Alcohol and migraine: Drinks to avoid, remedies, and more

can alcohol cause migraines

The UK Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines are designed to help all adults keep the health risks from drinking alcohol to a low level. The principal substances of the alcoholic drinks thought to be involved in headache provoked by alcoholic drinks https://ecosoberhouse.com/ are successively discussed. No differences (but data was not shown) were reported in another population study [31], and in a small study where, however, some bias is present, that is different periods of evaluation, controls with medical illnesses, etc [32].

can alcohol cause migraines

Other alcohol-related headaches

  • Often, alcohol-induced headaches also have characteristics that resemble your usual headaches, whether they are migraines, cluster headaches, or tension headaches.
  • Recent studies show that migraine patients consume less alcohol than controls.
  • One of the six case–control studies was assessed as having a high risk of bias [49], two a low risk of bias [50, 62] and three a moderate bias risk [53, 54, 61].
  • Few and often only descriptive studies exist on this topic, with marked differences in the percentage of consumers perhaps depending on the country habits [19, 24, 26, 31–33] (Table 2).

In fact, to deny the beneficial effect of a low dose of alcohol in a wide number of people, who can also have a higher risk of cardiovascular disease like migraine patients [74, 75], is not medically appropriate. The meta-analysis showed a 1.5-lower risk of migraine in people who consume alcohol. However, migraine patients can alcohol cause migraines consume less alcohol for various reasons. Therefore, patients with primary headache need to determine for themselves the association between alcohol and headache without any myths and influences. The results of our meta-analysis are that there is a lack of a relationship between the risk of TTH and alcohol consumption.

can alcohol cause migraines

How to avoid or treat alcohol-related headaches

  • 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.
  • What’s curious about caffeine (as in coffee and some teas and sodas), is that it can serve as a migraine trigger in some, while helping relieve attacks in others.
  • A migraine is headache with other symptoms such as sensitivity to light and sound, nausea, vomiting, aura and more.
  • 2021 research also linked lifestyle factors with alcohol drinking and smoking to cluster headaches and their severity.
  • As many migraine sufferers can attest to, sometimes it just takes one glass of wine or even a sip.

While migraine thankfully does not affect fertility, it can complicate conversations about family planning and infertility treatments. Learn more about the relationship between migraine and family planning. My prescriptions generally go to the pharmacy and not the liquor store. But there are a few secrets to consuming alcohol without the alcohol-induced headache. If a headache persists or worsens, visit a doctor for an examination and treatment recommendations.

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can alcohol cause migraines

Try to eat some fruits, herbs, and vegetables that are helpful for alcohol-induced headache recovery. Mango, thyme, ginger, and asparagus are known to contain helpful properties for this purpose. On the other hand, there are many foods such as dried fruits, chips, raisins, soy sauce, pickles and juice fruits containing concentration of sulphites even ten times higher than that of wine. As long as you don’t eat meals containing other triggers, this is one of the best things you can do.

can alcohol cause migraines

Recent studies show that alcohol acts as a trigger at least occasionally in a percentage similar to that of the previous studies (37%), but as a frequent/consistent trigger in only 10% of the patients [22,24]. Curiously, in some countries, the percentages of alcohol or wine as migraine triggers were negligible, 6.1 [25] and 1.4% [26], perhaps depending on the degree of alcohol habits. Generally, the studies on alcohol-induced headache have not carried out the distinction between the immediate and delayed alcohol-induced headache, which in migraine patients can be partially artificial and difficult to perform [8]. Some studies report that alcohol provokes headache within 30 min to 3 h; principally the red wine [9–11].

can alcohol cause migraines

Coping with this disorder means understanding your triggers and what you can do to prevent attacks. Talk to your doctor about steps you can take to live well with migraine. What’s curious about caffeine (as in coffee and some teas and sodas), is that it can serve as a migraine trigger in some, while helping relieve attacks in others. Fluctuations in caffeine levels affect the dilation of blood vessels, which can cause headaches. Most of what we do know about dietary triggers comes from patient reports, and as noted, they vary a great deal from person to person. Though there’s evidence that certain foods can bring on attacks, more high-quality research is needed to confirm these links.

Availability of data and materials

Additionally, there were cases [56, 57] where division was based on never, current or past drinking. More accurate calculation with amount and various types of alcohol was also conducted in studies [26, 27, 45, 54]. Only few studies [46, 48–50, 52] provided the data about the period in which alcohol drinking was considered and measured. Nineteen studies used questionnaire methods to assess drinking [36, 44–59, 61, 62]. In two cases, questionnaires were supplemented by medical interviews [53, 61].

  • Sometimes, migraines don’t plague patients until the next morning, just as their blood-alcohol content level is back to normal.
  • White wine and sparkling wines have not been shown to have the same effect on headache.
  • Curiously, in some countries, the percentages of alcohol or wine as migraine triggers were negligible, 6.1 [25] and 1.4% [26], perhaps depending on the degree of alcohol habits.
  • Depending on your unique triggers, it’s possible that your diet could be contributing to your head pain.
  • Always drink responsibly—which includes minimizing the chances that alcohol will affect your migraine.
  • Most of the females had regular menstrual cycles (247/419, 58.9%).
  • Much like food triggers for migraine, people may have a higher sensitivity to certain organic components commonly found in alcoholic drinks.
  • Then, 142 conference abstracts, 100 reviews, four book chapters and 42 unretrieved studies were not taken into further consideration.
  • Talk to your doctor about steps you can take to live well with migraine.