About 20% of patients with lupus have migraine-like headaches. The following list outlines a program designed to mitigate such headaches. This list is taken directly from a handout prepared by Dr. David Buchholz, MD.
Cheese: Avoid all cheeses except American, cream, and cottage cheese. Avoid cheese-containing foods such as pizza and macaroni-and-cheese.
Certain Dairy Products: Yogurt, sour cream, and buttermilk.
Certain other fruits: Avoid bananas, raisins, red plums, canned figs, and avocados.
Certain vegetables: Avoid lima, fava, and navy beans, and pea pods, sauerkraut, and onions.
Caffeine-containing medications: Excedrin, Anacin, etc.
The migraine prevention program may not be maximally effective until you have been on it for at least 1 month. Caffeine withdrawal may be associated with temporarily increasing headaches.
In some cases, this dietary program alone may not adequately control migraine symptoms. In such cases, avoidance of certain other medications (e.g., birth control pills) and addition of migraine-preventive medication may be advisable.
Even if you take migraine medication, you should follow this program. Without this program, migraine-preventive medication may not work to its full potential.
You should strictly follow this program until your migraine symptoms are adequately controlled. Then, you may wish to 'experiment' with an item you have been avoiding, one item at a time, so that you can assess its individual effect on your symptoms. If eating or drinking an item is associated with recurrent symptoms, you should continue avoiding that item. Dietary triggers can act 1-2 days after consumption.
Take a high-potency multivitamin daily.
David Buchholz, MD. "Migraine (Headache) Prevention Program." 2001.