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. Whether alcohol acts as a trigger is really a case-by-case basis for people Substance abuse with migraine. For some people, it could be the amount of alcohol consumed that triggers an attack.

Botox for Migraine: What You Need to Know About This Preventive Treatment

Congeners can also include chemicals like histamine, which can trigger migraine attacks and headaches. ADs have been reported to trigger the principal types https://noncv.com/18939/ of primary headaches. While the results in MO and CH are in relative agreement, those in MA and TH are discordant. However, if the role of ADs in triggering MA and TH will be confirmed, a common trigger site should be considered.

Do you have tips for enjoying alcohol without triggering an attack? Share a tip with the community.

They should talk to a medical provider about these triggers in order to minimize their headaches. There were a total of 2990 embedded missing days (2990/46,820, 6.4%) resulting in 43,830 days (90 for each individual) eligible for analysis. Migraine days why does alcohol give me a headache after the first day of attack (3665 migraine days) were removed from the models, leading to a dataset with 40,165 diary entries. A total of 32,911 complete cases including 4679 migraine attacks were analyzed. However, a 2019 study found higher rates of vodka consumption among drinkers with frequent migraine attacks.

• Mango, thyme, ginger, and asparagus are known to contain helpful properties for this purpose.
• Some people think a combination of alcohol and other factors triggers their migraine headaches — for instance, the combination of alcohol and stress or alcohol and low blood sugar.
• Avoid alcoholic and sugary drinks when you have migraine, especially during an attack.
• Genes that play a role in opioid, serotonin, and dopamine systems also influence alcohol sensitivity.
• No matter what you call it—a headache journal, migraine diary, headache tracker—keeping track of your symptoms can be a versatile tool to help better manage your health.

What are the Side Effects of A Hangover?

When you drink, alcohol interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, affecting how your brain processes information. This disruption can lead to changes in mood, behavior, and coordination, often seen as the immediate effects of drinking. Over time, chronic alcohol consumption can cause more permanent changes, leading to difficulties in learning and memory retention. Opting for top-shelf brands, sticking to one type of alcohol, alternating with water and food, and knowing your limits are all strategies that can help minimize the chances of developing a headache.

• Seeking professional medical guidance is important for safe withdrawal management.
• Continuing to drink may exacerbate the migraine and prolong your discomfort.
• This process removes congeners, which means that these drinks are less likely to trigger migraine attacks.
• Males should aim to drink two or fewer drinks daily, and females should aim to drink one or fewer.

Study selection

As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. If a headache persists or worsens, visit a doctor for an examination and treatment recommendations. Individuals from different ethnic backgrounds may have variable sensitivity to alcohol. Although most in the medical and scientific community look at migraine as a condition and are unsure of why it happens, at the National Headache Institute, we believe that migraine is a symptom, not a unique condition. Beth Ann Mayer is a New York-based freelance writer and content strategist who specializes in health and parenting writing.

She is a co-founder of digital content agency Lemonseed Creative and is a graduate of Syracuse University. If you’re a chronic migraineur who has decided to have a drink or two, a safe bet is leaving it at that. Resveratrol is a plant compound that may have some health benefits, like lowering blood pressure, though more research is needed. Individuals gave consent to their anonymized data being collected and analyzed for research purposes by agreeing to the Curelator Inc. Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.27 The Biomedical Research Alliance of New York (BRANY) IRB granted full waiver from informed consent on 10 October 2019. Participants who registered to use the platform through physician referral, or via the website or the App Store, between October 2014 and March 2018 were eligible.

Alcohol intake behavior

Darker liquors such as brandy, dark rum, and whiskey contain more congeners than lighter liquors like gin and vodka, so they may be more likely to cause a migraine. Secondly, brain receptors may also influence the brain’s reaction to alcohol. People may have individual differences in these receptors, which could explain why alcohol triggers migraines in some but not others. Drinking water alongside alcohol can help mitigate the dehydration effect and might reduce the likelihood of a migraine attack. Alcohol — especially dark drinks such as red wine and whiskey — contain chemicals known as congeners, which can set off migraines for some of us. If you develop a cocktail headache, stop drinking alcohol and go somewhere you can rest comfortably.

Alcohol as a Migraine Trigger

Some studies report that alcohol provokes headache within 30 min to 3 h; principally the red wine 9–11. Others consider an evaluation period of 6 12 or 24 h 13, while some affirm that headaches appear frequently the next morning/day 10, 14. For instance, many people with migraine report ‌they cannot drink red wine.