What's your Migraine Trigger?

[Twaintime]

I have suffered with nasty migraines most of my adult life, but they have been particularly bad for the past 10 years. Sumatriptan helps with most episodes but I really hate taking it – it makes me feel so drained and weird.
Apart from alcohol – which I avoid – I have never been able to identify a definite trigger. Yes, I get a migraine if I'm very stressed or sleep-deprived – but sometimes I get an absolute horror seemingly from nowhere.
Has anyone ever discovered a migraine trigger years after onset that has really helped to eliminate them? It would be amazing to turn things round with diet for example.

Bright sunlight reflecting off glass, lack of sleep, low blood sugar or not eating and being overtired, but mainly sunlight reflecting off windows.

Stress, but often mostly when the stress is over, like my body's been hanging on & then crashes.
Chocolate
Cheese
Caffeine, but sometimes that actually helps.
Bright light
Heat
Humidity
Any change in weather/air pressure
Social interactions
Being away from home
Some other thing(s?) that I haven't pinpointed yet...

None of these are guaranteed to induce migraines though & I have no idea how to tell if they will or not!

Skipping a meal is my biggest one. Don’t get the migraine immediately but a few hours later. When I realise I’ve not eaten and have some food it’s usually too late.

Too much sun

Napping in the daytime

Pot noodles

I’m sure there are more triggers I know that’s a really random list but these are definite. I guess I’m just prone to them.

Hormones (just after mid cycle)
Weather changes
My mother

Eggs

Screens for me. I can manage half an hour TV or computer use then I have to stop for hours or I get a migraine without fail.

Just started a new self-injection (Aimovig) which promises great things so fingers crossed.

My friends trigger, was cucumber.

Maybe keep a food and drink diary, also if you have one out of the blue, eating things you normally eat. Have a look at products you use, incase it's new and improved recipe/ingredient.

Stress
Too much bright sunlight

Artificial sweeteners- especially aspartame and saccharine, but I avoid them all. I’m sensitive enough that when other medication was changed and had aspartame in, 2 tablets was enough to trigger a migraine.

Lights- especially flickering, or light that is blue. Driving at night near ambulances etc is my idea of hell… or those really bright white lights people have inside sometimes!

@TheWildRumpyPumpus

Screens for me. I can manage half an hour TV or computer use then I have to stop for hours or I get a migraine without fail.

Just started a new self-injection (Aimovig) which promises great things so fingers crossed.

Yes, I’ve noticed looking at my phone (Mumsnet!!) in the small hours is not a good idea. I get insomnia so it’s tempting but probably better off reading a book.

www.newscientist.com/article/mg25333713-100-we-are-finally-beginning-to-understand-migraines-and-how-to-treat-them/amp/

This is a really good article that sums up recent research. It is behind a paywall but if you’re very interested you might get it on your local library app.

In a nutshell, it’s multi-faceted and complicated but recent research points towards beginning to fathom the roles of different physiological processes/parts of the brain/genes in migraine.

For me hormones and being on the pill caused regular migraines. I’m now on HRT and rarely get migraines - any these days tend to be triggered by light patterns, especially low late afternoon sunlight through trees. Both my youngest children (one female, one male) seem to suffer from them though, and I’m desperate to understand more so I can help them try to minimise the number they have to suffer. Interestingly they both got them at Christmas (6 year old DS on Christmas Day!)
I used to find that sometimes too much vacuuming brought one on!

@PitchImperfect

Stress, but often mostly when the stress is over, like my body's been hanging on & then crashes. Chocolate Cheese Caffeine, but sometimes that actually helps. Bright light Heat Humidity Any change in weather/air pressure Social interactions Being away from home Some other thing(s?) that I haven't pinpointed yet...

None of these are guaranteed to induce migraines though & I have no idea how to tell if they will or not!

Oh god are you me?

I mentioned garlic earlier up but actually of these...

The post stress thing (it's always after the event)
Cheese
Bright light
Humidity
Air pressure (when my ears start popping I knew the migraine is only minutes away)
Not being away from home per se but sleeping in an odd bed with a strange pillow.

Hormones (not so much nowadays!), lights, sunshine bouncing off the sink (I love my blinds), anxiety, anything more than a little bit of white chocolate or milk choc, too many of some sweets, too much strong cheese (can cope with small amounts of not-too-strong), some cleaning fluids, some perfumes and body sprays, cigarette smoke, cinammon drink, cranberry juice, alcohol (ok with 1 tsp amaretto in a cup of not-too-strong coffee), strong coffee on the wrong day, ginger, ginger in dark choc, some chutneys, delicious onion soup, strawberries (prob ok with small helping home-grown, never been sprayed for transporting here), too much black pepper.......

I am fine so far with bacon sandwiches with a drop of brown sauce and a nice mug of tea and egg and cress sandwiches and cream doughnuts. I don't have to give up everything.,

Here is a link to the Channel 5 programme mentioned earlier.

www.channel5.com/show/how-to-stop-your-migraine

Not getting enough sleep, and low winter sun. Flashing lights as well, beginning of December is usually bad as I'm not used to all the Christmas lights everywhere.

Caffeine
Dark chocolate
Beetroot
Quorn
Bananas
Sweet potatoes

Eliminating these (especially caffeine) from my diet was a game changer. It was well worth working out what triggered my migraines.

Low winter sunlight when driving
Lemonade/flavoured water
Bad posture at desk (big trigger)
Over exertion with exercise
Stress
Cold weather

Hi OP. Have you tried Candesartan as a preventative? It has worked wonders for me - reduced the frequency and severity. My main triggers are TOTM, late nights, skipping meals.

Guar gum. A few years ago I bought a nice little bottle of M and S iced coffee, drank half one day, other half the next day, migraine on day 3, went back in my mind to what I'd drunk or eaten differently and thought the only thing was the coffee. I looked at the ingredients:- milk, coffee, sugar, guar gum. The lesson is to make my own, which is cheaper. From experience, I avoid several flavours of ice cream and stick with vanilla and strawberry.
As you all say, it's the mixture of things, which you can never quite predict.
When my doctor started me on triptans some years ago it was wonderful.

DH gets silent migraines, so the auras/difficulty speaking/visual disturbances but no pain. They’re always triggered by tiredness - a couple of hours in bed when an attack comes on always sorts him out.

Having my neck at a different angle. So a different desk height, pillows on holiday, sprawling on the sofa.
Some perfumes.
Dappled light, including sun through trees, sunlight on water, fairy lights, candles.
After stress.
When dehydrated.

The neck angle and lights are the biggest triggers for me.

Sulphites ( in more than I first realised)
Skipping a meal
Much later night than usual
Dehydration
Week preceding period
Too much dairy
Msg
Bright sunlight exposure for a few hours

I take triptans but for me i take 2 ibuprofen 2 paracetamol, water, strong coffee or cola and toast / oatcakes to try and stave one from going full blown before sometimes needing to crack open the suma triptan. Frozen Peas on the back of my neck for twenty mins were a life saver when I wasn’t taking my medication during pregnancy/ breastfeeding.

Hope some of that may help OP. They’re grim

Exercise, strong wind in my face, and chocolate.

Thanks all… so many triggers, so many trigger combinations It’s such a horrible condition, feel sorry for anyone who has to deal with this.
Would be interested to know how you get on with Aimovig @TheWildRumpyPumpus I mean to ask GP about this…

Forgot about hot/cold

Cold winter air.
Humid summer air.
Sunlight at any time of the year (I have a pair of sunglasses with me at all times!)
Central heating and air conditioning can both be triggers
I get them in cars as well, especially if the heating is on in the car