A while back I suffered what appeard to be a stoke. Then the Dr told us it was a series of mini mal siezures, then they told us it was the start of MS. Lucky or unlucky for me I had a terrible reaction to the medications they put me on and my husband took me to another Dr, in another town, and we found I had developed a strange case of migraines.

Now I have suffered from migraines for as long as I can remember. But I always had the "normal" type. I always knew when they were comming, the vision would tell me. Pinpoint is what the Dr's called it. Smells, sounds and light were all irritants and the pain was awful. After everyone of my children they were more frequent. But my other trigger was tomatoes. I have been allergic to tomatoes for as long as my mom can remember so I guess that was not a big deal but remember this= TOMATOE ALLERGY. It will be very important later.

So this new Dr is trying to figure out why I have this new (for me) type of migraine. One that mimics stroke symptoms. I guess that type is not common but it is known but what bothers her is the fact that neither myself or my family has ever had this before. I have had 2 MRI's, CAT scans nothing they can not find out what is wrong. So I take a medication called Topamax and as long as I take my pills, I am fine. Well not all together fine I do have problems some times and I tell her about it. It always occurs after I eat, it is a TERRIBLE taste like metal. Sometimes it is like my throat closes off I try and try to clear my throat. Sometimes I get a pain in my chest, I always get a pain that radiates up the back of my neck and the muscles get very tense and sure enough the next day I end up on my Midrins with a full blown migrain complete with pain. So what was this? What could make me have a regular migrain even taking the topamax? She didn't know and would almost laugh when I told her about the taste, telling me there was nothing she could do about that. But it was a REAL issue that I just couldn't impress upon her the connection. So I started looking at connections myself. One thing I kept finding... MSG. We try very hard to eat good but I admit there are some things I do buy. Bullions and some soup stocks for example. I make my soups but I do use these ALL the time and they are full of MSG.

 Then I came across something very interesting in my search to understand MSG and it's effects on the body and the brain.

Glutimates...These are naturally occuring in foods although some foods are higher than others. MSG is based upon the same premessis as glutimates. Personally I don't believe this makes them safe.I am not going to get into that right now, but for a good case study of messing with natural verses our attempts at making things "better" look at hydrogenated oils. Anyway back to glutimates, they are very important as they are an amino acid used by the body for  metabolism and brain function. MSG, is the sodium salt of glutamate. So there is a difference there although they (the USDA, FDA, World Health Organization and others) try to make you think it is the exact same.

Next item I found was that the FDA said it was not possible to be allergic to MSG. Impossible I thought.  I have talked to people who are almost deathly allergic to the stuff. I KNOW you can be allergic to it...... right? No everything I found put out by so called professionals says there is no way you can be allergic to it but you can be sensitive to it. Hmmm, I think this is  going to take some sluthing on my part. So I keep digging and I hit a jackpot. For me at least and maybe for some of you too.

 I found that glutimates are very high in certain foods like TOMATOES. Remember my allergy, remember my migraines, does it seem reasonable why I would be sensitive to MSG. I bet most people with MSG sensitivity are also either allergic or sesitive to tomatoes. For example on the charts for glutimate rich foods they list tomatoes, mushrooms and cheese as high. Tomatoe juice has .827mg per 8oz  3slices of tomatoe has .339 mg per serving, mushrooms have .094 mg per 1/4 cup serving and Parmesan cheese has .0047 per 2TBS. When you look at the serving sizes and the mg of glutimate per serving; tomatoes are outragously high. No other food even comes close, so it only works with tomatoes. So if you have a tomatoe sensitivity or your children do, it stands to reason they will probably have a sensitivity to MSG's too. However there is NO scientific evedence to back this up. Just my own obsevations.

 I am interested in finding exactly how MSG is made. My DH is too. Like he said, mono=single, sodium=salt, changes that glutimate cell by alot. So no matter how they claim it to be the same, there is no way it can be.

Anyway the bottom line for me is the MSG is causing me to have a migraine, even superceding the topamax. Why? I don't know yet, and I really don't know why I have become more sensitive than I ever was before. I am still hoping the Dr can find the reason for that. I do have another MRI next month in case the missed something the first couple times. So we are eliminating ALL MSG's that is tough, but we can do it. After all, we eliminated hydrogenated oils about 4 years ago, or maybe it was 5. We don't miss them at all now.