Alcohol induced migraine- what alcohol? Varies in a month
I get light flash triggered Arora migraines which, if i take couple paracetamol & ibuprofen within 20mins never goes beyond that but… half a glass of wine or a cocktail can also trigger the headache only usually some hours after. I cant pin down which type of alcohol because if varies in a month ie I could drink 4 cockatils or two glasses of wine & have no effect but another day, just half glass of wine triggers it. This goes straight to headache that i cant shift for the best part of 8hrs. Has anyone experienced this or can offer any advice. Its hard to pin down what or when because its so varied.
Thank you for joining the conversation. Alcohol can be a nasty trigger for many of us, but not all. It can be difficult to track down exactly what type of alcohol is triggering the attack.
Triggers can be stackable which complicates the issue. For example if you didn't sleep well, were dehydrated, skipped a meal or two, and a storm moved in THEN you had half a glass of wine you may experience an attack. On another day you may not experience any other triggers and have four cocktails and two glasses of wine and not experience a migraine. We have an article on this that may be of interest; https://migraine.com/living-migraine/trigger-stacking and another from Migraine Canada; https://migrainecanada.org/posts/the-migraine-tree/trunk/core-skills/triggers-avoid-or-cope/#:~:text=Yes!,you%20do%20get%20an%20attack.
What makes migraine triggers more complicated is they can change over time, mine sure have!
Let me know what you think and I'm sending you pain free wishes, Nancy Harris Bonk, Patient Leader/Moderator Migraine.com Team
