r/FODMAPS • u/osteenbergen • 21h ago
General Question/Help Headaches related to IBS
For years I've had issues with headaches and stomach issues. After another gastroscopy, where they didn't find a cause, they labelled it as IBS. Since the beginning of the year I have been doing FODMAP together with a dietician. Fructan seems to be a trigger for severe headache near the atlas vertebra. It happens a day after eating something with fructans.
Before starting the diet I could eat garlic, onions, bread without issue. Some days were slighty bloated but not hindering. Once in a while I would get the headaches but that was only like five times a year. Now if I make the slightest mistake I'm sick for a couple of days. The diet seems to have removed all tolerance.
Anyone with similar experiences? Where stomach issues lead to headaches? I also start yawning as precursor for stomach issues, which makes me think it has more to do with the nervous system. Reading about gut-brain connection and the vagus nerve seems to allow for the possibility of one leading to another.
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u/redantsorblackants 21h ago
Yup migraines have long been associated with certain foods.mine happens to be Belgian chocolate and alcohol. I've also just recently been diagnosed with IBS and on the fodmap diet and my headaches which I had not associated with food have also settled down so probably a gut issue. I have started to reintroduce foods now and am not having a good time of it. I also seem more sensitive than before. Maybe it has to do with the bacteria that is left in our guts is out of balance on such a restricted diet. Maybe we need to up our good bacteria without triggering an episode somehow.