Migraine: Does guests residing in our colon have a role to play?

A lot of us experience migraine at some point in our life. At one moment, we are fine & the very next moment you face a severe headache. The pain is all-consuming & is often accompanied by nausea & sensitivity to light & sound. This can leave you perplexed & impacts your daily normal activities. Besides, carrying such a severe headache makes it difficult for you to work & socialise. For some, this peculiar problem of migraine can last for days. Every person experiences varied symptoms when it comes to migraine. So how does this happen?What is the solution to overcome this headache? For some a restful sleep gives a bit of respite. However do you think medication is the way out?

We will discuss the basic reason why we suffer from migraine in the following paragraphs.

Lot of healthcare professionals have found that dietary choices may be responsible for this headache. In a recent development, nitric oxide is claimed to be responsible for migraine development.

For decades, people suffering from heart diseases have been prescribed various drugs including nitric supplements. In fact, nitric supplements when consumed convert into nitric oxide(NO) that is used to relieve them of blood pressure. It facilitates slower blood flow through vein & arteries that helps people experiencing heart issues. In fact, nitric oxide is also used by athletes to optimise their workout performance. However any such medications or supplements have side effects.Production of Nitric oxide( by consumption of Nitrate supplements) can result in onset of migraine development. However a lot of people, who neither were suffering heart problems nor were athletes, suffered from migraine due to increased nitric oxide production in spite of the fact that they did not consume nitric supplements. Could diet be the reason for this?

Nitrates are normally found in processed foods such as processed meat & salami. Combined in a salt formula, sodium nitrate is commonly used to preserve meats. These nitrate preservatives are said to be the main reason for the onset of migraine. Consumption of such foods loaded with preservatives can increase the production of nitric oxide & lead to migraine & severe headache. When healthcare professionals conducted a detailed study to find out correlation between gut microbiome & migraine, they found that individuals suffering from migraines showed high levels of gut bacteria that contribute to increased production of nitric oxide.

The fact that our gut microbiome is connected with our brain (Gut-Brain Axis) through the Vagus nerve, there exists, complex, symbiotic & interconnected relationship between various body systems. Either by communicating with the brain through the vagus nerve or production of various neurotransmitters, our gut microbiome plays a vital role in our neuro health. Most of us to reduce the pain through migraine linked headaches generally resort to medications, drugs & antibiotics which further amplifies gut microbiome imbalance. Optimising your gut microbiome consumption by altering your diet( doing away with processed meats) & including probiotics in your diet, can go a long way in overcoming this painful headache.

Consumption of such nitrate molecules( or protein) through processed meat can result in release of ammonia gas which can be pro-inflammatory, can directly damage your gut lining & result in onset of chronic diseases such as IBD.

Learning about gut bacteria can help you eliminate the risk of bloating & inflammation that occurs through nitrate consumption.Take our gut intelligence assessment here & fix up free discovery call to know more.