Whether you have lived with migraine for a few months or a few decades, you know migraine can be a challenging experience. You should continue to seek proper medical attention and access information to help alleviate the burden. Neurotransmitter modulation offers another promising mechanism of action. The anti-inflammatory mechanisms of ALA and L-carnitine are also particularly noteworthy. ALA reduces pro-inflammatory agents while promoting anti-inflammatory mediators 63, and L-carnitine suppresses pro-inflammatory cytokine production 64.
- Trying to avoid migraine triggers is one of the only surefire ways to avoid migraine symptoms.
- A “probable migraine” is a headache resembling a migraine in many aspects but lacking some specific criteria necessary for a definite migraine diagnosis.
- Our Move Against Migraine Facebook group is full of mothers with migraine who can offer encouragement and support throughout your journey.
- As you work with your doctor on next steps, it will be important to maintain access to reliable resources on migraine.
- Researchers compared the diets of 500 adults with newly diagnosed migraines to those of similarly matched healthy people, looking closely at their diets using a detailed food questionnaire.
But when it’s triggered multiple times a day and never gets balanced by “rest-and-digest” relaxation from the parasympathetic nervous system, it can lead to symptoms that have no — or negative — survival value. Not getting enough quality sleep is a significant risk factor for getting a migraine. A 2022 study found that people who had trouble sleeping were nearly four times more likely to have migraines than those who slept well. If you suffer from migraine symptoms, the first step in getting long-term relief is to identify your specific triggers.
There are also behavioral treatment options and lifestyle changes that can help. 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. Additionally, the relatively short duration of our study may not have captured long-term effects or potential changes in parameters such as stress levels.
Get trusted articles sent directly to your inbox.
Having a strong network of people who validate your experience and support you on the good days and bad is so valuable when you live with an invisible illness like migraine. If you’re interested in connecting with more people in the migraine community, we recommend joining our Facebook support group, Move Against Migraine. There, you will find a wonderful community of people who are ready to listen and lift each other up. Migraine is a disabling disease that no one should have to go through alone. It’s essential to build a support network of understanding people who can not only check in on you during an attack but also empathize with your experience.
In a 2018 study involving 2,197 people with migraine, 25% of the participants who stopped or always avoided drinking did so because alcohol triggered migraine attacks. More than a third of the participants said that alcohol had this effect, with about 78% naming red wine as the most common alcohol trigger. Research shows that people with migraine may also experience related symptoms during a hangover. Reducing or eliminating alcohol may reduce the frequency of migraine attacks. It may also help eliminate triggers that tend to co-occur with drinking, such as dehydration and sleep deprivation. Although any type of alcohol can trigger a migraine, people who experience regular migraine attacks cite red wine as the most frequent culprit.
What are Your Treatment Options?
Migraine diagnosis was based on these questionnaires and the students were not examined by a neurologist. A recall bias may be present regarding hangover symptomatology during the last year. Multivariate analysis by linear regression tested independent predictors for hangover symptoms (total HSS at last year and its sub-scales). For each test, P values less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant unless stated otherwise. Researchers aren’t yet sure what the exertion threshold is, however.
Why Alcohol Triggers Migraine Attacks:
This compound might inhibit the body’s ability to break down alcohol, leading to the buildup of a substance called acetaldehyde, which could result in headaches. Of the 1,547 participants, 783 said that alcohol was a trigger, and 195 were not sure. Although genetic factors influence the risk of having migraine, environmental triggers can cause episodes or increase their frequency. Yawning and fatigue are typical symptoms of prodrome, the first phase of a migraine attack. Other symptoms can include food cravings and difficulty concentrating.
While alcohol hangover is a common disorder,10 causing suffering and disability to millions worldwide, there is no direct way to measure it. The HSS, which was used in this study, was developed to provide a useful hangover measure, assessing multiple symptom domains, which do not rely on respondents’ subjective definitions of hangover. Assessing the percentage of drinking occasions after which hangover symptoms allows the HSS item scores to be interpreted as hangover susceptibility or proneness. Researchers compared the diets of 500 adults with newly diagnosed migraines to those of similarly matched healthy people, looking alcohol and migraine closely at their diets using a detailed food questionnaire. They found that eating plenty of vegetables, beans, and whole grains seemed to protect against migraines. Remember those elimination diets we talked about a little while ago?
Tips to Manage Your Migraine Headaches
This assessment instrument comprises three subscales—depression, anxiety, and stress—each containing seven items, totaling 21 questions. Respondents are selected from four response options for each item, ranging from 0 (indicating no applicability) to 3 (denoting high applicability). The aggregate score for each subscale spans from 0 to 21, with elevated scores signifying increased levels of mental health. To maintain consistency with the DASS-42 scale, the total score for each subscale was doubled 24. While traditional clinical trials often distinguish between primary and secondary outcomes, this study considered all pre-specified outcomes as equally important. This comprehensive approach was chosen to provide a holistic assessment of ALA and L-carnitine supplementation’s effects on migraine, recognizing the complex, multifaceted nature of the condition.
- Mocktails are easier to find these days; you can always lean on them.
- The majority of cohort studies were within the range of 3–7 points, thus receiving a high risk of bias 52, 55, 58.
- The rationale for combining ALA and L-carnitine is supported by previous research demonstrating enhanced effects when combining different supplements in migraine management.
- Recent research has increasingly focused on the potential of nutraceutical approaches in migraine management, with particular interest in compounds that may modulate inflammatory processes and neuronal excitability 5.
- If you experience migraine headaches after drinking alcohol, it may be best to avoid alcohol or that certain type of alcohol.
Yes, alcohol can disrupt sleep cycles by interfering with REM sleep and causing more frequent waking during the night. People with migraine might also feel sick, be sensitive to light, noise, smell and have other symptoms. This helps them find the best way to help you manage your migraine. But there are also other things that might help you enjoy that drink in social company, as it might help raise the threshold for the mentioned mechanisms that alcohol is known to elicit. Drinking alcohol can lead to a headache that comes later, even after the alcohol is gone.
Moreover, some of the studies included in our review do not present results in an accurate way or do so without assigning patients to specific headaches. Therefore, it was not possible for our meta-analysis to contain all those studies where drinking was described with primary headache. The ways describing alcohol consumption habits were variously presented in almost each study, therefore could develop the observed heterogeneity among migraine analysis. Also, the majority of the studies had high or moderate risk of bias. The meta-analysis showed a 1.5-lower risk of migraine in people who consume alcohol. However, migraine patients consume less alcohol for various reasons.
Lower-quality wines contain molecules known as phenolic flavonoid radicals, which may interfere with serotonin, a signaling molecule in the brain involved in migraine attacks. According to the American Migraine Foundation, internationally, about 10 percent of people with migraine report a frequent link between alcohol and headaches. In some parts of the world, that number drops to as low as 1.4 percent. One study found that alcohol contributes to migraine attacks in up to one-third of people diagnosed with the condition. However, a 2019 study found higher rates of vodka consumption among drinkers with frequent migraine attacks.
In some cases, getting treatment for sleep apnea results in fewer sleepwalking events. Most people don’t remember sleepwalking, and there is not always someone there to see it. A total of 739 questionnaires were handed to students; 47 of them met the exclusion criteria, therefore 692 questionnaires were studied.
Always drink responsibly—which includes minimizing the chances that alcohol will affect your migraine. Current medical opinions on alcohol consumption are evolving with research, so it’s important to educate yourself on the effects of alcohol on your health. If you are struggling with alcohol abuse or other dependency issues, there are many resources that are ready to help. The short answer is that while it’s possible for alcohol to cause a migraine attack, it’s often a bit more complicated.
Concurrently, L-carnitine plays a crucial role in mitochondrial energy production and exhibits antioxidant effects 36. The sample size was determined by data derived from a prior investigation examining the severity of migraine episodes 20. Utilizing a statistical power of 90% and a type I error rate of 0.05, the calculation aimed to detect a standardized effect size of 0.7.