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Ever found yourself binging through a bag of snacks right before a migraine hits?
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You're not alone and you're not out of control.
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Today we unpack why food binging is often a prodrome symptom, not a failure of willpower.
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Migraine Heroes is a podcast for chronic migraine sufferers who've seen countless doctors with no
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results. Learn how to reduce your migraine attacks without endless medications or constant sacrifices.
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Hello, I'm Diane Ducarme. I've helped over 500 people break free from migraine, even after
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suffering for up to 60 years. My mission in life? To bring this relief to a million people
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using a unique blend of eastern medicine and western science.
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In this episode, you will learn how cravings and binge eating may be your brain's early migraine
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alert, not just bad habits. What western science reveals about the brain regions and hormones
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behind those urges. And how you can turn those binging moments into clues for early intervention,
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not shame. Stick around until the end because I'll share practical strategies and surprising
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early symptoms to track before your next migraine hits. So what is prodrome? The prodrome phase is
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your body's whisper before the storm. It can start hours or even days before pain shows up.
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You might feel tired, moody, thirsty, anxious, or develop intense cravings for sugar, salt, or carbs.
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And the science backs this up. A study in cephalalgia found that 38% of people with migraine reported
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strong food cravings a day before the attack, and 26% had them in the final hours. This craving
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surge is linked to change in the hypothalamus, the brain's command center for hunger, hormones,
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and circadian rhythms. Another study published in Frontiers in Neurology
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found that people with migraines reported higher rates of binge eating behavior, especially close to their attacks.
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These cravings aren't indulgence, they're neurological fire alarms. And you see, when I got started six years ago,
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one of the first women I served worked at a bank. She was a friend of a friend, and she had chronic migraines,
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meaning more than 16 days a month.
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We worked together. A few months into it,
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as her migraine attacks had sharply decreased, I was keen to connect with her to see what was going
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on in her life, and most of all, to go over her initial symptoms from the migraine assessment
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and see if her absence of migraine was mirroring those. I went through the questions of the migraine
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assessment and asked her about sugar cravings. And she said, oh, I don't eat sugar. I paused. Well,
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according to your assessment, you did mention sugar cravings. And that's when she gasped. She turned
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completely red, put her hands on her face, and she said, actually, before my period, I would drive to the gas station,
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buy all of these junk foods I never buy for my family, eat them all alone in my car,
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throw the wrappers away at the gas station, and drive back home, full of shame and pretending
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nothing happened. Then she stopped and said, no, I haven't had that in three months. That moment
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stayed with me. She had buried that behavior so deep because it did not align with how she saw
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herself, sharp, successful, in control. And yet it was one of the strongest signs that real healing
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had happened. The symptom disappeared when the deeper imbalance did. In traditional Chinese
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medicine, binge eating reflects a disruption in the spleen and liver qi. The spleen governs digestion
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and clear thinking. The liver regulates emotional flow. When either is off, the body craves comfort
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and control, often through food. Craving sweets, the body is trying to ground itself. Reaching for
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salt, the kidney system might be calling out for energy. From this lens, the binge isn't a flow.
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It's a flare, a message that something is out of tune. In the East, your doctor is paid as long
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as you're healthy. That means they help you catch these signs before the breakdown, not just patch
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you up after. As some of you know, I had a skiing accident when I was 17. I lost half of my blood,
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shrunk a kidney, and broke my femur. For reasons of contaminated blood in France that year,
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they did not transfuse me. I was really borderline. And let me tell you, something shifted, massively
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shifted. I started to experience those same binges. I gained weight, a lot of weight. I'd go on diets
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to overcompensate, only to crash and binge again. I hated it. I felt I was being pulled into something
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that didn't match who I knew I was. I wasn't weak. I wasn't lacking discipline. On all fronts of my
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life, I wasn't like that. But that binging made me feel weak. It crushed my self-esteem.
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It made me gain even more weight, which only made me feel more frustrated. But then, in 2011,
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when Dr. Jiang helped me recover and balance my body, those cravings stopped. My cycles became
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regular again, after 12 years of disruption. And for me, the most liberating change wasn't even
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the cycles. It was that the cravings had gone away. So what can you do when binging is a migraine
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warning sign? Now, if this is you, if you're listening and thinking, oh God, this craving before every
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migraine. First of all, you're not weak. You're not losing willpower. You're catching a signal.
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So what can you do, practically and powerfully, when binging is your prodrome? Let's break it down.
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Number one, track with compassion, not control. Start noticing. When does the craving hit?
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What are you reaching for? How do you feel emotionally and physically? The goal isn't
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to stop immediately. It's to recognize it early, like an emotional weather forecast.
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Just the act of noticing begins to shift the pattern. Number two, respond with nourishment.
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When your body cries out for cookies, sometimes it's really just asking for calm. Try grounding
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foods. Warm, gentle cooked meal. Think soups, root vegetables, cooked greens or warm oatmeal with
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seeds. Add some healthy fats. These soothe your nervous system and stabilize your blood sugar,
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which can also prevent migraines. Number three, create a 10-minute rescue ritual. Before grabbing
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food, just pause 10 minutes, sip warm tea, step outside, use a cool cloth, stretch. You're not
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pushing yourself. You're offering the craving a different kind of exhale. Often, that's enough to
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stop the spiral. Number four, hydrate before you evaluate. A glass of water or a little salt and
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lemon water first. Dehydration can fake hunger and it's a migraine trigger too. Number five,
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treat the craving like it's a flashing light. Once you see this as an early migraine sign,
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you can take action sooner. Pull out your early tools, magnesium, rest, blue light blockers,
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whatever works for you. Migraine Now button if you're on the Migraine Heroes app. You're now
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intervening before pain even starts. And finally, be kind to yourself. From an Eastern medicine
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perspective, this craving reflects imbalance, not identity. It's the body asking for help. The more
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balanced your system becomes, your blood sugar, your hormones, your digestion, the less the craving
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needs to scream. And remember, every small step you take moves you closer to freedom.
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You are powerful, you are resilient, and you are no longer alone. Keep rising, Migraine Hero.
