<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Many thanks for all the helpful responses (40+) on coping with Celiac and migraine headaches.  Brief excerpts from these emails follows:

What has helped me the most is regular exercise, a regular sleep schedule,
and frequent, healthy mini-meals. Even my snacks are well-balanced
protein/carbohydrate/fat.  Bottom line, my rule is to "never get too tired,
too hungry, or too lazy"! :-)  The trio of healthy eating, regular sleep,
and regular exercise has done more for me than any medicine.

I read a study some years ago in which they were testing to
see if half an aspirin a day would help prevent additional heart
attacks. One completely unexpected result they found that it
helped those with migraines by 80 percent.  When I started it,
it stopped about 95 percent of mine, so perhaps it's a little of both.
Second, I'm constantly surprised, with all the really heavy duty
drugs they hand out for migraine, that what I think is by far the
mildest and most effective remedy is overlooked so much. My
doc started me on Fiorinal some 35  years ago. It's a mild med
and has stopped any headache I've ever had, even when narcotics
like Vicoden and Percocet wouldn't stop it. It's a combination of
mostly aspirin with a touch of barbiturate and caffeine. It is mildly
addictive, but not if you take less than six  per day, and I've never
needed more than two. And it has always so far stopped the
headache with just one pill.Fioricet is the tylenol version of the same thing with no aspirin. So
if you can't find or avoid the triggers, you might be interested in trying
this. I've also found that with me and many others, flourescent lights,
which stimulates heavy ACTH (the "fight or flight" hormone), can
bring one on, rarely, but reading for a couple of hours or more
under flourescents will usually do it. 
 NOTE:  Ron Owens posted a caution today on our list about the
addictive problems his daughter had with Fioricet--different experience than this poster.

Please read articles at www.paleodiet.com
You must have some more unresolved allergies to cause the migraines.


I have migraines as well and have found that taking 1 Excedrin and 1 Midol
have really helped my headaches.  I was on Amitrypline and Midrin, both
prescriptions, for my headaches, but hated being on an antidepressant.

I suffered from migaine till I stopped drinking coffee.
I believe common triggers for migraine are:coffee,citrus fruits,chocolate
and  cheese.


Yes...before going GF I was on medication for migraines.  Now, I ONLY get them when I've accidentally ingested gluten.  One thing I've found - it's not a cure-all..Tylenol suppositories.  They are over-the-counter, just ask in the pharmacy.  When the migraines hit, I can't keep anything down and the suppositories seem to take the edge off.

I'm finding after >12 years on the g-f diet that my daily (even 2-3/day
sometimes) migraines are only now responding to dietary restrictions IF I
also eliminate casein, yeast! (esp. yeast) and have just learned from
testing thru Dr. Fine's lab that I am sensitive to egg! (the only food I
was SURE I was NOT sensitive to --)Over 15 years ago, skin testing revealed that I was sensitive to all these
foods (and more --) but I didn't believe it - just thought I had very

I take both imitrex pills and nosespray for my migraines
sensitive skin!

Migraines are part of my constellation of signs when I have an
accidental gluten ingestion. I don't always  get GI signs, but lately (last
6-12 months) the migraines (complete with aura and loss of peripheral
vision) are my clue that something is amiss. This diet does tend to reinforce itself. Try
looking for changes in the formulation of anything you use - even shampoo,
lip balm, stuff like that.

Like you, I am sensitive to many things beyond gluten.  My migraines got lots 
less severe once I got good at being GF and found, mostly through trial and 
error, that I am also sensitive to lactose.  Once I eliminated that from my 
diet, especially from medications, I noted a marked improvement.  I 
understand that lactose intolerance is pretty common in those who can't 
digest gluten.

I have been getting more migraines over the last few years. I've been gluten
free for nearly 25 years, so it's unlikely that this had to do with CD directly or
with the GF diet per se., but it was clear that the headaches related to food
ingestion.  I identified tea and chocolate as headache producers, but eliminating them
didn't eliminate the headaches. I saw a doctor about it- a headache
specialist. He gave me a list of common headache producers, and indeed I found
that I was sensitive to several more foods on the list: onions, aspartame, and
orange juice. But I was still getting some headaches, and since I had eliminated
so many of the common problem foods I was now able to tell that I was often
reacting to gluten-free baked goods!  I ate a very large helping of
tapioca pudding, and just a few hours later woke up in the middle of the night
with one of the worst headaches I have ever had. And then, examining labels, I
found that tapioca flour was in every GF baked item in the house!
So what I'm suggesting is, rather than your problem being the GF diet, it might be
something specific in the GF diet. And I'm further nominating tapioca as a prime
candidate for investigation. 

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