# Oh my gosh... beets and worst headache of my life!!!



## therunbunch

Can beets really cause migraines???

I stopped at my favorite little vegetable stand today and picked up some beets for the first time. Came home, boiled 2 of them.. then ate them for lunch. Less than 20 minutes later I have THE worst headache I've ever had. I've been in nearly unbearable pain for over an hour. What can I do?????? I was reading online about beets causing headaches but TWO?? They were small!!! I took an Exedrin Migrain and I'm praying it helps. It hurts SO BAD!:stars:


----------



## chickenista

I know that I cannot eat beets at all.
Thry don't cause a headache, but they make me vomit.
They taste so wonderful, but my body rejects all that sugar.
I am sorry about your head..
Drink lots and lots of water and eat some cinnamon as well to maybe level out your blood sugar, if that is what is causing your migraine.


----------



## therunbunch

Thank you.. going now. Oh my word.. I may never touch another beet again


----------



## cmtigger

Never had a headache from beets- but different people can have different triggers. I do know that my worst headaches, I can't even keep meds down, much less post online. I have injectable migraine meds for those. (too many ER or Urgent Care trips)

Did the weather suddenly change? If this is really unusual, you may want to contact the doctor, it might not be related to the beets.


----------



## Shamrock

You know, it's really hard to prove cause and efect. It might just be a coincidence.

shamrock


----------



## jessepona

It might be the beets, or it might be something else entirely. You might try beets just once more and see if you get a headache. If you do, you can be more certain there is a causal effect between beets and headaches for you. 

LOL this reminds me of a quote from Mark Twain- 
&#8220;The cat, having sat upon a hot stove lid, will not sit upon a hot stove lid again. But he won't sit upon a cold stove lid, either.&#8221;

You might end up avoiding beets for you whole life for no reason... but if you do test the beets again, you might end up with an awful headache. I guess the question is... how much do you want to eat beets?


----------



## julieq

That's a new one. For me it's mold, which leads to asthma and/or allergy attack and if I don't nip it in the bud then I sometimes end up with a migraine.


----------



## sunshinytraci

My family has eaten lots of beets - they are so easy to grow here. We have never suffered any ill effects other than maybe a stained shirt. Jessepona is right - you're going to have to test them again a time or two to be certain.


----------



## therunbunch

I think I will test them MAYBE once more. But let me ask this... I only ate 2.. and they weren't super huge.. like the size of clementines... but (TMI ALERT!!!!) my urine is red as koolaid. That's why I'm relating them to the headaches. The headaches started very soon after ingesting them and was completely out of control. I drank a LOT of water, took the excedrin migraine, and then ate (about an hour or so after the beets) again (leftover baked stuffed zucchini). I also rested in bed for about 45 minutes. All that seemed to lull the headache some. My head still hurts and my urine is still red. So stinkin' odd!!! I MIGHT try the beets again (LOVE the canned/jarred versions) but definitely not anytime soon. :/


----------



## HilltopDaisy

I'm so lucky; I discovered about 15 years ago the chocolate gives me headaches. Beets, no.


----------



## therunbunch

Chocolate??? Oh my word. That's definitely a worse situation than mine! lol


----------



## snowshoehair

You may have a particular sensitivity to beets for them to cause the headache...or it was just time for a migraine? 

Either way, they will do that to your urine


----------



## cmtigger

therunbunch said:


> but (TMI ALERT!!!!) my urine is red as koolaid.


Very normal. And your poop will be magenta too. It should happen with the canned versions too. if you have no problems with the canned ones, I doubt the beets caused the headache. It probably was just time for a bad migraine as others have said.


----------



## motdaugrnds

I think I would ask the man at the vege stand if he had sprayed insecticide on his garden....


----------



## Barleychown

For me, if beets cause colored urine I know I'm not producing enough stomach acid. I'm not saying this is true for everyone, but you may want to read about others who use beets as a stomach acid test. 

They've never been a migraine trigger for me. Most often, its either MSG or the weather. 

Hope you are feeling better soon!


----------



## Grandmotherbear

Chocolate causes migraines for me with blidness and projectile vomiting. If the beets were not grown organically there is a chance you are reacting to an insecticide, fungicide, chemical- heck maybe even sulfites, which are used to keep produce looking nice and fresh. If I were you- but I'm not- if the beets tasted good going down I would wait a month a month and try 1 slice of a CANNED beet. Cooking changes food chemstry, a canned beet has been cooked at a higher temp and under higher pressures than your homecooking can aspire to. If 1 slice of CANNED beet is followed by a headache, yep, you're allergic.
Don't forget that caffiene is good for migraines. 
Definition of a migraine- a headache that is so bad you feel like you might die, and you're afraid you won't.
Good luck with it.


----------



## checkitnice

Beets have nitrates in them, nitrates are a huge trigger for migraines. There is a large correlation there.

I'm sorry. Migraines are no fun at all!


----------



## mommathea

Grandmotherbear said:


> Cooking changes food chemstry, a canned beet has been cooked at a higher temp and under higher pressures than your homecooking can aspire to.


This is true. I am deathly allergic to raw pineapple. If I even touch the outside of a whole one, or the juices/meat, and sometimes just being near one will set me into a horrible allergic reaction with the last time I should have gone to the ER.
But I can touch, handle and even eat it if it is canned. Doesn't bother me a bit.


----------



## Sumer

Worst migraine I ever had was from smelling something. I never did identify it... was checking out the condition of a recently vacated apartment that had not been cleaned yet... so it could have been anything that set it off and I was the only one affected by it.

It had me laying down ready to vomit within an hour & all we could dig up for aspirin was cold medicine but it did take it away pretty quickly.

I just never knew that smell would trigger migraines.


----------



## Cashs Cowgirl

My son does the same with peaches, nectarines and cherries. He can eat them canned or cooked, but raw...nope. Makes his face itch where he's had contact and his throat itch.

I'd try them again canned...then a month or so later cooked yourself. Just eat a small portion though. If you're allergic, you'll know it after you eat a little of it.


----------



## cmtigger

Yes, some vegetables have nitrates, but they don't behave in the body the same way as nitrates used as preservatives in meat. I have issues with nitrates in meats and red wine being triggers, but not in veggies. Strange, I know.

Cooking pineapple "kills" the enzyme that most people are allergic to, it also breaks down some proteins. (I've got a mild allergy to it- my tongue swells) It doesn't have to be pressure cooked- in fact pineapple doesn't need to be pressure cooked, like beets do, to be canned. Of course I have an apple allergy that defies the rules about being able to eat cooked fruit- I still swell up. (most people can eat cooked fruit if they are allergic to the raw form)


----------



## therunbunch

Well, here's one for you.. I've never eaten anything but the canned/jarred beets. This was the first time I've had one like from a garden. The lady gardens organically and I buy from her every week. I boiled the beets for 45 minutes or so, pulled the skins off, sliced and ate them. They tasted kinda like potatoes.. which I thought was good. Maybe I prepared them wrong???? (in which case i probably deserved what I got.)


----------



## Grandmotherbear

They should've tasted sweet. Sounds like you cooked em to death! BUUUTTT....cooking them that way may;ve saved your life. A migraine startes with a blood pressure spike followed by an immediate drop. Just maybe, had you only briefly steamed them, a much higher spike MAY have happened, leading to TIA or even stroke.

My suggestion? Go back to canned /jarred beets.


----------



## cmtigger

Grandmotherbear said:


> They should've tasted sweet. Sounds like you cooked em to death! BUUUTTT....cooking them that way may;ve saved your life. A migraine startes with a blood pressure spike followed by an immediate drop. Just maybe, had you only briefly steamed them, a much higher spike MAY have happened, leading to TIA or even stroke.
> 
> My suggestion? Go back to canned /jarred beets.


The blood pressure thing is what was thought decades ago- new research has shown that it isn't the cause. (they can see into the brain better now) They still aren't entirely sure. I do know that if severe migraines caused strokes, I would have had several in my life. (when I get a bad migraine, I can't type, I can't move, I can't even look at a screen because it hurts too much. Usually I'm throwing up, and barely manage to give myself a shot to stop it. Occasionally I have to manage to call somebody to take me to the ER.)( more recent research http://headacheandmigrainenews.com/what-is-migraine-the-scientific-story/ ) I think that one of the reasons that they thought they were connected with strokes at one point, is because anurisyms cause such severe headaches too.

And to the OP- beets usually have a sweet, earthy taste. I doubt the cooking was overdoing it, since I sometimes have to cook them that long to have them cooked through. Boiling does not change their composition any more than pressure canning does. Probably just beets without a lot of flavor, it happens. I'm not supposed to eat them, but it's from kidney stones, not migraines. I still do sometimes since I love the flavor. Just not as often as I once did.


----------



## City Bound

I am thinking pestisides also.


----------



## kishgun

therunbunch said:


> Can beets really cause migraines???
> 
> I stopped at my favorite little vegetable stand today and picked up some beets for the first time. Came home, boiled 2 of them.. then ate them for lunch. Less than 20 minutes later I have THE worst headache I've ever had. I've been in nearly unbearable pain for over an hour. What can I do?????? I was reading online about beets causing headaches but TWO?? They were small!!! I took an Exedrin Migrain and I'm praying it helps. It hurts SO BAD!🌠


Hi, I have noticed the same just by drinking even half a spoon of beet root powder juice - just curious.....


----------



## snowlady

Isn’t MSG made with beets? Maybe a different kind of beet though... MSG is a huge migraine trigger. For me, it is smells and I don’t know until it’s too late.


----------



## SLFarmMI

There are all sorts of things that can trigger a migraine. For my son's doctor, it was mustard. For my son, one of his triggers is if the barometer is below 29.82 (why that's the magic number I don't know). For me, hydration levels is one. 

The best thing you could do is to keep a headache journal. Every day, list what time you got up, when you go to bed, everything you eat or drink, the weather, if you had a headache, its duration and severity. That helps to pinpoint what you can tolerate and what you should avoid. We would never have known about the barometric pressure being a trigger for my son without it.


----------



## emdeengee

Do you have a nitrate sensitivity? Beets and other veggies such a potatoes and spinach have a lot of nitrates in them and this often causes headaches - basically an allergic reaction. Nitrates are used in many prepared foods including meats such as hot dogs to enhance flavour and preserve the food. I used to get a headache when I ate a hot dog but gave them up 45 years ago.


----------



## MichaelZ

Headaches makes me think toxins. You might try a different source of beets in a smaller quantity and see what happens. I once got terrible headaches because my cutting board had leftover dishsoap and some got on my chopped peppers. Beets are fine by me however.


----------



## ork3707

It's does me the same way. I have tried off and on in very small amount. The powder version and the beets itself if I remember right. I thought I use to eat them as a kid. But, the last 5 to 10 years It hits me so hard too. I normally do not get headaches whatso ever, but those beets (yes)> I been searching for an answer because of its benefits... but like you said it is so strong I have to lay down to it wear down or out of system by sleep.


----------

