She described them as “debilitating”.
“My vision goes, so I start to see stars, and then it starts from the outside and slowly moves in to the point where I can’t see anything,” she said on Breakfast this morning.
“And then half an hour later, the headache kicks in, and it’s just this dull, deep throb. And then the vomiting can come after that, and the nausea.”
She said it took her about three days to get over a migraine.
“You feel like your whole equilibrium is off, and it takes you those couple of days to bring yourself back.”
She was speaking after a hack for combating migraines, dubbed the “McMigraine meal”, has gone viral on social media, suggesting a Maccas feed could help ease symptoms.
It’s estimated that around 753,000 Kiwis suffer from migraines, a distinctive type of headache where the brain has issues with sensory inputs. Migraines go beyond just a headache and cause people to suffer from nausea, vomiting, and extreme sensitivity to light and sound.
And while fast food might not be great for our health in general, it turns out – according to TikTok, at least – it may help to combat migraines.
So, could a crisp Coke and salty fries be your saving grace?
Nausea, fatigue and food cravings
Epidemiologist Dr Fiona Imlach, who is co-founder of Migraine Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand, told Breakfast that a migraine attack starts a couple of days before the headache kicks in. She explained that nausea, fatigue and food cravings were some of the early warning signs.
“All those things that are happening in the brain, before your headache comes about, can set you up to crave things like this McMigraine hack.
“So when your brain starts with this migraine attack, having food cravings is really common, and it’s for sugary and salty food.
“So that’s why often people think that cheese or chocolate will trigger their migraine, but actually what’s happening is the migraine attack has already started, and your brain is in this unbalanced state, and it’s making you crave certain foods.”
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Imlach said that craving salty foods like chips means your body is likely low on sodium and is trying to correct that imbalance.
For the Coke, alongside the need for sugar, Imlach said the caffeine found inside was good at pain relief, especially paired up with drugs like paracetamol, increasing its effectiveness by about 30%.
“So, you could be reaching for that Coke for the caffeine hit, and that’s what’s been helping with your migraine attack.”
If you didn’t want to go to McDonald’s for sodium and sugar, she recommended other options to fulfil those cravings.
“If you’re craving salt or sugar, I’d probably say, maybe for the salt, if you’ve got salt cravings, maybe reach for an electrolyte drink.
“And if you’ve got sugary cravings, maybe a piece of fruit.
She said “fatty fries” were also not the best thing if you had nausea from a migraine.