. So all I'm saying is be prepared if, you know, if that happens. So the CDC is recommending that you fill up your prescription medications now, prepare for schools and businesses to close. If you have elderly relatives, try to prepare them for isolation until the outbreak is over. Now, I'm not, like, stockpiling food in my basement for some zombie apocalypse, but I am stocking the freezer in the cupboard in the event that we need to stay put, because there's nothing worse than being sick and not having food. So I got, like, you know, more chicken and meat than I normally would and put it in the freezer.
Erin Holt [00:20:33]:
Frozen berries, frozen veggies, bone broth, so you can defrost it and make some soups stocked up on nuts, seeds, and tubers, like potatoes, sweet potatoes, dried beans, canned beans, rice, other dried grains. Just things that, like, you know, you can. You can cook up in a pinch, right. That you don't have to go to the store for. All right, so that's kind of. That's what we're doing over here. And I just figured that I would share it with all of you in case you're freaking out a little bit or not freaking out anyway. Okay, so let's dive into migraines.
Erin Holt [00:21:15]:
My first question or the first thing that I wanted to address when talking about this topic is what is the difference between migraines and headaches? So I did pose that question to the kind folks over at McGarty & Associates, and here was their answer. Migraines are a combination of genes, nerves and chemical reactions. There's basically, there's a lot going on in the brain during, during a migraine. One of the key differences is that most migraines have a warning sign called an aura before they hit. Auras can be auditory, visual, physiological, or psychological, based in response to the neurological changes and reactions happening in the brain. So I, I don't always get an aura, but usually I do. It's like all of a sudden my eyes seem like a little bit funny. It feels like I'm on some type of like psychoactive drug.
Erin Holt [00:22:21]:
Like, I see like waves in my eyes. I'm like, oh, this is far out. And it comes even before the pain or the headache. And sometimes it can come like 20 to 30 minutes before. So when I get that, I'm like, shoot. I gotta run for cover. And sometimes I can do things to prevent them and sometimes I can't. But if I can get it, kind of get ahead of it, that can be really helpful.
Erin Holt [00:22:43]:
So you wouldn't get an aura with just a regular old headache, but you will oftentimes get them with migraines. There are also non aura migraines, but they present with their own very distinct set of symptoms. Sometimes fainting, double vision, and reversible paralysis. So lots of crazy stuff happening with migraines, and they also have different triggers than tension headaches. So tension headaches are often caused by stress, by tension, or, you know, you could like tweak your neck and you can get a tension headache. Migraines, however, tend to be brought on by certain triggers. Hormonal triggers is a big one.
Erin Holt [00:23:30]:
Food triggers is another big one. And I'm going to get into all of the details about those later on in the show. Another notable difference between migraines and headaches. Tension headaches won't start in your sleep, whereas migraines can often start in your sleep due to hormone changes and blood sugar shifts at night. And the pain itself is also different. Migraines have more neurochemical components like serotonin, dopamine, which are both neurotransmitters, as well as estrogen and you won't see those kind of changes with tension headaches. Migraines are triggered, and once the pathway gets activated, neurons send messages along the trigeminal nerves.
Erin Holt [00:24:14]:
And this is a major pain pathway. It starts in the brain and travels along your face, your teeth, your eyes, sinuses and foreheads. Foreheads. How many of them do you have? Your forehead as well as the blood vessels on the surface of the brain. And then the blood vessels will dilate in response, and then serotonin is released and those blood vessels constrict. So that's why migraine pain can feel pulsing, like pulsing pain, whereas headaches often do not. The serotonin releases the trigger, or, excuse me, triggers the release of prostaglandins, which then causes an increase of blood flow and leads to swelling of the blood vessels. And on top of that, during a migraine attack, dopamine levels plummet.
Erin Holt [00:25:08]:
And this is kind of a common thread of things we'll be talking about. Dopamine is another one of those neurotransmitters, and it's a key player in regulating sensory sensitivity. So low dopamine, if you have low dopamine, it can increase your sensitivity to light, to noise, and to smell. And oftentimes when people are experiencing a migraine, they're ultra sensitive to these things. And the main reason for that is the low dopamine. And then dopamine is part of the whole anxiety picture. So low dopamine can contribute to higher anxiety. And oftentimes you might have noticed that anxiety and migraines will go hand in hand.
Erin Holt [00:25:55]:
They're very comorbid. I know that is definitely the case for me when I'm experiencing anxiety. I pretty much only experience migraines during highly anxious times of my life. So it's just it's certainly a connection for me. So, again, migraines have a lot of complex neurochemical activity. And this is the reason why it's so hard to treat a migraine as it's happening, because the communication is restricted across the brain. Okay.
Erin Holt [00:26:32]:
So that's kind of the long and short of what's happening during a migraine. It's a lot, and it is different than a headache. So let's talk about some triggers, because this is. This is. You want to know if you do get migraines, you want to know why, and you want to know what's causing them. So a big one to start with is nutrient deficiencies, magnesium being the number one place where we have to start. I've seen a lot of people have success in drastically reducing migraines and headaches with magnesium supplementation. So this is where I tend to start with people.
Erin Holt [00:27:09]:
It's the first line of defense in my eyes. Just because it's so. It's such an easy thing to add to the mix and you'll know if it's helping, right? You'll, you'll know pretty quickly. Migraine patients tend to have lower levels of magnesium and having low levels of magnesium is a predictor of migraine risk. So we know there's a connection here and I do think it's just a low, low side effect thing to try. Magnesium is just a very important mineral in the body. It soothes and calms your nervous system, it regulates your HPA access, it's anti inflammatory, it drives metabolism, it supports estrogen metabolism. It's honestly important for so much.
Erin Holt [00:27:57]:
The unfortunate part about it is that the deficiency of magnesium is extremely common. Even if you eat a diet high in magnesium rich foods like leafy greens, nuts, seeds, dark chocolate, cacao, it doesn't mean that you're in the clear. Unfortunately, due to our current agriculture system where we grow food really fast and we grow pet resistant food and our soils are depleted, our food is less mineral rich than it once was. And this is not a concept that is new to you guys. I've talked about it on the show a bunch before. But when we couple that our mineral depleted soils with our chronically overstimulated and stressed out lifestyles and the fact that we're eating a lot of processed nutrient poor food, it really becomes a recipe for magnesium deficiency. We place a lot of demands on our body and a lot of those demands require magnesium to run them and we're not adequately fueling those demands with proper nutrition or good soils.
Erin Holt [00:29:13]:
So I think it's a smart and safe bet for most, if not all people to be supplementing with some type of magnesium. Here are some things that can hinder our magnesium absorption or even just deplete your own body's magnesium. Stress is the number one thing. Stress causes the body to basically dump magnesium. Anybody in my hormone revival program, anyone with adrenal dysfunction, one of the first places we start is with magnesium supplementation. It can also be hard to absorb magnesium if you've got digestive issues, if you've got leaky gut going on. If you consume a diet high in refined sugar, we need magnesium to essentially metabolize that sugar. And if you drink a lot of caffeine, that's another thing that can deplete magnesium levels.
Erin Holt [00:30:11]:
So that's like, you know, the average American. So ways to increase magnesium, obviously. I was just talking about supplementation. I think that's a smart bet. There are some forms or chelates of magnesium that are better absorbed than others. I think magnesium glycinate, also known, also called magnesium bisglycinate, are well absorbed. So that would be a good one to do if you tend towards constipation. Magnesium citrate is another type.
Erin Holt [00:30:39]:
It helps to pull water into the stool so it can have a nice laxative effect. Magnesium Calm is a powder you can buy just about anywhere. That's the magnesium citrate form. So if you tend towards constipation, go towards magnesium citrate. If not, then magnesium glycinate. Other ways to increase magnesium is to soak in an Epsom salt tub. You can pull magnesium in through your skin.
Erin Holt [00:31:11]:
You can also use magnesium oil and rub that right on your skin. I am not a huge fan of that. It makes me feel a little itchy. But it's a really, really good way to absorb magnesium. Okay. So you could try all of those things. Other nutrients to be aware of are your B vitamins, B12, folate, riboflavin, they can all contribute to chronic migraines. So I think taking a methylated B complex is a pretty good idea for migraine sufferers.
Erin Holt [00:31:46]:
Very big one is low blood sugar. Low blood sugar is a huge, huge trigger for migraines. It's very well known. It is. You gotta stay on top of your blood sugar. One of the reasons is that hypoglycemia dramatically lowers dopamine levels in the brain. And then remember that low dopamine increases sensitivity to incoming sensory stimulant. This, like, light noise, smell.
Erin Holt [00:32:18]:
This just happened to me this week, actually. I was. I didn't eat breakfast and I went to a hot Pilates class, which is high intensity interval training. And I always eat something before that class and I just didn't, for whatever reason. And when I was driving out of class, it was very. Or coming out of class, it was really sunny. So I had low blood sugar. And then like the sun hit my eyes and all of a sudden I was like, oh, my goodness, I'm getting an aura like, this is this.
Erin Holt [00:32:51]:
This is going to turn into a migraine. It was like the perfect storm of events. Luckily, I was able to do the things that I do to prevent the migraine at the first sign of it coming on. And I was fine. But it was that, it was that combination of the low blood sugar. So you really want to. If you do get migraines. This is so important to regulate your blood sugar.
Erin Holt [00:33:13]:
Make sure you're preventing those low blood sugar drops. Hey, here's something to try, the Carb Compatibility Project. It's all about regulating that blood sugar. And it starts April 13th. This is the official announcement, you heard it here first. The next round of the CCP April 13th. So you can fuel yourself with nutrient dense food. You we can talk all about supplementation and you can regulate your blood sugar to support your hormones and prevent migraines.
Erin Holt [00:33:46]:
Next up is food sensitivities. So some migraines are triggered by certain foods and wheat sensitivity is a very common, well known migraine trigger. So if you have chronic migraines and you have not at the very least tried a gluten free diet, then that is a smart place for you to start. And when I say try, I'll hear this like will I try gluten free for a couple of weeks and I didn't notice any difference. No. You need to be strict hardcore for at least a month to really know whether or not your body's reacting to gluten. The Carb Compatibility Project is a gluten free four week plan.
Erin Holt [00:34:33]:
So that could be something to, to try out if you need a structured plan. My Eat to Achieve program is a 21 day plan that's also gluten free. So you could, you could experiment with that. But the big, the big one that you really want to pay attention to is gluten first. Gluten affects the nervous system in people with celiac disease, but also people with non celiac wheat or gluten sensitivity as well. And I found this interesting. Migraines may even be an early symptom of celiac disease in some people. Which is not to say if you have migraines, you have celiac disease, but I just found that connection pretty, pretty wild.
Erin Holt [00:35:16]:
So there are, if you want definitive data for whether or not you, your body and your immune system is responding to wheat and to gluten, you can do the Wheat Zoomer. That is a test you can purchase right off of my website. If you go to erinholthealth.com test in consults and that that the purchase of that test does come with a consult from me. So I can walk you through what the test results mean. Some people just need that definitive data to know for sure. And I, I totally get that. Or you could just do an elimination diet and see and cut out some of the biggest food triggers and see if that makes any difference with your migraines. You can test the waters and add them back in.
Erin Holt [00:36:08]:
My Eat to Achieve program does walk you through an elimination style diet, and then it teaches you how to systematically add certain foods back in. So that would be another option for you as well if you do have chronic migraines, it's also important to note that some people react to food additives. So food additives are substances that are added to food to enhance flavor, to enhance their appearance, their texture, or even the shelf life. So they can include colorings, added flavors, artificial flavors, or natural flavors, preservatives, stabilizers, and thickeners. Excitotoxins will also fall into the category of food additives. They excite your taste buds, they make food taste better so you eat more of them. But unfortunately, they lead to different types of neurological issues for some people, and they can be a big factor in migraines and headaches.
Erin Holt [00:37:14]:
Two excitotoxins that you're most likely familiar with are msg, which is a flavor enhancer, and aspartame, which is an artificial sweetener. So you want to cut those out. I mean, that's just good practice for anybody, but especially if you have migraines. When I was looking at the list of common food triggers for migraines, it was a long list. And the paper that I was reading was like, these foods are so random. It's so hard for migraine sufferers to know what foods are causing the problems. And I looked at the list and I'm like, these foods are not random at all.
Erin Holt [00:37:54]:
They're high histamine foods. And that's an important thing to talk about here. Dr. Becky Campbell, we've had her on the show before. She talked about thyroid. She's coming back on the show to talk all about histamines. So I won't do a huge deep dive here, but I do want to talk about the histamine and migraine connection, because it's a pretty big connection. Histamine is a compound in the body, and it plays a large role in immune health, in inflammation, and also digestive function.
Erin Holt [00:38:25]:
Histamine isn't bad. We need it. So it's not a bad thing that it just becomes a problem if you have too much of it. Like anything in the body, right? We want this delicate balance. It's like Goldilocks. Not too little, not too much. So our body has the capacity to make its own histamine. Certain things can stimulate histamine production, like if you have seasonal allergies, for example, but also food sensitivity.
Erin Holt [00:38:51]:
So let's say you have a sensitivity to dairy and you don't know it, and you continue to consume dairy, that's going to drive more histamine production. Certain foods themselves contain histamine, and then there are certain foods that can liberate histamine. So there's lots of different ways to have histamine within our body. Now our body makes an enzyme called DOW that helps to break down and clear out histamine. But if there's too much histamine coming in, it might not be able to do its job effectively. And then sometimes we have issues with the enzyme itself where it doesn't work appropriately. So we can end up with something called histamine intolerance. Where we no longer tolerate histamines.
Erin Holt [00:39:41]:
We've kind of like, lost our capacity to tolerate them. So a few different ways to figure out if histamine, histamines are a problem for you and if they're triggering your migraines is to try a low histamine diet. And this is especially true if you're showcasing other signs of histamine sensitivity. So classic signs would be headaches and migraines, obviously, nasal congestion or sinus issues, fatigue, hive. This is one that I see a lot in my practice is people breaking out in rashes, red skin. So they eat something and they just get red or rashy or hives, get hives.
Erin Holt [00:40:30]:
Digestive issues is a big one. Irregular menstrual cycles, and then nausea and sometimes even vomiting from high histamine foods. So here are, like, the big list that you want to pay attention to. Anything fermented so this includes your fermented veggies like sauerkraut and kimchi. This includes your kombucha. Sorry, this is going to be all wine, beer, champagne, cider, all of that.
Erin Holt [00:41:03]:
All of it is fermented. Even fermented dairy products like aged cheeses and yogurts, sour creams, kefir, fermented soy products like tempeh, soy sauce. Any, like fermented grains like sourdough bread. So anything fermented and then canned, anything smoked or cured, like cured, fermented meats. Anything like canned fish is a big one. And then leftover. So, like, the longer a food sits, the more histamines it accumulates. Okay, so those are like the notoriously high histamine foods.
Erin Holt [00:41:44]:
And then there are certain foods that liberate histamine that can also be problematic for some people. I would start with the high histamine foods. First before going into the histamine liberators. But some people actually do need to remove both. So histamine liberators are strawberries, walnuts, cashews, seafood and shellfish like mussels and crabs, chocolate and cacao, tomatoes, ketchup, tomato juice, and citrus fruits. So some. Those can be problematic for some people. Now, if you do discover that this is a problem for you, and this is
Erin Holt [00:42:23]:
One of your migraine triggers or your major migraine trigger, there are supplements that you can take. Ultimately, you want to figure out why you're overreacting to histamine. A lot of it has to do with gut imbalance, balance. So doing a stool test is probably a good bet. But there are certain supplements that are really helpful. Seeking Health ProBiota HistaminX is a great probiotic that contains bacteria that kind of gobble up histamine in the gut. Another product is Apex Energetics Nutritional Complexes Histo-X, which can help to reduce histamine. And then Seeking Health Histamine Block can also be another helpful one.
Erin Holt [00:43:08]:
And this would be considered like preventative treatment. So they wouldn't be things that you would take at the onset of a migraine. This is just something that you would take ongoing to reduce your migraine incidence. Okay. Yeah. And then there's also a histamine hormone link. So you might notice that those histamine symptoms get more pronounced during certain times of your female cycle. There are certain times in the cycle where you're more vulnerable to histamine intolerance, and that would be during ovulation and then just before your period.
Erin Holt [00:43:53]:
So during that PMS time, estrogen can increase histamine by stimulating the immune system to make more histamine. And then it down regulates that DOW enzyme that breaks down histamine. So histamine can accumulate. And it's kind of this vicious cycle because histamine can then stimulate the ovaries to make more estrogen. So you've got estrogen, histamine, histamine, estrogen, and the beat goes on. So if your migraines are cyclical, if they're tied up with PMS symptoms and some of those other symptoms, those histamine symptoms that I talked about, I would definitely look into this puzzle piece for sure. And then we have chemical sensitivity.
Erin Holt [00:44:44]:
So a lot of folks, their migraines are triggered by certain smells, synthetic fragrances, perfumes, cleaning supplies, scented candles, air fresheners, things like that. I am. This is huge for me. I can't even set up my yoga mat next to somebody who has, like, cleaned their clothes in a scented laundry detergent. Like, seriously, it. I feel like I'm suffocating and I'll get a migraine. We had hired somebody to clean the house, and she accidentally.
Erin Holt [00:45:25]:
And I'm like, please don't only use my stuff because I can't smell bleach. I can't smell any of this stuff. And she accidentally used Mrs. Meyers. She had brought it thinking it was like a quote unquote, non toxic cleaner. Because, hey, guess what? Mrs. Meyers has done a really good job branding themselves as a non toxic cleaner, but they're actually, they score really poorly with the EWG database and they use a ton of synthetic fragrances.
Erin Holt [00:45:55]:
So do not use Mrs. Meyers. I don't know how they got away with branding themselves. Like, whoever's doing their branding is doing a phenomenal job because they basically just like, lied to consumers and consumers ate it right up. And now, like, health conscious people are specifically seeking out Mrs. Meyer's cleaning supplies, thinking that they're really healthy, and they're like, super not. Anyway, but the point is, she accidentally cleaned one of my toilets. And as soon as I walked into the house, I was like, and there's the headache.
Erin Holt [00:46:28]:
Here comes the boom. I'm gonna get a migraine. So be on the lookout for chemical sensitivity. And if you get migraines, just get all synthetic fragrances out of your house and out of your life. Life. Because with that dopamine drop, you're most likely going to be even more sensitive to those.
Erin Holt [00:46:50]:
fragrances. And then we have to talk. I just kind of, like scratched the surface on the hormone stuff. But we have to talk more about hormones because this is a very, very common one for menstruating females, especially if your migraines are cyclical. Now, if you get them after your period, so if you get them after you menstruate, that could be caused by brief iron deficiency anemia due to blood loss. So you lose blood when you menstruate. And especially if it's like a heavier flow, you can have a little drop off in your iron. So taking an iron supplement can actually really help with this.
Erin Holt [00:47:33]:
So that's very specific. If your migraines come after your period, try supplementing with iron. That can be helpful. But if they come before your period with pms, which is more common, this is more of doing due to the hormonal shift, because your estrogen will drop off, and that's why women will get migraines right before they bleed. So these headaches and migraines can be a symptom of estrogen dominance. And remember, we've talked about this on the show before, you can be estrogen dominant and have too much estrogen, or you can be estrogen dominant and have normal levels of estrogen or even low levels of estrogen.
Erin Holt [00:48:26]:
But if you don't have sufficient progesterone, that can be the actual problem because we need progesterone and estrogen in a certain ratio. So if you have low progesterone, this could be contributing to those menstrual migraines. So we have to think about, well, why, right. If you discover this is your trigger, like, yeah, I do always get migraines right before my period. Right. It would probably behoove you to take a look at your hormones through a DUTCH test like we do in Your Hormone Revival. Or you could say, okay, what's going on? Why would my progesterone be low? The number one reason is that your body is under stress. When women are under stress, progesterone levels tend to drop off first.
Erin Holt [00:49:12]:
It's usually a quicker and more dramatic drop than estrogen. And so you can create this picture of estrogen dominance. Typically, how it goes when stress is up, ovarian hormone production goes down or gets a little bit wacky and wonky. So that is all something to consider. You might want to take a look at your stress. If there's some adrenal involvement, maybe you just have high estrogen. Get a beat on what your hormones are doing. And just always keep in mind when it comes to hormones, you want to sell self regulate instead of replace.
Erin Holt [00:49:53]:
So you want to look to the root of the hormone imbalance rather than trying to replace the hormones that are imbalanced. So let's say you're deficient in progesterone. I would say the first thing isn't to just try to replace progesterone with hormone replacement therapy, but instead to figure out, well, what could be going on to cause me to have low progesterone. Just last week we talked about this with Kaylee. RD Some major causes of low progesterone. So check that out. Something that could be helpful here is doing magnesium. So there's that magnesium again, magnesium glycinate, doing like 300 milligrams a day can be helpful for this. So again, that would be your first line of defense of things to try.
Erin Holt [00:50:37]:
And then talking about hormones. We also have a melatonin connection. Melatonin is a hormone. We know it as our sleep hormone. I talked about it pretty extensively on episode 76 where I talked about constipation, gut health, and melatonin. So if you want a deeper dive on that, especially has how melatonin plays into gut health, you can check that out there. But melatonin insufficiency can play into migraines. For those of you guys in my hormone program or who are considering it, we do look at your levels of melatonin on the DUTCH test, so it can give us an accurate read of how much melatonin you're making.
Erin Holt [00:51:20]:
But the cool thing that is that taking melatonin can reduce the frequency of men of menstrual migraines, which is what we were just talking about, those cyclical migraines around your period, and can even outperform migraine medication. And it works preventatively. So you need to take it every night throughout your luteal phase, anywhere between poor 0.5 milligrams to 3 milligrams. You take it at bedtime to reduce your overall migraine frequency. And it works really well in combination with vitamin B2 riboflavin. I mentioned that at the beginning of the show why it would be a good idea to take a methylated B complex, but you could just do this B2, take 200 milligrams two times per day. There was a study that showed 3 milligrams of melatonin taken every night is as effective for chronic migraines as amitriptyline. I think I'm saying that right, and it causes fewer adverse effect.
Erin Holt [00:52:28]:
So amitriptyline is a tricyclic antidepressant and it's often prescribed as prophylactic medication for migraine headaches. And these antidepressants likely work by affecting the level of serotonin and other chemicals, neurotransmitters in your brain. But of course, those antidepressants are going to have side effects. So if you can take something like melatonin without the side effects, that's going to be a pretty good idea. So that's an interesting study and definitely think it's worth trying. Now, again, if this is your trigger, if low melatonin is your trigger, you can certainly take melatonin. But you also want to ask, like, why is your melatonin low in the first place? Number one, we produce melatonin in response to light, and melatonin can be blocked by not following natural light. So ideally, we wake up and we get natural sunshine light into our eyes, and that helps to set our circadian rhythm.
Erin Holt [00:53:46]:
And if we don't get that, that's a problem. But also at night, if we're exposed to a lot of blue light from our computers, from our smartphones, from our iPads, from our TVs, that's going to block the production of melatonin. So we want to cancel out the screen time at night, we want to reduce the light exposure at night, and we want to mimic more of what's going on outside. And that really, really can have a profound impact on our own production of melatonin. And then we also have to look at the precursors to melatonin, which is tryptophan, an amino acid. We take tryptophan, we convert it to something called 5 HTP, we convert that to serotonin, and then we eventually convert serotonin into melatonin. So if we have low tryptophan, the precursor, like the original precursor to melatonin, this could affect our melatonin production. So why would we have low tryptophan? Number one is not eating enough protein in our diet.
Erin Holt [00:54:55]:
Number two is if we're eating sufficient protein, but we're not breaking down proteins into amino acids. Amino acids are very important to chemical processes in the brain, in the body. That's why we need to eat sufficient protein. Go back to episode 85 where I talked about how much protein do we really need? But then we have to have the ability to take. Take that protein and break it down into those individual amino acids. And if you have digestive dysfunction, you might not be doing that adequately.
Erin Holt [00:55:32]:
And this is where digestive enzymes can really come into play. Houston Enzymes is one of my favorites. They are a sponsor of the show, and I would recommend starting there because we want to make sure that we're accessing all the deep nutrition that we can. So if we're putting protein in, we should be breaking it down into amino acids. And this is where digestive enzymes can be helpful. So Houston Enzymes were kind enough to give all of my listeners a 20% discount. You use coupon code HOUSTON20. You can go right to their website, Houstonenzymes.com and grab some enzymes for yourself.
Erin Holt [00:56:19]:
Trienza is the one that I generally recommend. It's a broad spectrum. You can use it for just about anything. I think that's like, if you're going to buy one product, that would be the one product that I would have everybody get. And so you're breaking down those proteins into amino acids. And another amino acid called tyrosine can also impact migraines. Altered tyrosine metabolism plays a role in the pathogenesis of chronic migraines. So again, we need to be breaking down our proteins to access these amino acids and to build up our neurotransmitters and to support our overall brain health.
Erin Holt [00:56:56]:
There are even some doctors who will use amino acid therapy for migraines. A combination of five HTP and tyrosine and either cysteine or methionine. That's one that I just heard about. I have not used it clinically yet, so I don't really want to talk too much about that, But I thought it was an interesting thing. This particular doctor said it works very well for migraines, anxiety, depression, sleep and addiction. And it's really just like flooding the body with those amino acids. But again, I think the first thing to try is good old fashioned digestive enzymes from Houston Enzymes in order to break down the protein rather than just hammer hammering your body with amino acids.
Erin Holt [00:57:39]:
And then again, anxiety. I already briefly touched upon this at the start of the show, but anxiety can be a big trigger. Anxiety and migraines go hand in hand. So you want to be on the lookout for migraines. If you're very prone to migraines, when you start to feel anxious, you know you need to take good care of yourself. Do your best to keep stress and anxiety at bay. Take care of the anxiety piece, and that can hopefully prevent migraines from coming on.
Erin Holt [00:58:15]:
We talked about that dopamine connection and this is something that was interesting that Ray Magardi, when I was in a neurofeedback session, explained to me is that one of the signs you can look for because dopamine is our pleasure in reward chemical. If you're noticing yourself seeking out pleasurable behaviors more frequently. So this would be food, alcohol, sex, recreational drugs. That actually could be a sign that a migraine is coming. That is one of his telltale signs. So I figured I would pass that along and share that with you. Especially for chronic migraine sufferers who are trying to learn how to assess their own triggers and their own warning signs. Okay, let's shift gears and talk more about treatment, prevention and symptom relief.
Erin Holt [00:59:13]:
And the number one thing to do is to know your triggers. That's why we just spent so much time talking about all the triggers. And you want to do your best to avoid them. So if you figure out that a gluten free diet keeps migraines at bay. If wheat is a trigger for you, then avoid eating wheat. And I mean, I know it's basic, but like, yeah, you gotta do those things, right? So once you discover your triggers, you gotta do your best to avoid them. You have to avoid low blood sugar. That's a big one for just about everybody.
Erin Holt [00:59:48]:
If you do experiencing experience low blood sugar, you know, try to get food in your system as soon as possible. Some things that can provide symptom relief when you're experiencing migraines is to lay down in a dark room, like basically shut down all stimulation. Dark room, no noise, no weird smells. Just kind of like cut off all the stimulation. As I say this, I wonder if like a float tank would be helpful. That would be an interesting experiment to try. I've heard very good things about Gua sha on the face and the neck. So gua sha is a technique for basically self massage.
Erin Holt [01:00:34]:
You use a different type of stone. You can go Google this and you give yourself like a facial massage and you could do it down the sides of your neck. And it really helps with lymph drainage, which could be helpful for migraines. Um, you know, you always have the essential oils to try out. Lavender and peppermint are the two most noticeable ones for, or most notable ones for migraines. Um, and then I heard this trick. I think I just read it on the Internet, but I tried it and it worked really well. Wrapping your feet in a heating pad, laying down, and then putting an ice pack on your head.
Erin Holt [01:01:14]:
I know it sounds kind of wacky, but I mean, when you're experiencing the pain of a migraine, you're like, whatever, I'll try anything. That's where I was at. And it did seem to help it. And I find that these, like, natural remedies work well if you catch it at the first sign of a migraine, like once it's a full blown migraine, I think it's harder to address. But if you can catch it right when it starts, that's usually helpful. And then another thing to try. I talked about taking magnesium regularly, more prophylactically, but you can take an extra dose if you feel a migraine coming on. So you could take 300 milligrams of magnesium glycinate with 100 milligrams of B6.
Erin Holt [01:01:58]:
So those would be two good things to have on hand if you notice a migraine coming on. And then finally really consider getting neurofeedback. So the question I posed, because this isn't a question I could answer. Why does neurofeedback work so well for migraines? That's one of the primary things that they treat there over and over. So here's the response that they gave me. When you get down to it, migraines are the end result of brain instability. Neurofeedback works to regulate the brain and how it communicates with the central nervous system. By regulating and improving this communication, it restores stability. And just as an aside here, a stable brain really helps with everything else too, not just migraines.
Erin Holt [01:02:49]:
In your day to day life, there really isn't anything that gives your brain feedback about how it's functioning. Neurofeedback gives the brain an opportunity to get feedback and allows the brain and nervous system to adjust and learn to work together harmoniously. Neurofeedback can help people who are actively having a migraine because the brain is receiving real time information about how it's behaving and allows the brain and nervous system a chance to adjust. We don't stop every migraine in its tracks completely, but we can help an active migraine be a little less painful and shorten its duration. Regular training will see a decrease in and eventual stop in migraines. And I think that's the point here, is that this isn't like a one time fix, it's not a one and done. But if you continue to receive neurofeedback over time it will lessen your the intensity of your migraines and the frequency of your migraines. All right you guys, so hopefully that gave you some things to work with, some tools to try, some things to investigate.
Erin Holt [01:03:52]:
Migraines are no joke. I'm so sorry if you experiencing like if you experience them, if you experience them, they are awful. Clearly I can't work my tongue anymore so I'm just going to stop this right here and I'll check you next week. Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Funk'tional Nutrition Podcast. If you'd like to submit a question to the show, fill out the contact form at erinholthealth.com. If you like what you hear, don't forget to subscribe and leave a review in itunes. Take care of you.
