h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nasty, hope that you get better soon. I keep getting headaches as well but I think that they're from the amount of coffee I drink. Get well soon.

Thanks all.

I am indeed much better by now, but I guess I'll have an early night.

Nite nite Bel, take care, glad you are feeling better,

Websailor

So am I.

Nighty night all.

Goodnight, hunny. Sleep tight

I'm glad it passed by the time I got around to replying. That's never pleasant.

Bel' might be worth investing in some soluable asprin/paracetamol

that way if it happens again you can get the painkillers into your system without throwing them up.

hope you feel better, get well soon

The only thing that gives me headaches like that is ibuprofen! So be careful what you take

It seems to be oxygen that causes mine!

Bel, the fact that this happened on your day off probably means it is migraine. Migraine is caused by blood vessels in your brain expanding, and a major cause of this is relief from tension. So if you are under a lot of tension, then when the tension comes off you can get a migraine. I've probably only suffered from migraine about 15 times in my life and they were all on Friday evening, Saturday morning or on holidays.

Have a look at the Edited Entry on Migraine: A882876

Fascinating guide entry, Gnomon

I've had maybe half-a-dozen migraines in my life, and all occurred during the Christmas - New Year break. I believe they were triggered by something in rich Christmas food. Since I started cutting down on it the migraines haven't returned.

Thanks for the link, Gnomon. I'm fairly sure that mine was triggered by foodstuff. I know I've had the same symptoms once after having been out for a meal at a Chinese restaurant, so I've avoided monosodium glutamate ever since.


Today I had a look at the ingredients list at the Wasabi we sell in our shop, and it explicitly says: without monosodium glutamate, so I guess the ones I had contained the stuff. There was no list of ingredients on the package, but I binned what was left of them anyway.

Heard about this on the radio yesterday (BBC):

So called 'Wasabi' paste is popular in North American and Japanese restaurants and sushi bars, but what is exported as Wasabi paste or powder is mostly an imitation product based on horseradish, Chinese mustard and food colouring.

Jabs

I know that, Jabs. In fact, as I didn't read what was on the package, I thought it was horseradish and mustard. It must have been the original, though, because I'm neither allergic to horseradish, nor to mustard.

Mrs G isn't allergic to MSG, but the left side of her face goes numb when she eats certain Chinese food. The same thing happens to her brother. The "cocktail effect" means that you are allergic to certain ingredients in combination, even though you're not allergic to the individual ingredients.

I once worked on 'Chinese Restaurant Syndrome'. At the time I came in on the act, MSG had been discounted as a cause of the vomiting, and a bacterium, Bacillus cereus (a relative of Bacillus anthracis, which causes anthrax) was considered to be the culprit, due to production of a toxin. It was thought that the Chinese restaurateurs (sp.) habit of leaving cooked rice on the side overnight and then mixing it with a fresh batch the following day provided the ideal conditions for the bacteria to grow and produce their toxin. I only worked on it a short time, so was unable to prove this in the time.

I don't think it's the bacteria, I very rarely go to a Chinese restaurant. Lots of food you buy contains MSG, though.

Feeling better now, Bel?

Big Al, that's very interesting. I used to love Chinese takeaway, but often had a bad reaction which I later put down to MG. I remember seeing huge baskets of cooked rice stood outside the back of a Chinese restaurant, uncovered so I think you are very likely right.

Needless to say I don't frequent them any more. I cook my own which just about pass muster.

Websailor

Well, I used to grow B.cereus on boiled rice, then try to extract the toxin with an organic solvent (chloroform/methanol) because it was thought to be of low Molecular Weight. I then fractionated the extract by gel permeation chromatography and fed fractions to monkeys to see if it made them sick. I found a fraction that did so, and ascertained the M.Wt. This turned out to be the size of a tripeptide.

However, I then did the 'control' by extracting and fractionating boiled rice that hadn't been infected with the bacterium. I fed these fractions to monkeys and, much to my consternation, it still made them sick . Thats about the time that I was changed onto a new project. Frustrating really.