Please talk to me about your migraine triggers

[Caramel81]

I’ve started suffering with migraines regularly over the past couple of years. They are definitely migraines and not just bad headaches as I get the visual disturbances, pain on one side and just feel very weird and unwell while it’s happening. The following day I feel spaced out like I have a hangover and could sleep for 100 years.
I don’t drink alcohol or coffee. I do have chocolate every day though which I know is a bad trigger. I love the stuff and will really struggle to give it up but I know I need to try.

What are your main triggers and do you have any tips on dealing with them? Also what sort of contraception are you on and do you find it helps/hinders things?
Thanks x

Hormones, bright lights, atmospheric pressure changes (such as when we have thunder storms)

I developed migraine at the age of 15 never found a trigger so put it down to hormones as they went on for a few years then stopped. Have only a couple since, both triggered by super bright led lights. I’m in my mid forties now.

Dd used to suffer badly. It would start With face/ tongue numbing, slurred speech, extreme drowsiness, nausea, dizziness, And resulted in violent vomiting, then She would fall asleep for four hours straight. It was awful.
It started at the age of 14. Her triggers were hormones, stress and bright and strobe lighting.

Touch wood she hasn’t had one for a couple of years now so hopefully they’ve passed.

Dehydration, hunger and lack of sleep mostly. Mine have reduced massively since I retired and no longer sit in an office with florescent lighting tubes overhead.

Another one for bright lights, dehydration, pre-menstrual, stress, sleep deprivation.
(I cut out caffeine years ago because of the dehydrating effect, for the last 15 years I always wear sunglasses and visor or sunhat when outdoors from April-October. The silver lining is my lack of ageing on my face!).

Apparently chocolate is often craved when a migraine is coming on because it stimulates what the brain is lacking. So you eat it, get the migraine and think it was the chocolate.

Cheese mainly. And sleep deprivation.

OP, you should keep a migraine diary. A pattern might emerge of what is triggering you. Also you should be able to spot early warning signs - this means you can jump in with medication and usually take the sting out of the migraine, so it will not be as bad

I did read once that chocolate isnt a trigger of migraine - some people have sugar-craving when a migraine is coming on, so they eat go and chocolate and then assume the chocolate was the cause. I don't know if it is true but worth considering!

My triggers are: dehydration, big drop in blood sugar, lack of sleep and working too hard at a computer - if all 4 are present, it's a guaranteed migraine.

Hormones, stress and lack of sleep

I didn’t connect that the pill made my migraines more regular (I’ve been on a few different pills) until I came off it completely

Odd thing is I don’t alway recognise the start of one as it can be gradual but the sudden craving of really greasy food (which you are advised not to eat) and finding perfume turns my stomach and actually hurts my head to smell is when I know later in the day or next day it will be at it’s worse

Strong smells
Dehydration
Chocolate
Stress/tension
Smoke
Lights

Stress and lack of sleep for me. I rarely get visual so it's mostly the sensitivity to light and sound, severe pain, then massive fatigue after, like a pp said hangoveresque.

Lack of sleep or too much sleep.
Bright lights.
Car lights at dusk, but not in darkness, weirdly.

I am very thankful that caffeine and chocolate can head migraines off for me if I catch them soon enough. Propranalol didn't work as it made me too tired and thus mucked up my sleep.

Dehydration (easy to happen atm as I'm breast feeding and expressing).

But the one thing that is guaranteed without fail to trigger one is orange juice (interestingly I'm fine with actual oranges)??! I can usually avoid it but sometimes I'v mistakenly drank a cocktail with it in... instant regret!

Also when the sun is shining and I walk past railings it can set one off.

I've not had a migraine for years as on of my meds is also prescribed as antimigraine. I had one brewing yesterday , the only thing I can point to was my mask, I normally don't have a problem but then I don't normally wear a mask for hours at a time. The reason I think it was my mask was that when I finally took it off my vision came back to normal but I still felt odd for hours

Can I ask which meds people are on? Dh takes sumatriptan but am sure there are others he could be trying.

Originally triggered through a traumatic brain injury but now stress and ovulation week trigger them off as well

Prawns, but I avoid all shellfish just in case, it's something to do with the high vitamin E levels. I can't take super-duper high dose multivitamins for same reason. Only other trigger is being out when it's biting cold without a hat on. Occasionally nurofen (the one labelled for migraines) helps but only if I take it at the first inkling there is one on its way.

Red wine. Too much cheese. Leaving too long before eating. Stuffy, airless rooms.

Oh yes, and bright lights or confusing visuals & patterns, like Bridget Riley paintings.

Anxiety
Lack of sleep
Dark chocolate
Also, the changes in the weather

Eye strain. I had my first ever migraine at the age of 19 after spending the morning looking down a microscope at uni.

Contrary to a previous poster, my migraines got worse during pregnancy rather than better but somehow my migraines have got better since having the dc. Can count them on one hand over the last 5 years or so.

Thunderstorms are my main trigger these days. I can always tell when there’s a storm in the air!

I only have then around twice a year so hard to pinpoint triggers. I suspect it's to do with light, particularly reflected light - not had any this year which makes me think this even more.

Anyway if I get one I take propranolol, I have it prescribed for anxiety and find migraines trigger a massive wave of anxiety which exacerbates the migraine. Then it's ibuprofen with codeine, a drink and sleep it off.

I had them more often but less severely when pregnant.

The migraine buddy app is really good for recording all the details of each migraine, and helps work out if there is pattern.

My triggers are skipping meals, broken sleep and stress (this year has been full of migraines!).

Syndol is really good, and if you have any contacts in the US and you can take ibuprofen, Naproxen can also be really helpful, but it's hard to get here. They are my first line before I go to triptans. I've just started taking preventatives again.

I recently discovered a cold flannel and a glass of coke work wonders too!

Excessive fatigue, hypoglycaemia and lying on my front with my head lifted. Never found a dietary trigger.

Dehydration
Caffeine withdrawal
Lack of sleep

Summers are hilarious.

@ConcernedAboutWarrington

A protein that's in the alium family. So raw onions, garlic, chives, leeks etc. Fine when cooked.

Then a combination of dehydration, exhaustion, stress and low blood sugar.

These are my triggers too. Neurologist prescribed 900mg soluble Aspirin with Domperidone. That’s a really effective treatment for me after trying so many over the years (cafergot, Migrileve, Migril, sumatriptan, paracetamol etc) Taken as early on as possible it works very quickly especially if you use ice packs on the nape of your neck and forehead. Just wish I had known this years ago. I was admitted for IV fluids, lumbar puncture and antiemetics last year when one went on for six days; that’s when I saw a neurologist.