Craving chocolate ‘may be warning’ one crippling condition will strike

A sudden craving for chocolate might be more than just your sweet tooth kicking in; it could be an early warning sign a crippling migraine is about to start. Neurologist Dr Michal Modestowicz says his medical cannabis ‘Releaf Clinic‘ has been analysing migraines after seeing encouraging changes among patients being monitored for the condition.

Dr Modestowicz says there needs to be a better understanding of the symptoms migraine patients experience, including some of the less obvious signs that an attack may be developing. One such sign could be a sudden craving for chocolate – with the neurologist saying chocolate is among a number of foods traditionally associated with a migraine, alongside certain cheeses and red wine.

However, there is still a question over whether chocolate actually triggers an attack, or whether craving it can be part of the migraine itself.

Dr Modestowicz said: “Often patients will say, ‘I had some chocolate and then I developed a migraine’.

“But then we’re not sure whether it’s the chocolate that actually caused the migraine or whether a migraine would happen one way or another, and the migraine actually caused craving for chocolate.”

In other words, he claims what you thought was a trigger could actually have been a warning sign.

The advice comes ahead of Migraine Awareness Week, which runs from the 21st – 27th September and aims to challenge the idea that migraine is simply a “bad headache”.

Around 10 million people in the UK live with migraine, according to the NHS, and attacks can last from four hours to three days.

For Owen Mayes, a care worker from Reading, they can wipe him out for even longer. He told the Express: “I could quite easily lose a day to the migraine and a day to the after effects.”

Owen first experienced migraines in his twenties but over time they became increasingly frequent and around 18 months ago, he was suffering roughly once a week.

He added: “It felt almost like flipping a switch. White noise would set in, followed by a sudden onset of tinnitus—an intense, overwhelmingly loud ringing from within.”

Then comes what Owen describes as an “intense squeezing of the skull”.

It makes him feel nauseous, lose his balance and see “little sparks” or “visual light worms”. At its worst, the room can feel as though it is spinning and he has vomited during attacks.

Dr Modestowicz said while an everyday headache can be associated with factors such as stress, dehydration, overworking or poor posture, a migraine tends to look quite different.

The neurologist explained: “The pain intensity is described as moderate to severe. It’s often on one side of your head, so either left or right, often around the temple or forehead. The pain is often described as throbbing or pulsating.”

Other symptoms can include sensitivity to light, sound and smell, as well as nausea and sometimes vomiting.

For Owen, strong smells have become such a problem that he sometimes has to move away from people wearing certain fragrances.

It happened recently when he was in a work meeting and began to feel a migraine coming on. He suspected something worn by the man sitting beside him, whether aftershave, deodorant, shampoo or soap, was behind it.

“I said, ‘Sorry, I’m going to have to sit over here’,” he recalled. “Whatever you’re wearing has kicked this off, and I’m going to get a migraine.”

It’s something Dr Modestowicz has also encountered among patients, with some reporting strong perfumes or fragranced detergents in connection with their migraines.

Some people with migraine also experience aura, which can cause symptoms including flickering or kaleidoscope-like vision, numbness and pins and needles, or problems with speech. In rarer cases, Dr Modestowicz said it can cause weakness on one side of the body.

Explaining when head pain should alert you to an urgent medical condition, Dr Modestowicz said one of the biggest red flags is a very severe headache that arrives suddenly.

He said: “We call this thunderclap headache”, adding it can potentially be a sign of bleeding in the brain.

A headache that becomes worse when coughing, straining or bending down should also be checked, as should one accompanied by a high fever or feeling generally very unwell.

Weakness, numbness or problems with speech can happen with a migraine, but can also be symptoms of more serious conditions, including a stroke, so new or unexplained symptoms shouldn’t simply be assumed to be a migraine.

For anyone experiencing recurring headaches but unsure what’s happening, Owen’s advice is straightforward: start taking notes.

“Write down exactly what the symptoms are, and it doesn’t matter how strange,” he said.

“If you can create a timeline of your symptoms and say, ‘10 minutes later I felt this, and half an hour later I felt that,’ the more information you’ve got to take to your doctor, the better.”

Owen knows how easy it can be to gradually accept worsening symptoms as normal.

“If you have a problem, and its difficulty level or its regularity of occurrence increases slowly, you kind of get used to that, and sort of put up with it,” he said.

For Owen, seeking specialist support eventually led him to Releaf. He says the biggest difference has been being able to carry on with his day when an attack strikes.

Releaf’s study of migraine patients receiving medical prescribed treatment from them found 71.7% recorded lower pain scores between their first and most recent assessments, while 41.4% achieved a clinically meaningful improvement.

Owen said: “It means that I haven’t got to go to bed and hide under the covers with my earplugs in.”

He says he also feels the difference after an attack: “The next day I don’t feel washed out. I feel bright and happy and sparky. I’m my usual self.”

For more information, visit https://releaf.co.uk/