Alcohol Can Trigger Headaches and Migraines

We know that if we treat the underlying cause, we can make great strides in helping migraine patients live pain-free. Yawning and fatigue are typical symptoms of prodrome, the first phase of a migraine attack. Other symptoms can include food cravings and difficulty concentrating. If you think you may have migraine, these answers to common questions can help you further investigate this possibility with a doctor. This includes being careful about the amount of alcohol you consume and paying attention to how and when your migraine symptoms flare up in relation to drinking. People who get hangovers that trigger a migraine may wish to avoid alcohol with high levels of congeners.

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No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician. Consider joining our Move Against Migraine support group on Facebook so you can connect with others who live with migraine. As you work with your doctor on next steps, it will be important to maintain access to reliable resources on migraine.

• But other drinks like sparkling wine, beer, and hard liquor may be just as likely, if not more, to cause problems.
• For menopausal women, in particular, disrupted sleep can trigger or worsen hot flashes.
• This is known as the postdrome stage and can make you feel very fatigued and ‘hungover’.
• While the results in MO and CH are in relative agreement, those in MA and TH are discordant.
• The pain is very real, but scientific evidence for the reasons behind this phenomenon is lacking.

How alcohol can disrupt our sleep and trigger migraine

It’s important to make sure that no gluten was added after the distillation process, especially if celiac disease is a factor for you. Generally, these clear alcohols are highly distilled and have almost no leftover congeners from the beginning fermentation process. While alcohol can help you feel sleepy and induce sleep, it tends to interfere with sleep in the later stages of the evening. Keep reading to learn more about the connection between migraine and headache.

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Drink plenty of water and take your usual rescue medication such as triptans or pain relief. It’s important to always check the leaflet that comes with your medication just in case it says that you should not mix it with alcohol, or ask your doctor about it when they prescribe it. Keep a record of any symptoms that occur after consuming alcohol and discuss them with your doctor. Identifying your specific food and drink triggers is a key part of any migraine prevention and treatment plan. While anyone can experience DAIH, people with migraine are more susceptible. Even a modest amount of alcohol can cause people with migraine to develop a delayed headache or trigger an attack.

If you have migraines, put down your coffee and read this

Many things can trigger a migraine, from stress at work to changes in the weather to foods like aged cheese. And for about one-third of people who have migraines, alcohol is also a trigger. In addition, drinking alcohol so you https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/essential-tremor-alcohol/ can fall asleep on a plane likely won’t even lead to good rest. Also, the researchers only assessed a moderate dose of alcohol within the study, and they didn’t examine how drinking before takeoff might change these results.

• If you experience migraine headaches after drinking alcohol, it may be best to avoid alcohol.
• Elmenhorst said the decision is yours, so long as you understand how it may be affecting your body.
• Red wine was reported to be the principal trigger of migraine, but other studies show that white wine or other drinks are more involved.
• Then again, in some groups, alcohol appears to have protective effects against headaches.
• Migraine is more common, affecting around 12% of people in the United States.
• If a headache persists or worsens, visit a doctor for an examination and treatment recommendations.

What’s the Connection Between Alcohol and Migraines?

It is crucial to take medications at the recommended times to ensure maximum effectiveness. Additionally, it is important to communicate with your doctor if you experience any adverse effects or if the medication does not seem to be working as expected. No matter what you call it—a headache journal, migraine diary, headache tracker—keeping track of your symptoms can be a versatile tool to help better manage your health. It can help you identify patterns over time and help your doctor identify if you are experiencing migraine.

• While people who have these headaches report a connection to alcohol, there’s no real consistency in how alcohol causes these headaches to develop, according to studies that have been done.
• In fact, prospective studies report a limited importance of ADs as migraine trigger.
• Making sure to drink plenty of water during and after alcohol consumption can decrease the chance of headaches.
• For example, an 8-ounce serving of coffee from Starbucks can have twice the caffeine as a similar-sized serving from a Keurig K-Cup.

What Are the Symptoms?

Migraines and their triggers are very individual – what affects one person may cause no problems for the next. Many migraine sufferers find that keeping a diary helps them identify their own personal triggers and understand their patterns of why does alcohol give me a migraine migraines better. If you find yourself struggling to stop drinking or recognize that you have symptoms of alcohol use disorder, it’s important to reach out for help. “Hydration is probably the biggest protective factor against headache.

Our Move Against Migraine support group is a place for you to connect with others (via Facebook) who live with migraine to exchange stories and find community and support. Light sensitivity is a common symptom of migraine (as is sensitivity to sounds or smells), but not everyone who has the disease will experience it. Identify other symptoms of migraine and find answers to Frequently Asked Questions to help you start the conversation about migraine with your primary care provider. I began having migraine attacks when I was a teenager, but was never properly diagnosed until I was an adult.

Like food triggers, the likelihood of a particular type of alcohol triggering a headache is probably different from person to person. If you suffer from migraines, talk with your doctor about how alcohol may affect you. Alcohol-induced migraine attacks can come on quickly after alcohol consumption, within minutes to hours. People with migraine are also more likely to experience a headache the morning after drinking.