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Fresh fish products can contain large amounts of tyramine
Fish that is not entirely newly caught can contain substantial quantities of tyramine. Tyramine is created by bacteria that are either found in the fish when it is caught or get into the fish during filleting or other processing. Since fish flesh contains large amounts of the amino-acid tyrosine, there are excellent opportunities for bacteria to convert the tyrosine to teaming. The tyramine content increases for a long time after the fish begins to smell elderly or to signal in any other way that it shouldn´t be eaten.Fish products that are haven´t been processed or cut in any way have a natural bacterial flora on their surface. They are bacteria that live in the water on the fish and are normally not harmful to the fish.
Photobacterium phosphoreum is easy to identify, because it lights up in the dark, so a fish that is contaminated with large amounts of these bacteria becomes self-illuminating. Even at low temperatures (5 ° C) these bacteria create tyramine in amounts that can quickly become unpleasant for tyramine migraineurs.
Smoked salmon is often packed in vacuum packs that contain a nitrogen atmosphere to hinder deterioration of the fish. Unfortunately neither the vacuum nor the nitrogen affects Photobacterium and they live happily in the packs creating tyramine. Even fresh white fish, smoked mackerel and herring etc. can be infected with Photobacterium.
If the fish is frozen - which means reaching a temperature lower than a couple of degrees below freezing point - the Photobacteria die. The amount of tyramine created before freezing does not, of course, disappear, but since fresh fish is often frozen quickly after being caught, frozen fish generally contain less tyramine than so-called fresh fish sold in the supermarket.
Lactoacid bacteria create tyramine too and they are found everywhere in our kitchens. Lactoacid bacteria do not die when frozen and therefore have a free hand when fish lies on the kitchen table too long.
Tyramine content of fresh supermarket fish kept according to the regulations:
6 mg tyramine can trigger migraine in those who are disposed that way, so a small portion of fish is enough to trigger an attack if the fish isn´t entirely fresh.
(1) L. V. Jørgensen, P. Dalgaard og H. H. Huss, 2000. Multiple compound quality index for cold-smoked Salmon (Salmo salar) developed by multivariate regression of biogenic amines and pH. J. Agric. Food Chem. 48, 2448-2453.
(2) P. Dalgaard, M. Vancanneyt, N. E. Vilalta, J. Swings, P. Fruekilde og J. J. Leisner, 2003. Identification of lactic bacteria from spoilage associations of cooked and brined shrimps stored under modified atmosphere between 0° C and 25° C. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 94, 80-89.
Uploaded 14-12-2004
Aspartam-induced migraine from dissolvable tablets
Aspartam (Nutrasweet) is one of the substances that is suspected to trigger migraine. The first medical reports have now appeared about aspartam-induced migraine from Maxalt dissolvable tablets. Every tablet contains 3.75 mg aspartam, apparently sufficient for those who are especially vulnerable can suffer from additional migraine from the dissolvable tablets.L. C. Newmann og R. B. Lipton, 2001. Migraine MLT-Down: an unusual presentation of migraine in patients with aspartame-triggered headaches. Headache 41, 899-901.
There are also small amounts of aspartam in Zomig dissolvable tablets. The only advice there is to anyone who thinks they get migraine from aspartam is to use other types of medicine - i.e. avoid dissolvable tablets.
Uploaded 14-12-2004
Complex carbohydrates (more) and fat (less) in your diet can act against migraine
Dr. Zuzana Bic from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California believes that a diet with only a little fat and large amounts of complex carbohydrates can reduce the intensity and length of migraine attacks in some patients.This diet reduces the tendency of blood platelets to clump and also reduces the blood´s high content of prostaglandins which can cause enlargement of the vessels, says Dr. Bic.
54 migraine patients took part in Dr. Bic´s study. They ate their normal diet for 28 days, then their diet was varied during the next 28 days. In the 28 days after that, they were observed to find out if there was any alteration in the pattern of their headaches.
The patients had on average 9 attacks per month during the first period and only 3 attacks per month during the last period. Dr. Bic claims that the patients realized that there was clearly a connection between their fat rich diet and migraine, so it wasn´t difficult to convince them to alter the kind of food they ate.
Reuters 20. August 1996.
Uploaded 14-12-2004
Migraine may disappear, especially if it began when you were an adult
Fifty-three Danish migraine patients with aura were traced 16 years after they had been examined for serious migraine. 36% of the former patients had been free of migraine for two years or more at the 16-year interview. Half of the men were free of migraine, while only 31% of the women were free of attacks.Among those who still had attacks, slightly less than half had fewer attacks than 16 years previously. A few had more attacks.
Patients who did not have attacks any more had had their first attack on average relatively late in life (26 years old), while those who still had migraine attacks had had their first attack earlier (17 years old on average).
M. K. Eriksen, L. L. Thomsen and M. B. Russell, 2004. Prognosis of migraine with aura. Cephalalgia 24, 18-22.
Uploaded 02-03-2005
Exercise and migraine
Forty migraine patients without aura took part in an exercise programme. They had 1 - 3 migraine attacks per month before the exercise programme. Six weeks before they started, they stopped taking all preventive medicine. They were asked to exercise vigourously (aerobics) for 20 minutes (after 10 minutes warm-up) three times per week.The doctors measured the amount of endonrphins (the body´s own painkiller) at the start of the exercise programme and during it. They found that all patients had fewer attacks, that the attacks were less debilitating and lasted for a shorter time. Exercising had most effect on those patients who had least endorphins in their blood before they started exercising.
E. Køseoglu, A. Akboyraz, A. Soyuer and A. Ø. Ersoy, 2003. Aerobic exercise and plasma beta endorphin levels in migrainous headache without aura. Cephalalgia 23, 972-976.
Uploaded 26-05-2005
Screen flickering
A computer nerd changed his job and got a migraine attack each time he sat down in front of his new screen. When he changed the flicker frequency of the screen from 60 Hz to 75 Hz the migraines disappeared and he could work without problems.P. A. Kowacs, E. J. Piovesan, L. C. Werneck, H. Fameli og H. Pereira de Silva, 2004. Headache related to a specific screen flickering frequency band. Cephalalgia 24, 408-410.
Flat screens are supposed to be flicker-free so the problem seems to solve itself with time.
Uploaded 30-10-2005
Preventive medicine against menstruation migraine during a period
Doctors from Ohio, USA, have shown that daily use of triptans during the days around menstruation can reduce the number of migraine days by half. The doctors stress that it requires self-discipline about the number of triptan doses and that the migraine attacks come quite randomly.L. K. Mannix, A. H. Calhoun and A. H. Calhoun, 2004. Menstrual Migraine. Curr Treat Options Neurol. 6, 489-498.
Uploaded 06-04-2006
Drink tea and eat cinnamon!
Migraineurs with many attacks have reduced insulin activity. So it may be a good idea to try to restore insulin activity. A study from USA´s agricultural ministry´s research centre has shown that tea (green or black i.e. Chinese or Indian) increases the activity of insulin. The active chemical is called epigallocatechin gallate (1). Milk in the tea reduces its effect on insulin activity.A presentation at a conference in the USA suggested that reduced insulin activity can be opposed by eating 1 gm of cinnamon every day (2).
(1) R. A. Anderson and M. M. Polansky, 2002. Tea Enhances Insulin Activity. Journal of Agricultural And Food Chemistry 50, 7182-7186.
(2) R. A. Anderson, 2005. Polyphenols From Cinnamon Increase Insulin Sensitivity: Functional And Clinical Aspects [abstract]. Dietary Antioxidants, Trace Elements, Vitamins And Polyphenols 4, 154.
Uploaded 21-10-2006
Drink water!
18 migraineurs were asked to drink an additional 1½ liters of water per day for 12 weeks, while a control group were given a chalk tablet as a placebo.The placebo group had the same number and length of attacks as before. But the water group went from having 48 hours with migraine every 2 weeks to having 30 hours. The difference was, nonetheless, not significant (i.e. it could have been due to chance). The number of attacks fell slightly in the ´water group´, but not in the placebo group.
The scientists suggest that the study should be repeated with a larger group and larger intake of water as this form of prevention is entirely without side-effects.
M. G. Spigt, E. C. Kuijper, C. P. van Schayck, J. Troost, P. G. Knipschild, V. M. Linssen and J. A. Knottnerus. 2005. Increasing the daily water intake for the prophylactic treatment of headache: a pilot trial. European Journal of Neurology 12, 715–718.
Uploaded 21-10-2006
Drink lots of water
A computer nerd who experienced migraine on about 10 days per month got his computer to remind him every quarter of an hour that he should drink some water. That increased his intake of water from about ½ a glass a day to about 1½ liters. His migraine attacks fell from about 10 days per month to about 5 days per month.I. P. Martins and R. G. Gouveia, 2007. More on water and migraine. Cephalalgia 27, 372-374.
Uploaded 28-8-2008
Unfortunately, the article that describes this easy way of reducing migraine days does not tell what the computer nerd may NOT have been drinking instead of his 1 ½ liters of water. He may have dropped sugar-free (LITE) drinks, that contain aspartame, a known migraine trigger. Maybe he cut down on the amount of coffee, tea or something else he was drinking.
Migraine disappears (maybe)
Ann Lyngberg and her colleagues have looked at whether patients who had migraine in 1989 still had it in 2001. 64 of the 1989 migraineurs were found again in 2001 and 42% of them no longer had migraine. 38 % had 1–14 migraine days per year and 20% had more than 15 migraine days per year. Those who still had migraine were especially those who had started to have attacks before they were 20 and had had a lot of migraine in 1989.A. C. Lyngberg , B. K. Rasmussen, T. Jorgensen and R. Jensen, 2005. Prognosis of migraine and tension-type headache: a population-based follow-up study. Neurology 65, 580-585.
Uploaded 21-10-2006
Exercise and migraine
Exercise is good for many things; now against migraine, too. A Swiss study has shown that aerobics can lessen migraine (1). Running on a treadmill combined with aerobics gave migraineurs without aura an increased amount of beta-endorphines and their migraine became less troublesome, especially if the amount of beta-endorphines in their body was low before starting the exercise programme (2).But migraine and headache can also be triggered by exercise. Sudden and violent sports exercise can trigger migraine or migraine-like headache (3).
(1) P. S. Sandor and J. Afra, 2005. Nonpharmacologic treatment of migraine. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 9, 202-5.
(2) E. Koseoglu, A. Akboyraz, A. Soyuer and A. O. Ersoy, 2003. Aerobic exercise and plasma beta endorphin levels in patients with migrainous headache without aura. Cephalalgia. 23, 972-6.
(3) M. W. Green, 2001. A spectrum of exertional headaches. Med Clin North Am. 85, 1085-92.
The Danish Migraine Association recommends reasonable exercise commensurate with age and physical condition. Remember to warm up slowly.
Uploaded 21-10-2006
Overweight women get more migraine
We´re getting fatter and the fattest women have an extra problem – they have more migraine than slim(mer) women.27 randomly-chosen women whose BMI (body mass index, i.e. weight*weight/height) was over 35. That´s equivalent to a woman of 170 cm (5 ft. 7 in) weighing more than 100kg (220 lbs; 15 stones 10 lbs). 13 of the 27 (equivalent to 48%) had migraine. That is double the number that would be expected from the age distribution in the group. 12 of them had menstruational migraine and 10 of the women (37%) had aura. In the population as a whole, only about 5% have migraine with aura.
Even though the group was small, the numbers are so convincing that the scientists suggest that there must be a connection between production of oestrogen in the fatty tissues and migraine.
A. Horev, I. Wirguin, L. Lantsberg and G. Ifergane, 2005. A high incidence of migraine with aura among morbidly obese women. Headache 45, 936-938.
Uploaded 21-10-2006
Breathe with your diaphragm
A team of scientists from India studied the effect of propanolol compared with a special breathing exercise and relaxation (yoga-type) as preventive treatment against migraine. They had 167 patients with migraine and divided them in two equal groups. Half were given propanolol for 6 months. The other half learned to breathe using their diaphragms and were shown relaxation exercises. They were trained in this technique once a week for a month then once a month for the following 5 months.2 out of 3 patients in both groups improved with the treatment. But a year after completion of the 6 month treatment, 40% of those who had received propanolol had significantly more and worse attacks than just after the end of treatment. Those who had learned to breathe using their diaphragms and relax did not get more migraine during the next 10 months than they had just after the end of instruction. After that, a few got more migraine again. The scientists note that there were also significantly more side-effects from propanolol than from the breathing/relaxation treatment.
R. Kaushik, R. M. Kaushik, S. K. Mahajan and V. Rajesh, 2005. Biofeedback assisted diaphragmatic breathing and systematic relaxation versus propranolol in long term prophylaxis of migraine. Complementary Therapies in Medicine 13, 165-174.
Uploaded 21-10-2006