Tyramine and Migraine - in combination with dropping levels of Oestrogen

I've decided to give my posts titles from now on.  Please be aware that I'm not medically trained but I'm 'medically interested'.  My personal experience of debilitating migraine pain is my spur, from that I research subjects around this condition, that could maybe, shed some light on what is going on in my body.  What I'm discovering is that there is a lot of confusion about the disease which at times, results in conflicting advice.  In essence migraine is not fully understood, especially its interconnectedness with the hypothalamus.  

I was reading a lot this weekend about Tyramine and its effect on migraine.  The more I read the more I realised how ill I am at the moment.  Even reading the names of food stuffs and smells that I know I'm particularly sensitive to, can cause my head to throb.

Reading about brain chemicals can be quite daunting, as the material very quickly becomes complex.  Things like that don't confuse me however, because I can disregard 'bulk' writing on a subject and concentrate on the salient points.  This makes me a kind of detective for the truth.

Tyramine is not difficult to understand, its basically associated with FERMENTING or DECAYING food.  It causes the classic 'cheese effect' in that its closely associated with being a trigger for migraine.  (That's why things like cheese, alcohol and soya products are totally out of the question for me at the present time.  I only have to smell soy sauce and my head throbs.)

But as I read more on the subject, I discovered the real reason this food chemical is linked to migraine is because of its effect on HISTAMINE and DOPAMINE that can be stimulated and/or released as a result of additional chemical combinations.

I already knew brain histamine was probably causing my problems and that's why I take the anti-inflammatory herb Feverfew every day.

Personally, I would highly recommend Feverfew, as it's made an enormous difference to my life in terms of pain management.  Trouble is, last month I stopped taking certain drugs and I drank alcohol, and I think my Feverfew dose of 100mg a day just couldn't cope with so many changes.

Now, this is where migraine research can become mind-boggling, so I'm going to be succinct.

Serotonin Controls Histamine and Dopamine

Fact is, there is no need to read every singe article produced in medical journals around the world to understand that HISTAMINE and DOPAMINE do cause migraine if they're imbalanced and the thing that balances them is SEROTONIN.

Tyramine sensitivity and Oestrogen

Serotonin in turn is controlled by the sex hormones oestrogen (and testosterone).

Now my Oestrogen levels last month dropped very dramatically, basically because I stopped taking HRT.  I did this because my doctor told me HRT causes strokes and two of his patients had suffered small strokes.  In truth he frightened me, so as the cycle drew to a close, I just stopped taking HRT in anticipation of the headache.  This resulted inadvertently in the worst migraine of my entire life!

Interestingly, my migraine's are always preceded by an episode of constipation.  Bowel movements and migraine are often linked but I never understood why.  Well, now I do, it turns out that Serotonin also has an effect on the peristalsis of your GI tract.

Basically, my Oestrogen levels dropped, in turn so did my serotonin, hence the constipation which led, eventually (3 days later), to my massive migraine attack.

This would indicate that its not HRT that's giving me migraine but simply a lessening of the sex hormone with age, which drops dramatically to way too low, before menstruation.

Once I understood this, I started to take my HRT again and low and behold, the very last remnants of my awful headache have disappeared.  My mood and energy levels have also increased.  I've been taking HRT again now for 3 days.  

to be continued.......