I have always lived in Atlanta and I remember getting head aches all the time. Now that I think about it and it may have been what I found out a few years ago. This is as much as a thought or an offering that if you know anyone that does get migraines then tell them this story or guide them here.

Twenty years ago I began having migraines. I was self employed and enjoying the single life. My business was going well but it may have been the stress related to a busy career.

One day at the office I was holding a can of coke in my hand and it slipped out of my hand and I didn't notice. An employee of mine told me it had fallen and I said oops!. He said seems to be a possible stroke maybe we need to go to the hospital. Bummer and away we went.

A few hours at Piedmont Hospital in the City of Atlanta I was informed that what was happening to me was the result of a migraine headache. Ugh a what I asked and they referred me to a specialist at Piedmont.

Numbness in the back of the neck, radiating to the arms and back. My headaches gave mne the tingling and numbness down my left arm.

I would get a headaches that would last for days. I used to get two types of headaches before I knew about migraines. One no pain yet trouble with my arm. Control and grip as well as a tingling sensation. Then the old sunlight or lights hurt me so bad I thought for years if I could just stick a tiny nail in the corner of my skull it may help the pain go away.

The next day I made an appointment with this doctor and this is what he checked. Once the standard heart rate and blood pressure was finished he continued to measure the distance from my nose to my cheek bone. Then my elbows onto my shoulders and so on. Apparently he thought that some had migraines because of a bone mashing on a artery and thus restricting the amount of blood to the brain and this would cause a migraine.

A half an hour later and he concluded that I had not any bones that were suppressing blood to my brain. Awesome news.

The doctor asked me if I was allergic to anything and I I said nope and he gave me some pills and I went home. As I left he instructed me and I am telling you to instruct anyone that you know that ever gets a migraine to do the following.

Keep a journal of anything and everything you consume. Gum, cokes, hamburgers, candy, cheese, chips alcohol just list it all and mark down the time you eat and then the time you get a migraine. I admit this almost gives you a migraine trying to do this but I wrote everything down.

Two weeks later I returned for a visit and I handed him my journal. Yes sir he said to me. Classic. You lied to me.

No I didn't I told him firmly.

You are allergic to MSG!.

What is that. A food enhancer. he said to me.

He and I went over the list together.

MSG monosodium glutamate. 100% MSG related migraines. He gave a prescription for more pills and I forget what they were but lots of pills.

This was about 19 years ago. The first year I ate a hundred pills or so as I checked my diet.

I read the ingredients on everything I mean everything I consume.

Wendy's I do not even turn my car around at a Wendy's restaurant for the past nineteen years. I eat one of their wonderful juicy burgers and I have a migraine within two hours.

Doritos chips ugh its migraine time. I had taken a small bag with me to lunch for a snack and as I got ready to eat the first one I read the ingredients and saw monosodium glutamate. Threw them away. I'll add those to my list of No-No's.

Chinese Restaurant if you like this food you must ask the manager if they use MSG if they say yes then never ever go back to that one. Search out one that doesn't use MSG. The Chinese restaurants that don't are happy to you tell you. They want your business.

Last summer at a party and we were grilling out steaks. The bottle of meat tenderizer was on the table and I snatched it up and read it. Nicely spelled out monosodium glutamate I thought well darn. Set my dish down and had a hot dog.

MSG, a synthetic flavor enhancer added to savory foods, can cause numbness, rapid heartbeat, tingling, dizziness, and migraine headaches in sensitive individuals.

Some meat tenderiser has MSG in some of the bottles I had in my refrigerator.

Bottled bacon bits has it in them.

Anytime since then if I eat out I always ask if this is real bacon bits or bottled. I explain then I joke to them that I don't care except if I get a migraine I'll well anyway some places scoop the plate right out from in front of me.

Years ago at happy hours at a bar the little cup of dip for the celery and or carrotsmore bad news. I almost gave up rum over that one.

Diet cokes give me a migraine.

I also get migraines from being around lots and lots of cardboard boxes. This is a strange one but in my business we pack things in boxes. Some boxes are small and some are large. The large boxes I would in the late afternoon waiting on the trucks lay down on top of a stack of new boxes. Sometimes after work I got a migraine.

Well at a Fondue restaurant I was sitting in the wait area for a table and thought I was going to pass out. I got up and walked outside and a few minutes later I felt better and I went back inside and sat back down. Ten minutes later the same thing and I told my date I must be allergic to something in here. Lets go.

That fondue restaurant uses a peanut based oil in their fondue's. Another glitch for me. Years later I went to Dante's Down the Hatch in Buckhead..AKA Atlanta no problems. They use a different type of fondue liquid.

Beef Jerky is loaded with MSG.

I haven't had a migraine in ten years. I eat all types of foods and snacks but the one thing to tell anyone you know about this story is to read read read the ingredients. If in doubt don't eat it. Do not eat anything that contains MSG or monosodium glutamate. Check everything.

The one key is the journal. This will let you log everything down and if you can't read the labels learn what is causing the food problems.

This story will save migraine sufferers a lot of money going to the doctor. This will also help a whole lot of people stop having those horrible headaches. MSG or monosodium glutamate is bad news.

Rubbing your temples or sitting with your arms and or elbows pressing against a table or desk or something also will reduce of blood flow to your brain. If you sit for long periods of time just move around or uncross your legs from time to time. This will also reduce a chance of a migraine.

I hope this helps people.

Thank you