# Headaches



## brokenwing (Jan 11, 2011)

Now i know this will sound crazy, but anyone get real bad headaches from using cures.  I'm highly allergic to MSG, but other then that I'm good.  A few years back i got a headache from eating chipped deer, and was wondering if it was from the tender quick.  Well tonight i finished my bacon, fried some up, and the family loved it, including me.  With in a hour, I'm so sick with a migraine its unbelievable.  It is not salty at all, i think i might be real sensitive to cures.


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## bmudd14474 (Jan 11, 2011)

How do you do with store bought cured bacon


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## les3176 (Jan 12, 2011)

It could be the salt is there alot in the cure,i know you said it didn't taste salty but that dosen't mean that there was'nt alot of salt in it.salt can cause dehydration which can lead to a migraine if you comsume too much.It could be you didn't have enough fluids that day and the cure pushed you over the edge.Or the cure raised your blood pressure and that caused your migraine.I would try the other seasonings one by one in small doses to rule them out.Its not crazy at all that this could happen,my brother is highly sensitive to salt and if he has too much he can get headaches even bloody nose.You might want to check your blood pressure too,not a bad idea.Hope this helps ya a little --LES


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## DanMcG (Jan 12, 2011)

If you think it's the salt, try curing with Cure #1  next time. A tablespoon of TQ is just under 15 grams of salt and cure per pound    The mix I use with cure#1 and salt is less then 10 grams.


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## tjohnson (Jan 12, 2011)

I've had to lower my salt intake, and if I eat too much salt, I get an instant headache and blow up like a balloon.

I was craving some ham, so I made a heaping ham sandwich.  The result was a headache and bloat.  Thought I was PMSing!!

Todd


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## bpopovitz (Jan 12, 2011)

Both Nitrates and Nitrites are also one of the biggest causes of migraines.  I had a food allergy at the age of 10 that caused migraines, luckily I outgrew it, but they were cause by any cured meat, so no lunch meats of the "processed" variety.


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## brokenwing (Jan 12, 2011)

Thank you all for the responses, ya last night my head felt like it was going to explode, i was so sick.  Now i eat store bought bacon, and dont get sick thats why im confused.  Now what ever they put in hotdogs, also gives me real bad headaches.  Im not sure if there are cure in them.  I guess im going to have to experiment.  Todd gave me a cure, so im going to try and do some buck board bacon, with that, and see what it does to me.  This is frusturating, all that work, and the damn bacon made me sick lol.


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## DanMcG (Jan 12, 2011)

brokenwing said:


> Thank you all for the responses, ya last night my head felt like it was going to explode, i was so sick.  Now i eat store bought bacon, and dont get sick
> 
> That might be a clue right there, commercial bacon is not allowed to have nitrates in it, TQ does.
> 
> thats why im confused.  Now what ever they put in hotdogs, also gives me real bad headaches. But the hot dog line blows my theory cuse they probably don't contain Nitrates Im not sure if there are cure in them.  I guess im going to have to experiment.  Todd gave me a cure, so im going to try and do some buck board bacon, with that, and see what it does to me.  This is frusturating, all that work, and the damn bacon made me sick lol.


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## the dude abides (Jan 12, 2011)

I'm seeing a big influx of "uncured" lunch meats, bacon, hot dogs, etc at my local store.  Maybe try a couple of those and see how you react.

But before anyone (myself included) steers you to start self diagnosing and playing roulette with food, maybe it'd be a good idea to see a food allergist and get some tests done.  Be sure to tell them about your theory on cure so they test for it.

Best of luck, keep us updated.


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## bpopovitz (Jan 12, 2011)

DanMcG said:


> brokenwing said:
> 
> 
> > Thank you all for the responses, ya last night my head felt like it was going to explode, i was so sick.  Now i eat store bought bacon, and dont get sick
> ...


Common hot dog ingredients:

Meat by-products and fat
Flavorings, such as salt, garlic, and paprika
Preservatives (cure) - typically sodium erythorbate and sodium nitrite


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## jirodriguez (Jan 12, 2011)

Yeah... a lot of people who are allergic to MSG are also allergic or very sensitive to nitrates. My wife gets really bad migrains and usually ends up throwing up if she eats anything with MSG in it. I feal for you Brokenwing.... it does not look like a plesant time when my wife has those migrains, best thing I can do to help is herd the kids and dogs out of the bedroom, turn out the lights, and try to keep it quiet in the house.


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## brokenwing (Jan 12, 2011)

Thanks for all the responses, im going to keep playing to get this figured out.  Im really sick tonight with a virus, and a severe headache, prolly a sinus infection.  So im going to go to the docs, and get this taken care of, and then see if it was a fluke, and im just getting sick.  But i have my doubts, cause im so sensative to things.  So once i get better, i will try the bacon one more time, if i get real sick again, then that answeres my question.


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## smokermark (Jan 13, 2011)

What essentially is happening is that those ingredients are stimulating or rather inducing the cause of your symptoms. Some people are more sensitive to the curing ingredients given their body's "makeup".

Think of it this way. In a relaxed state, a bubble enlarging and becoming less active. In a more active state, the bubble decreasing in size or less relaxed. When you introduce these ingredients it is conducive to a more "active" state. Similar to a runner in an all out sprint. When/where there is constriction in that fashion, this of coarse allows for movement but when this stimulating effect happens within you it causes more active energy at higher rates of speed than "normal". It is an over-stimulation of the nervous system resulting in your symptoms. Some of us having more sensitivity than others. It isn't surprising either that a fluctuation or change in temperature would trigger migraines along those same lines. Do you experience that at all?  Even though you may not taste saltiness, it could be that there's quite a high enough concentration of  nitrates and nitrites to bring on these symptoms. MSG's are a stimulant too as is sound. And then of coarse emotions compound the situation as a result of the pain further stimulating our system associated with the migraine. Breathing rate increases with more shallow breaths resulting in more activation, energy blockages of this active energy. And it's a natural way of the body protecting itself giving notice to halt, pause or slow up to stabilize. Too much activation!

With my mother's heart arrhythmia we also have to use caution in relation to nitrates, nitrates and sodium. Heat changes to some extent and anything that affects her blood oxygen. My ex-girlfriend is sensitive to them as well and cannot have any MSG's whatsoever. She has all but given up on dining out eating Asian foods as many of them use MSG's in the preparation. Even if, they make something for her without including it because some of it must be exposed to the food through the pans, ETC. It doesn't necessarily take that much at all for these type ingredients to cause a number of irregularities. It takes quite a bit for me personally but I have experienced migraines myself from them and salt also affects my breathing in relation to my sinuses that contributes to headaches.

This is what I'm familiar with though my understanding is limited. I might suggest jotting down notes in a diary all the things you eat for awhile so as to identify different things that may be causing your migraines as symptoms arise that could later be shared with your physician. It could be that you are consuming MSG's through some of those foods you're eating but that they aren't being explicitly labeled as such. 

Here's some more info. that may be helpful.

http://www.migraineheadachesymptoms.info/msg.html


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