Cause of Migraines

My Hypothesis That Ties in Many of the Seemingly Unrelated Conditions

Migraines tend to occur along with:

Arm and shoulder pain and tingling
Visual disturbances
Nausea
Vomiting
Acid reflux
Sensitivity to light and noise
Cold hands and feet
Vertigo (a spinning sensation)
Dizziness
Ringing in the ears
Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) syndrome

The table below lists one sequence of events that I believe can trigger many instances of migraines.

Based on experiences and treatments we found in my own family, I have a hypothesis that logically may explain why these conditions occur together and some simple diet treatments that have proven helpful to my family members. The table below lists one sequence of events that I believe can trigger many instances of migraines.

A Step by Step Migraine Scenario Hypothesis from Start to Finish

1. Certain foods or events trigger an acid stomach.

 
2. An over acid stomach causes acid reflux and nausea.
 
3. The body tries to restore the proper acid-alkaline balance by releasing alkaline minerals, including magnesium, from the cells. Researchers from Germany have found that an acid load in the body may contribute to magnesium deficiencies.

 
4. As the body tries to neutralize its acid load, it uses up magnesium reserves, causing a magnesium deficiency.
 
5. Magnesium deficiency increases blood pressure.
 
6. Blood vessels in the head dilate from the increased pressure. (Coffee constricts blood vessels so it sometimes can help ease the pain of migraines, in the short term, but in the long term coffee can deplete magnesium levels.)
 
7. The increased acidity of the GI tract provides an environment that increases levels of nitric oxide in the body, as this substance thrives in an acidic environment.
 
8 Nitric oxide is lowered by magnesium. The body depletes magnesium levels even further by trying to neutralize toxic nitric oxide levels.
 
9. The decrease in magnesium leads to:
 
9a. Tight muscles, which in turn leads to conditions such as TMJ and fibromyalgia (magnesium is the main biochemical compound needed to relax muscles)
 
9b. Sensitivity to light
 
9c. Sensitivity to noise
 
9d. Multiple chemical sensitivity
 
9e. Tight muscles in the head and neck press on nerve pathways to and from the head, further restricting blood flow and causing temporary nerve problems. I believe this problem is even worse in people who already have tight muscles from conditions such as shoulders that have "frozen" in place, repetitive strain injuries, thoracic outlet syndrome, pectus excavatum, kyphosis and scoliosis.
 
9f. Pressure on the nerve pathways to the eye cause eye pain, flashes, and wavy lines around the outside of objects.
 
9g. Pressure on the nerves in the arms and shoulders cause numbness and tingling down the arm. (See my section on thoracic outlet syndrome and migraine headaches for more on this).
 
9h. The hypercoagulation of the blood and muscle pressure on the blood vessels cuts down circulation and can lead to poor circulation and cold extremities. (I used to get migraines on the left side of my head and my left hand would get cold during attacks.)
 
9i. Vertigo - A condition where a person is standing still but the brain is seeing an image like the whole room is spinning wildly out of control. I have had this occur along with the other symptoms and it can be terrifying. Vertigo also frequently occurs in conjunction with migraines and is also linked to deficiencies of magnesium.
 

If I'm correct, then this scenario provides a logical explanation for migraines and many of the seemingly unrelated conditions such as visual problems, nausea and numbness and tingling in the arms.

I think any condition that depletes magnesium such as stress or loud noises can cause migraines, but I suspect that an acid stomach is an overlooked potential trigger. I think it is why pickled foods can trigger migraines. Picked foods are usually created by soaking them in vinegar, which is an acidic food. Aged cheese are another known trigger and aged cheeses often contain cultures of beneficial bacteria that can increase stomach acidity.

The Pain Is In The Brain - migraines Discover, March, 2000 by Curtis Rist - "And it seems very, very likely that nitric oxide in the brain has some role in triggering migraines--not just in heart patients but in all patients."
 

Many of the foods and environmental factors that tend to trigger migraines (stress, salicylates, loud noises, alcohol, lack of sleep, excess dairy products, monosodium glutamate, foods with caffeine such as coffee, tea and chocolate, etc.) are also foods and environmental factors that decrease magnesium levels. Some of the others are foods that are migraine triggers are foods that increase stomach acid or contain nitrites, which I think indirectly causes magnesium loss as explained above.