Someone explain chocolate headaches to me

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Someone explain chocolate headaches to me

17 posts & 12 voices | Started 2 years ago by littlegirlbunny | Latest reply from Onzadog

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littlegirlbunny - Member

Chocolate gives me a headache - I've only gotta eat a bit of dark chocolate and I'll wake up the next morning feeling like my head is in a vice. Drinking chocolate and chocolate cake also has the same effect.

White chocolate doesn't so I'm guessing it's in the coco.

Looking on the internet it seems that a lot of 'experts' still think a link between chocolate and headaches is questionable. It's not for me. I rarely ever get headaches otherwise, and the headaches I get from eating chocolate are like none other.

Any ideas?

Posted 2 years ago #
alexonabike - Member

As a kid i used to get a large number of headaches and the doc told me to cut out cheese, choc, and marmite?!?

Not sure what they have in common but didn't help me.

Have a look to see what links those foods.

Posted 2 years ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

Is it not a trigger for migraine type headaches?

Posted 2 years ago #
SonicTheHedgehog - Member

Chocolate is, along with many other foods, is linked with triggering migrane attacks.
Suffered a lot when I was younger with this sort of thing, but no longer thankfully!!
I'm not a doctor or quaified to give medical advice!!!

Hope this helps!

Exactly what alexonabike said!!!!

Posted 2 years ago #
littlegirlbunny - Member

Thanks for the answers

I don't get migraines and marmite definitely doesn't give me a headache (I am a marmite fiend so can be certain of that!).

I was wondering whether it was a specific chemical in the chocolate, like the theobromine or something similar...

Posted 2 years ago #
gwaelod - Member

Remember that just because you get headaches after eating chocolate it does not follow that chocolate causes the headaches - correlation is not causation.

Perhaps something else (maybe stress) causes you the headaches, and causes you to eat chocolate.

Posted 2 years ago #
Moses - Member

If I remember correctly it's the phenylethylamine and some of the more complex chemicals present in small quantities which cause the headaches, rather than the theobromine.
I get the same thing with beer. More than a pint and I get a hangover. Thankfully, cider's OK.

Posted 2 years ago #
bananaworld - Member

correlation is not causation

If only that phrase could be emblazoned across the whole of the internet, ay gwaelod? Not saying it's the case here, but it would quieten a lot of shite-spreaders.

More than a pint and I get a hangover.

Sheesh, and I thought I was a lightweight!

Posted 2 years ago #
littlegirlbunny - Member

gwaelod - Member

Remember that just because you get headaches after eating chocolate it does not follow that chocolate causes the headaches - correlation is not causation.

Perhaps something else (maybe stress) causes you the headaches, and causes you to eat chocolate.

Yes, this is very true. Fortunately I have a scientific background and have spent time assessing whether other correlations exist with the symptoms. As far as I have managed to determine, they don't. Of course, me myself and I is hardly a scientific experiment, but it's the best I've got.

Moses - Member

If I remember correctly it's the phenylethylamine and some of the more complex chemicals present in small quantities which cause the headaches, rather than the theobromine.
I get the same thing with beer. More than a pint and I get a hangover. Thankfully, cider's OK.

Now, that's interesting. Thanks for that. I haven't drank for many years (mainly because me and alcohol don't mix, or should I say, we mix a little too well..) but I used to get stonking hangovers.

Posted 2 years ago #
bananaworld - Member

The phenylethylamine piqued my interest but one very scientific bit of research later (Wikipedia, I love you) tells us that unless you're on a particular antidepressant, it's probably not that that's affecting you.

In some unscientific, untested and unreviewed original research I'd like to forward the theory that you might be deficient in the appropriate enzyme. (No offence )

Posted 2 years ago #
richmars - Member

I get migraines but also love dark chocolate so, for me, I don't think there's a link. I eat 70% dark chocolate every day but get migraines maybe once a month.
(But on migraines, I know the signs of one coming, so I can take extra strong pain killers so only feel odd for an hour or so, instead of wiped out for 12 hours. It's possible mine are not full blown migraines but still no coorelation to chocolate.)

Posted 2 years ago #
zaskar - Inactive

Everyone is different.

I used to get headaches from coffee or tea in my teens.

Maybe switch to lower strength chocolate?

How mucg are you eating in one day?

Posted 2 years ago #
Hadge - Member

Do the simple thing and don't eat chocolate and see how it goes with the headaches. It's not the end of the world giving it up and if it does stop the headaches and the agony they bring then surely it's worth it. Drink plenty of water, try not stress out on anything and you could be fine.

Posted 2 years ago #
littlegirlbunny - Member

Ah, I rarely eat it (apart from the white stuff) because of the headaches. I'm more of a sweet girl myself anyway. Someone gave me some afterdinner mint thingies for christmas and I had some night. Woke up this morning with my head feeling like it was in a vice and remembered why I don't eat chocolate too often. Few painkillers later and it's easing off.

I was just interested more than anything. It's one of life's little mysteries for me.

Posted 2 years ago #
muddydwarf - Member

Can i have the rest of the afterdinner mints please?

Posted 2 years ago #
littlegirlbunny - Member

I'm just counting my painkillers to determine if I have enough to finish them off myself

Posted 2 years ago #
Onzadog - Member

are you part dog? I know dark chocolate is really bad for dogs. Someone should have told our dog before he stole a box from under the tree!

Posted 2 years ago #

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