My migraine cure

By jeanieg Saturday, September 22, 2007

- A
- A
- A

I had migraines for a number of years. My husband would never know when he came home if I would be fine or would be lying in a darkened room unable to prepare dinner. I was interested in health and had jumped on the soybean wagon. (This was probably 30 years ago.) Our favorite of my concoctions was a tofu cheesecake. I finally figured out that every time I ate a product with the smallest amount of soy, I would have a migraine headache -- generally the reaction was somewhat delayed, sometimes even the next day. It definitely was dose related -- the worst was soy sauce.

After my discovery that my migraines were caused by soy, I read every label very carefully. There is, or may be, soy in many products. If a cracker's ingredients included an oil that could be soy oil or some other type of oil, I did not dare eat it.

After I reached menopause, I tried gradually eating very small amounts of soy to see what would happen. (My mother had had migraines until after menopause.) After a couple of years, I could eat small amounts or soy without getting a migraine. Today I do not totally avoid soy, but if I have more than a small amount, I often have some digestive problems. I have not tried soy sauce since my discovery of the connection.

In my case it would seem that the migraines must have been related to the estrogenic properties of soy, and when my own estrogen levels began to fall, I no longer had the headaches.

I hope that the idea that foods can cause migraines may help someone.

Top 101 Migraine and Headache Questions and Answers!

Comments (6) | Add comment

Nancy Harris Bonk

9/22/07 4:37pm

Hello, and welcome to MyMigraineConnection.com!

Wow, what a great job tracking down your Migraine triggers. Big Smile Soy is definitely one of the foods that can trigger a Migraine headache. It takes some people a really long time before they can identify what triggers, if any, are effecting their Migraine frequency. On the other hand not all Migraineurs suffer the effects of food or non-food triggers.

Thank you for creating a SharePost. SharePosts are a form of blogging, and there are many things you can do with them. You can share an experience, suggest something that's helped you, use SharePosts as a Migraine and headache journal, and many other things.

We also have a discussion forum that you may want to check out. Especially if you have questions or are looking for information, you may find the interaction on the forum to be quite helpful. To get to the forum, just look for the orange box marked "Manage" and click on the Migraine Forums link. Because our forums are maintained by a third party, you'll need to register for the forum. You can use the same information you used to create your community log-in if you like. If you want to go directly to the forum, you can click HERE.

Along with your personal "My Home" page and the discussion forum, you'll find links to a great deal of helpful information on the main page of our site, http://www.MyMigraineConnection.com.

If you have any questions, please feel free to post them to the forum or send me a message through my profile.

Welcome again,

Nancy Bonk
MyMigraineConnection.com Expert

PS: If you receive this message from more than one of us, please excuse the overlap. Thanks!

AngelaB

9/23/07 10:07am

Hi Jeanieg,

I hear what you are saying! I discovered this year that soy products are a trigger for me and my migraines. I had also read somewhere about how soy can mimic estrogen in women. However, I have never been able to associate my migraines with hormones. I am curious if your migraines were related to your hormone levels and if you think that is why you have been able to have small amounts of soy now.

As you said, soy is in so many different foods! Fortunately, more products can be found without the normal soy product like mayonnaise made with canola oil instead of soybean oil or more natural peanut butter without any soybean oil. I haven't been so lucky with salad dressing and must mix my own, but we do what we have to do and it does get easier as I'm sure you found out too.

Victoria

1/17/09 7:47pm

I started getting migraines for the first time when I was 50 in 1998. Before that I had never had a migraine and very rarely had a headache.. only from the flu or from backpacking in high heat and those weren't migraines. At the time I was eating lots of soy... I was menopausal and also following the Zone diet. Everyday I would have soy in at least 1 or more meals, plus have a Zone bar at work for my afternoon snack. The migraines got worse & worse. My doctor gave me medicine that got rid of the headache if I took the medication quickly when I first felt it coming on, but also resulted in 24 hr of bad stomach cramps. I started taking various foods out of my diet chocolate, caffine, wheat etc I asked the doctor about soy his response was "Your menopausal soy is good for you, women need extra soy" 3 years and many headaches & stomach cramps later I was traveling in the Bay Area eating mostly fish & salads but no soy, then one night we went to a Chinese restaurant I had my favorite braised Tofu I got soooo sick with a horrendous migraine I thought I think it is SOY! It was! As long as I'm soy free I'm headache free. I try to stick to foods I know are soy free which is easier now than 5 years ago. Trader Joe's has lots of products without soybean oil in it even their tuna in water has no soy protein added (most canned tuna has broth with soy... go figure) I also read labels and ask a lot of questions at restaurants and potlucks. Still occasionally soy makes it past my lips just this past holiday season 2008 I had a migraine... from homemade Spinach dip the person who made it forgot it had mayonnaise (most brands are solid soybean oil) in it when I asked her the ingredients. I think one of 3 thinks changed for me 1. I ate too much soy and my body developed a reaction & no longer tolerates it. 2. My body changed and reacts to the estrogen in soy although I'm now post menopausal and still get migraines from soy. 3. Most soy is genetically modified... and a chemical splice at some point changed the chemical structure of the soy protein that my body reacts to.

David Schlinger

10/14/10 3:42pm

Thank you so much for this enlightment! My wife suffers migraines constantly. I mean 4 to 5 days each week. Soy???? We're health freaks and are vegans. But still the migraines attack her. I went and looked at all the ingrediants in everything we eat and oh my goodness. soy is in everything. We had wondered if foods were triggers but didn't know migraines could be a delayed reaction to some foods. Looking back at what we have been eating and when the migraines attack.... well the migraines were not imediate. She did say she got headaches from cheese and peanut butter. But never knew there was soybean oil in peanut butter and that was a migraine trigger. I can't wait for her to come home from school. Yes imagine sitting through graduate courses with a migraine attack. Makes me weep everytime. I've made it my mission in life to figure this cruel disease in hopes to bring relief and peace to her life. again Thank you for your story.

kalpana

2/ 5/09 1:31am

Thanks a lot for your article. It helped me discover the cause of my migraine , which is Soya sauce . I came to this conclusion after getting migraine 4 times after eating Chinese food , but could not pinpoint what ingrediaent caused it . So i prepared chinese dish at home and put soya sauce in it. that and your article helped me .

thanks a lot !

Christine Farrelly

6/14/09 8:34am

Im 23 and have jus been diagnosed with chronic miagraines, and iv to come off all caffeine products!!

I have had this for 8-10 years, it first got diagnosed as migraines, i was on/off lots of different pills over the years, last 2years there, it got diagnosed as neuralgia (which i have in my leg), and again was on lots of different pills to see what would clear it.

Quite annoyed about the amount of pills that went into my body for the fact now that i have not to take ANY pills whatsoever.

My doctor says that the first 2-3weeks will be hellish, and i cant bare thinkin about it.

But fingers crossed that afetrwards i should be ok.

But if im not, im likely to get cat/mri scans to see what the problem is.

I do tend to take soy sauce on pretty much all my foods. It was my dad that showed me this article. I'll try without, and will get bac in a month or so's time. All the best xx

My migraine cure

Ask a Question