Digestive Wellness: Strengthen the Immune System and Prevent Disease Through Healthy Digestion, Fourth Edition (141 page)

Try L-arginine.
Arginine is an amino acid that is needed for synthesis of nitric oxide. One study found high levels of nitric oxide, while another found elevated levels in those with IC. Some women have improved by taking arginine; others haven’t. Give it a try and see if it helps you. Take 500 mg three times daily.

Try a high-dose probiotic supplement.
Much of the information on interstitial cystitis comes from people who have it. There are many reports from people
who become pain-free after taking high-dose probiotic supplements for several months. There is no published research on use of probiotics in interstitial cystitis as of yet. The main effect of probiotic bacteria is to modulate the immune system, to reduce inflammation, and to protect tissues by making small amounts of antibiotics, anti-cancer substances, and vitamins. Certainly this is a simple remedy to try. Take 100 billion CFU of mixed probiotic cultures once or twice daily.

Migraines usually begin with a throbbing pain on one side of the head, which can spread to both sides. About 60 percent of people experience symptoms 24 hours prior to the actual migraine, which include mood changes, food cravings, repetitive yawning, thirst, fluid retention, stiff neck, irritability, fatigue, numbness or tingling on one side of the body, lack of appetite, diarrhea, constipation, a feeling of coldness, lethargy, changes in vision, or seeing bright spots. These symptoms, often called an aura, may let you know a migraine is on the way; they may disappear when the headache appears or remain. Medications and other techniques work best if used at this point. Although symptoms vary from person to person, they have a consistent pattern in each individual. Migraine attacks may last from hours to days and may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light.

Migraine headaches cause periodic disruption in the lives of 28 million Americans, affecting 6 percent of men and more than 18 percent of women every year. It averages just over 10 percent of our population, making it the most prevalent neurological illness. Costs to society are $13 billion annually, which includes 157 million workdays that are lost each year. Migraines have genetic, hormonal, immune, and environmental components.

Migraines usually come on in response to a trigger. Common triggers are foods and beverages, alcohol, stress, emotions, hormone changes, medications such as estrogen therapy, visual stimuli, or changes in routine. A recent study of 494 people with migraines cited the following triggers: stress in 62 percent, weather changes in 43 percent, missing a meal in 40 percent, and bright sunlight in 38 percent. Cigarettes,
perfumes, and sexual activity also provoked migraines in some people. Other triggers are red wines, exhaustion, and monosodium glutamate (MSG). Tobacco, birth control pills, and ergotamine (a drug used to treat migraines) increase the frequency of migraines in some people.

Hormone fluctuations in women can worsen, improve, or trigger migraines. Many women experience migraines only at specific times in their menstrual cycle, from ovulation through menstruation. Birth control pills and other estrogen-containing medications are widely recognized to trigger migraines in susceptible women. When women stop taking the medications, their migraines typically disappear. When I was in my teens, I was put on birth control pills for severe menstrual cramps. I developed migraines, but when I asked my doctor if the pills could be triggering migraines he said no because the relationship wasn’t yet known. I was put through brain scans and neurological tests. When all was said and done, going off the pill stopped the migraines and I’ve never had another. Unfortunately this took several years to figure out.

Jean Munro, M.D., an English doctor who specializes in working with people with multiple chemical sensitivities, breaks migraines into four types. The first type is a classic migraine, which begins with a visual disturbance of some sort—flashing lights, blackening, or blurred vision. It usually involves one side of the head, and people often vomit. The migraine usually lasts one to three days and can be quite severe. The second type is called a common migraine and is almost identical to the first except that there is no visual warning. It begins on one side, sometimes progressing to both, and there may be vomiting. The third type is called a basilar migraine, when the blood vessels at the base of the head dilate. It can be quite frightening and often causes a panicky feeling, accompanied by a sense of doom. A generalized headache is accompanied by a pins-and-needles sensation around the mouth, nausea, and tingling hands. The fourth type, called a motor migraine, is a variation on the basilar and may be quite severe. Half the body feels weak, head pain centers around the eye, and vision is distorted.

A 2010 paper in
Headache
looked at comorbid conditions in 1,348 people with migraine: 88 percent were women; 31 percent also had irritable bowel syndrome; 15 percent also had chronic fatigue syndrome; 10 percent had fibromyalgia; 6.5 percent had interstitial cystitis; 25 percent had arthritis; 15 percent had endometriosis; 14 percent had uterine fibroids. Maltreatment in childhood was reported in 58 percent. Interestingly enough, abuse and neglect were associated with different diseases along with migraine. Emotional abuse was associated with irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, and arthritis; physical neglect was associated
with arthritis in the entire group and with uterine fibroids in women; physical abuse was associated with endometriosis.

Using medications for migraines is the standard medical approach. The main drugs to treat acute migraines are those that increase serotonin (sumatriptan, naratriptan, and zolmitriptan), opiate pain medications, and dihydroergotamine. Drugs that help prevent migraines from occurring include valproic acid, beta blockers, and methysergide. According to Alan Gaby, a prominent nutritionally oriented M.D. and the author of
Nutritional Medicine,
the most effective medications reduce frequency only by half and have significant side effects. In his book, Dr. Gaby writes, “In my experience at least two-thirds of patients who comply with an appropriate regimen of dietary modification and nutritional supplements experience a substantial reduction in, or a complete cessation of, migraine headaches.”

One common trigger of migraine headaches is dysregulated blood sugar levels: hypoglycemia, diabetes, and/or high insulin levels. It’s one of the first things that I consider, and why I always ask my clients to keep track of what they have eaten or if they have eaten prior to a migraine. If migraines appear early morning or late afternoon when glucose levels are typically lowest, hypoglycemia is a likely suspect.

Avoiding caffeine or salt can help others. One study reports that people had significant improvement on a low-fat diet. Whether the results were from eating healthier foods or from the low-fat aspect of the diet is unknown to me. Virtually any food can be a migraine trigger. Figuring out which ones can be of great personal benefit.

The relationship between food sensitivities or allergies and migraines was studied during the 1930s. In 400 people, complete or partial relief was achieved 50.8 percent to 78 percent of the time. True IgE food allergies trigger some migraines; IgG sensitivities can also play a role. Since the 1930s, many studies have been done which replicate these results. Here are a few of those studies.

Of 282 patients with migraines whom Dr. Munro studied, 100 percent had food allergies or sensitivities; more than 200 of them were sensitive to wheat and/or dairy products. Other common trigger foods were tea and coffee, oranges, apples, onions, pork, egg, and beef. Dr. Munro found that foods eaten daily provoked more reactions than chocolate, alcohol, and cheese, which are thought to be the most
common triggers. Dr. Munro also found that people who eliminated these foods from their diet and cleared their homes of environmental contaminants had the best results in prevention of migraines. Using mild household cleaners, getting rid of gas appliances, removing house plants with molds and fungus, frequent cleaning, and making a bedroom an oasis by removing carpets and curtains resulted in fewer migraines. Although these people were still exposed to smoke, perfume, and other environmental triggers outside, changing the home environment and their diets lowered their total load enough so that they became more tolerant.

In a 1979 issue of
Lancet,
E. C. Grant published a study in which 60 adults were put on a strict elimination diet for five days in an in-patient setting. They then added foods back into their diets. Migraines were triggered by wheat (78 percent of the time), orange (65 percent), eggs (45 percent), tea and coffee (40 percent each), chocolate and milk (37 percent each), beef (35 percent), corn, sugar, and yeast (33 percent each). Headache rates dropped 85 percent. A quarter of people who had high blood pressure had normalization of the hypertension.

Dr. J. Egger and colleagues put 78 children on an elimination diet that included lamb or chicken, rice or potato, banana or apple, one vegetable, water, and vitamin and calcium supplements for three to four weeks. Children who did not improve were given a second elimination diet. On the first or second diet, 88.6 percent recovered completely. Fifty-five foods provoked migraines. The most common were cow’s milk (31 percent), egg (27 percent), chocolate (25 percent), orange and wheat (24 percent each), benzoic acid (16 percent), cheese and tomato (15 percent each), tartrazine and rye (14 percent each), pork and fish (10 percent each), beef and corn (9 percent each), soy and tea (8 percent), oats, goat’s milk, and coffee (7 percent each), and peanuts (6 percent). Forty of these children participated in blinded food testing; this confirmed that food allergies provoked migraine.

John Diamond, M.D., of the Diamond Headache Clinic in Chicago, reports that foods high in amines also provoke migraines in some people. Dietary amines, which promote constriction of blood vessels, are normally broken down by enzymes, but some people with migraines have lower than normal amounts of the appropriate enzymes. The amines that provoke vasoconstriction are serotonin, tyramine, tryptamine, and dopamine. They are found in the greatest quantities in avocados, bananas, cabbage, eggplant, pineapple, plums, potatoes, tomatoes, cheese, canned fish, wine (especially red), beer, aged meats, and yeast extracts.

Nitrates, phenylethalamine, histamine, phenolic compounds, and monosodium glutamate can be triggers of migraine in certain people. Artificial sweeteners have also been implicated in migraines in some people. Aspartame (NutraSweet) was
found to trigger migraine in 8.2 percent of people by Lipton and colleagues. Others speculate about the use of sucralose (Splenda). M. E. Bigal and A. V. Krymchantowski reports one woman whose migraines were consistently triggered by sucralose. Dr. R. M. Patel suggest that it’s important for doctors to recognize sucralose as a potential trigger of migraines.

Taking oral magnesium daily can be excellent for preventing migraines. This has been well studied. Magnesium is used in more than 300 enzymatic reactions in your body. Its main role is to relax muscles, nerves, and in this case, blood vessels. Dr. E. Koseoglu and colleagues found that when given magnesium there was increased blood flow to the cortex, frontal, temporal, and insular regions of the brain. Many women have migraines triggered by menstruation. Others have reported that high levels of estrogen and progesterone decrease cellular magnesium levels and also have direct effects on smooth muscles in the brain. People with migraines often have impaired mitochondrial production; magnesium is needed for energy production. It’s also used in neurotransmitter production. Various studies report benefits of 0 to 80 percent reduction in severity and frequency of migraine with magnesium supplementation.

Riboflavin (vitamin B
₂
) was first studied for prevention of migraines in the 1940s and 1950s. More recently, 49 people with recurrent migraines were given 400 mg of vitamin B
₂
daily with breakfast for three months. The number of migraines declined by 67 percent and the severity diminished by 68 percent. Its maximum effect is reached after two or three months, so be patient and give it a good try. In another study, 55 people were given either a placebo or 400 mg of riboflavin daily. Over three months, 59 percent of the people on riboflavin improved by at least 50 percent. There were minor side effects in two people—one had diarrhea and the other had frequent urination. If you experience either of these side effects, decrease the dosage. In some people more modest doses can be effective.