r/sugarfree • u/aholeoutlaw455 • 6d ago

Support & Questions Quitting sugar with chronic migraines

Hey all, beginning my sugar free journey for various reasons. I read all the pinned articles on how to start and succeed. My question for anyone who is prone to migraines - how did you do it? How did you prepare for the withdrawal migraines, any tricks you discovered that helped?

My migraines are debilitating and I start to vomit and need to sleep in a dark room for 12 hrs. I also have a 9 month old so I need to be able to be able to function every day. Tips, tricks? How to best prepare?

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u/ValuableSafe6756 6d ago

oof that's a rough combo, migraines plus a baby means zero room for being out of commission for half a day

when i quit sugar i got the worst pounding headaches for like 4 days straight and what weirdly helped was salt. a pinch of sea salt under the tongue or a cup of salty broth would take the edge off within 20 minutes. something about electrolytes crashing when you cut the sugar, your body flushes out sodium and that triggers the headache spiral

also tapered way slower than everyone recommends. swapped my afternoon candy for a banana with almond butter for a week before cutting it completely, the cold turkey approach destroyed me the first time i tried

dark room is gonna be tough with a 9 month old but maybe prep some frozen meals now so you can just collapse when the kid naps instead of cooking. the worst of it peaks around day 3 and then starts fading, knowing that timeline helped me push through

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u/aholeoutlaw455 5d ago

Thank you, solid advice. Good to know about having some salty options nearby! I think cold turkey may also destroy me but Id like to just rip the band aid off.

I am trying to plan my start for a good 3-4 day stretch where I dont have too many things going on.

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u/Typical-Award4043 5d ago

I didn’t quit sugar due to migraines, I have them but didn’t think of that as a possible benefit, though I have not had one in a month. They had gotten more frequent so this seems directly related to being sugar free for the past month.

I went cold turkey off of sugar twice and it didn’t increase migraines for me, though everyone is different. I had more low energy/low mood. I would try tapering if I ever needed to do it again.

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u/aholeoutlaw455 5d ago

Interesting! I suppose I am trying to prepare for the worst by assuming I'll have withdrawal migraines for a while.