Chocolate Three Ways: Migraineur’s Hot Fudge, Blondies and Chocolate Mousse

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I’m a bit late getting posts out this weekend. It’s been one of those weeks. Actually a couple of weeks. We’ve been suffering through a series of migraines. It’s exhausting for Stuart to have them every other day. As for me, it’s a struggle to figure out what is causing them so we can stop the migraines. It took a while, but we finally determined the offending food item and have stopped consuming it. Ta da! The migraine beast is back on its leash.

The migraines were caused by food that had been grown in contaminated soil. Food security is a complicated component of the migraine puzzle. I’ll discuss the science in future blog posts. For now let’s get back to something more enjoyable, chocolate.

One of the challenges I faced as a step-parent was creating a unique birthday tradition for the boys. It needed to be different from the bio-parent’s celebration, but familiar enough to be fun. I went for cake, chocolate of course. Keep on reading!

Chocolate is not a Migraine Trigger and may be Preventative Medicine

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Hard to believe, but we are two months into our journey to tame the migraine beast. If you’ve been playing along at home we’ve covered a lot of ground over the past eight weeks. So let’s start with a recap, then we’ll treat ourselves with some chocolate. Yes, you heard me right, chocolate, because my friends, there is no scientific reason or evidence that chocolate is a migraine trigger. Keep on reading!

Migraineur’s Lament of Hidden MSG

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According to the International Classification of Headache Disorders, 3rd edition, MSG, the abbreviation for monosodium glutamate, is defined as a causative agent of headaches. Unfortunately, the most recent review of the scientific studies on humans found no correlation between MSG and headaches. The authors believe that the relatively few number of studies, only 10, combined some poor experimental design means that further research is needed to determine if MSG causes headaches.

Well that’s good, because just about every migraineur will tell you that MSG is a trigger. Keep on reading!

Picture of if looks could kill

Don’t Poke the Beast

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If you’ve been playing along at home, congratulations on a month of living preservative free. It’s a huge first step on the road to managing the complexity of migraine triggers. The simple lifestyle changes that you’ve committed to have started to stop feeding the migraine beast. Keep on reading!

The Dark Side of Nitric Oxide

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The importance of the nitric oxide pathway in human physiology came about with the discovery in the 1980s that it was the primary mechanism for dilation of blood vessels, vasodilation. Up until then, nitric oxide was a gaseous pollutant, a by product of industrial activity. Please don’t confuse nitric oxide, with nitrous oxide, or more commonly known as “laughing gas”. They are two very different substances; so for the rest of this post I’m going to use the official abbreviation NO when I refer to nitric oxide so you don’t think about laughing gas.

Keep on reading!

Reverse Engineering the Problem

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I learned about migraines by living with someone who had them. A lot. The beast was unpredictable, striking indiscriminately and with a catastrophic force that was unwarranted. I tried to help as best I could; giving space, cutting up apples or banana to help with the nausea, back massages as needed. All the while wishing Stuart would feel better. Keep on reading!