Do you suffer from the occasional headache that is very annoying but you can continue to do things around work or home?

Do you ever get a headache so severe, that you think you are going to vomit or you do vomit? Your head hurts so badly that you cannot even open your eyes?

I have good news for you, if you answered 'yes' to either one of these questions.

Did your doctor ever tell you that there could be food triggers for your headaches? I went to many different doctors for several years before anyone ever mentioned to me that I could be having a reaction to the foods I was eating. Interestingly enough, food was one of the biggest triggers for my migraines!

It seemed so simple, remove these foods from my diet for 6 weeks. At the end of the six weeks, add one food per week back to my diet. I could do that, and I did. When there's a time limit, most of us can do just about anything for 6 weeks. (As a side note, it takes dairy at least 30 days to work out of your system).

At the end of the six weeks, I discovered that tomatoes were a big food trigger for the migraines and milk products caused me to hold on to weight, my body did not know how to process it.

This was nearly 10 years ago, for me, the food trigger list is still the same. Over the years I've learned ways to deal with the migraines which have diminished to the annoying type of headache, and I rarely even get those any more.

Some common food triggers for Migraines and Headaches are:

--dairy products*

--chocolate

--eggs

--citrus fruits

--meat**

--wheat (bread, pasta, etc.)

--nuts and peanuts

--tomatoes

--onions

--corn

--apples

--bananas


* Includes skim or whole cow's milk, goat's milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.

** Includes beef, pork, chicken, turkey, fish, etc.

Certain beverages and additives are also among the worst triggers, including alcoholic beverages (especially red wine), caffeinated drinks (coffee, tea, and colas), monosodium glutamate (MSG), aspartame (NutraSweet), and nitrites (in hotdogs and lunchmeats and wines).

This is only one of the first steps in the process of finding out the cause of the migraines and dealing with them. You can look for migraine food triggers in just about any search engine online.

In the meantime, if you want to wean yourself off of the pain medications and try a more natural route in dealing with the pain, you can treat your migraine without using your prescription. It takes a little longer and you may need some help the first few times you do it, but by using water to soothe you head, you can get some relief from the pain. Sounds a little strange right? Well we know that there is an inflammation in your head, which is causing you to feel so much pain. The idea is to cause inflamation elsewhere to bring the level of the headache down.

You will need:

-- a pot or bucket of very warm/hot water

-- ice pack or bag of frozen peas

-- dry towel

-- cotton socks, wet with cold water (then put in the refrigerator)

-- wool socks

-- a warm cozy bed (preferably close by)

At the onset of a migraine, it really stops you in your tracks making you not able to do anything except a huge effort to get rid of the pain! You will probably want to go lie down and sleep it off, especially that's what you've done in the past with pain medinces. In reality, when you have a migraine or even a tension headache, it doesn't go away even after 6-7 hours of sleep. This is a simple foot bath hydro-therapy treatment, that you will find soothing and helpful as you are trying to stay away from the prescription pain medications.

1. Soak your feet in the very warm water, appx 15 min. or so, or until the water cools down.

2. Put the ice pack on your head or back of your neck. (sometimes these first 2 steps is all you need)

3. Have someone bring you the cold wet socks from the fridge.

4. Take off the ice pack.

5. Take you feet out of the hot water one at a time, dry one with the towel then put on a cold wet sock, then the wool sock over the wet sock. Do the same with the opposite foot.

6. Crawl into your warm cozy bed for the night. The socks will be dry in the morning, and your headache should be soothed or gone.

In the future, for preventing migraines, because that is where we really have to look, is in the prevention. You will want to research what foods, like the ones above, trigger your headaches. What situations are you more prone to have a headache after? i.e. Dark movie theater in the middle of the day, then going into the bright sun after, after eating ice cream, Chinese or Mexican food, etc.

Think about what nutrients you may be missing in your daily diet. Are you deficient in vitamins and minerals? Are you taking any supplements at all? Are they the right supplements for your body? Do you eat enough fat? Fats help with the inflammatory and anti-inflammatory processes in your bloods cells. You may not be drinking enough water. Do you take goo care of yourself? Or do others come before taking care of you? When you feel a bit ill, do you go on with your commitments instead of resting? I cover a lot of this information on my website, so go by and take a look. You can also call me for a free 20-minute nutritional assessment consult to determine if the information I have would be able to help you. Take prevention into your own hands, your doctor can give you medicines for the pain, only you can make the decision to live a healthy life.