Data and experience with low histamine & tyramine diet?

March 10, 2017 10:02 AM

My doctor has suggested that I try a low histamine and tyramine diet because it might help with my migraines. I'm looking for experiences and data.

From my initial searches, it doesn't look like there is any strong evidence of this type of diet helping with migraine prevention, but some people claim good personal experiences. Is there other information or studies that I am missing? Personal experiences of Mefites?

The diet looks highly restrictive, so I'd like to get more information before trying it.

posted by medusa to Health & Fitness (5 answers total)

I have suffered from vicious migraines, I did until I went to a neurologist's office in the middle of a two day migraine. There was a food trigger pamphlet and since I wrote therapeutic diets for a living at the time, I recognized the triggers for migraine were the same as for the MAOI diet. Tyramine was a major cause of my migraines. I narrowed it down to a few things that were guaranteed, and which are ubiquitous so I immediately took the low hanging fruit out. Ripe bananas, peanut butter, Stilton Bleu Cheese and dressing from it, brown beer, red wine, cultured sour cream. I can eat ripe avocado, if it is the only trigger I eat in a 24 hour period. I don't eat summer sausage, but then again, I avoid most preserved meats. Here is the anecdote:

I went to The Pub, in Salt Lake City, which is now the Desert Edge Brewery. I sat down to have a favorite meal, that I had not enjoyed in a few years. The meal consisted of a seafood salad, with bleu cheese dressing, and a San Miguel Dark, beer. I stopped in mid order. Looking at the content of the meal, with what I knew from writing diets, I suddenly realized that every time I had that meal, what followed was a catastrophic migraine. Complete with auras, and vomiting. I had the meal 4 times over 15 years. I never connected it with having a headache. I looked back at the most memorable migraine I ever had, a couple while vegetarian, lentil soup, wheat toast with butter and brewer's yeast, created an astonishing 24 hour migraine.

So, it is not difficult to avoid an overdose of tyramine rich foods. Really it is not. Not eating them is much cheaper and more healthful that taking a variety of medications to counteract them. This is if what is creating your migraines is an allergy to tyramine. I like swiss cheese, Jarlsberg Swiss has much less tyramine than Emmenthal Swiss; which has a lot. Torula yeast, used to flavor things like smoke house almonds you get on a plane, will give me an horrific headache. I had to learn that the hard way. I can drink a pint of pale ale, without consequence. So it is just picking your way through the things.

I also learned that ibuprofen takes care of my occasional headaches, since if I do end up with a headache, I have far less of the causative chemistry than I would if I were not careful.
posted by Oyéah at 11:37 AM on March 10, 2017 [3 favorites]

I've been doing a Whole30 diet for the last 22 days. I used to suffer from chronic migraines (even on Imitrex and preventatives).

It's kinda been stunning how GOOD I feel. I had one almost-migraine that I was able to knock out with some extra caffeine.
posted by heathrowga at 11:38 AM on March 10, 2017

There are actually multiple studies that have been done on the role of tyramine in migraines (here, here, here). I don't know that I would argue they are conclusive, but there is enough evidence to suggest they're somewhat related.

None of us can tell you if the tyramine diet will work for you, but if your doctor suggested you try it I would take their advice over the advice of non-medical professionals over the internet.
posted by tooloudinhere at 12:57 PM on March 10, 2017

I think it's worth a try to do a restricted eating plan, keeping in mind that it's temporary. I absolutely have food triggers for my migraines (although I also get hormone-induced migraines mid-cycle). You won't necessarily have to avoid all of those foods forever, but you will learn which foods might give you reactions. It can be a slow process, but it's worthwhile. For example, through various elimination diets (i.e. the Whole30 mentioned above, which reduced my migraines by about 75% and helped me discover triggers via re-introduction), I've learned that pineapple is a major trigger for me. I LOVE pineapple and used to eat it all the time; it took me years to make that connection because it seemed such an unlikely trigger. On the other hand, I've known since I was a child that aged meats and cheeses are triggers, but I've slowly learned that a banana a couple of times a week or a bit of peanut butter now and then is ok. Bananas and peanut butter daily are a no go. It's well worth it to me to track these things and tinker here and there so I can avoid taking a daily medication for migraines. Now I just take a medicine two or three times a month when the migraine fairy visits.
posted by katie at 1:18 PM on March 10, 2017 [2 favorites]

Here
posted by Oyéah at 3:44 PM on March 10, 2017 [1 favorite]