***

[J-rap]

***

Edited February 28, 2023 by J-rap

[texasmama]

Gluten can sometimes be a trigger. I have a friend who went gluten free as a result of losing weight through following the Atkins diet and discovered that her daily migraines were gone. I have them intermittently but they have decreased greatly through the use of the following (in no particular order, over the years): magnesium supplements, dietary changes (eliminating gluten and MSG) and chiropractic care. Mine are also related to hormonal changes. When I was pg with my last baby, before I knew that I was pg, I was getting daily migraines (which had never happened in my entire 20 year history of having migraines). I was all set to have a full evaluation and then discovered I was pg.

[Joanne]

For me and my boys, it's allergies. If we can take sinus/headache/allergy meds before a certain threshold, we can stave off the migraine. If not, we'd almost rather be dead.

[Impish]

Food is a trigger...mine are some of the common ones, but not all.

 

Weather. Sudden barometer changes mean I head to bed.

 

Since having RSD, my migraines have jumped dramatically, but that's not something that would apply to others :lol:

[Tammy]

nt

[Karen in CO]

I have very specific migraine triggers. Cinnamon, MSG (or any modified protien or starch think things like whey protein isolate or modified vegetable starch), corn in any form - corn meal, HFCS, corn starch, baking powder, "natural flavor" is typically derived from corn), tree nuts and soy - are my triggers. It is almost exactly 30 minutes between exposure and migraine, but it took me moving to eating just basically brown rice and fruit for a couple of weeks before my system was clean enough that I wasn't having daily migraines so I could see what was causing them.

 

I take Topamax daily to help prevent them because without it, I get migraines that I can't trace to a cause and the ones I get are more intense. I don't eat out. I fear malls that have Cinnabuns in them because cinnamon in the air will trigger a migraine. But finding my triggers has given my some small bit of control over my life. Doing a full elimination diet was really the key to helping find my triggers.

 

Imetrex quit working for me after a few years - Relpax is my new cure, but it really only works on the migraine about 60% of the time. A migraine medicine is considered effective if it works more than 40% of the time - which stinks.

Edited May 5, 2010 by Karen in CO

[LittleIzumi]

CHEESE. Cheese cheese cheese.

 

And sometimes I eat it anyway. :drool5: The headache usually goes away if it's just a little cheese. If I had a grilled cheese sandwich I would be setting myself up for a nasty migraine though.

[charlotteb]

Is she under a lot of stress or not getting enough sleep? If I have either of those problems, I'm almost sure to get a migrane.

[Tutor]

My triggers:

-lack of sleep

-stress let-down

-too much/ too little caffeine

-illness (esp. allergies or head congestion)

-monthly hormone shifts

 

My helps/ cures:

-sleep

-quiet

-darkness

-Excedrin Migraine

-cup of hot tea

-Neti Pot (to remove allergens and relieve minor congestion)

-exercise/ relaxation

-prayer/ visualization

 

I probably get a full-blown migraine once a month (maybe every other month) and they last a couple of days plus a few days of migraine hangover afterwards, but I begin sensing migraine auras/ onset warning signs once or twice a week and have to nip it in the bud with some combination of the treatments listed above.

 

ETA: I used to get full-blown migraines more often, but their frequency has decreased since I started taking B-complex supplements daily.

Edited May 5, 2010 by Tutor
see eta

[BikeBookBread]

Triggers:

Staying up too late (watching a movie, knitting, etc...straining my eyes)

Stress - these move preps aren't helping matters :glare:

Hormones - cyclical - very predictable: ovulation and a day or two after I start

Getting a massage that is too strong at the wrong time of the month

Sinus issues

 

Fixes:

Excedrin migraine + a regular Coke

Sleep + quiet in a dark, cold room

Being diligent with my neti pot, NeilMed rinse and 1 drop of tea tree oil

Badger Balm headache salve around my temples and neck

Staying cool, wearing loose clothing

when all else fails, go to McDonalds for a Quarter Pounder w/ cheese, fries and a regular Coke (strange I know, but it works)

[Leanna Tomlinson]

Triggers:

Storms

Hormones - I have to make sure I get enough sleep around my cycle.

TMJ - a mouthguard helped

crying

Cold Neck - scarves are a major part of my wardrobe. I also changed where I sit in church to keep the AC off of me.

Ceiling fans - see above

Cold Feet

Dehydration - even just mild

Low Blood Sugar

 

Cures:

Drinking throughout the day.

Staying away from processed food and sugar

Magnesium supplements - keep me from grinding my teeth

Scarves and Socks

Keep protein snacks in my purse

Hot Baths - this can cure one when I feel it coming on.

[fairfarmhand]

Fatigue is mine. And abrupt changes of lighting. Say if someone turns on a light when I've been trying to sleep in pitch dark. And I don't even want to think about strobe lighting.

[JenneinCA]

Oddly I get migraines after extreme stress stops. Not during the stress but when the stress is going away. It made it truly difficult to figure out.

[Starr]

Oddly I get migraines after extreme stress stops. Not during the stress but when the stress is going away. It made it truly difficult to figure out.

 

:iagree: An overbusy weekend and a day or two later the migraine starts. Go figure.

[alpidarkomama]

My husband's migraines are prevented by 3 things:

 

1) Eating every 2-3 hours. (He's very sensitive to lower blood sugar levels; not hypoglycemic levels, just levels around 95 or less!)

 

2) 40 minutes of vigorous exercise every single day.

 

3) Avoiding stress. (Pretty difficult with his current job, but if he is very, very attentive to #1 and #2 he can usually avoid a migraine.)

[InHisGrip]

Magnesium has made a huge difference for my sister-in-law.

[jenn-]

I have hormone and barometric migraines. Any real change in pressure will send me to bed, and I don't keep up with when my period is about to start because the migraine 2 days before gives me the heads up. Sometimes I get one at ovulation as well. So far I have been lucky to be able to get by with taking 1 Excedrin and 1 Aleve at the same time, and a dark quiet room. If it is past the point of the aura and into full blown migraine, I take those pills with a diet coke.

 

DH has stress and barometric migraines. He is able to stop his the same way as mine.

[Lara in Colo]

I'm hypoglycemic: if I don;t eat correctly and my sugar gets too low I get them.

Cure? When I start to lose my vision (usually starts with a "hole in my vision" I immediatly rub my neck, get into a dark room and drink water and eat protein.

 

Lara

[KAR120C]

Everyone I'm related to gets migraines of one kind or another, but those of us who drink coffee regularly (daily, and in some quantity) get very very few and not so severely, while those of us who abstain get them regularly and badly. And before anyone helpfully points out that coming off caffeine will give you a headache, it's not that. I've had those too and migraines are completely different. I mean years later.

 

And if I take them immediately, 2 Sudafed and 3 Advil can head it off. If I miss that window though, I'm up a creek... and I'll be out of commission for two or three days.

[Cera]

Mine are lack of adequate sleep and dehydration/hunger.

[emubird]

Well, when our neighbor burns his trash, my daughter gets a migraine. If we only had some way of getting him to stop this, short of calling the fire dept out... (It's not like what he's doing is legal.)

 

Oh, and yellow #5. Which would be easier to deal with if it were labelled as the law requires.

 

Come to think of it, if people would just obey the law, she'd be a lot healthier.

[5LittleMonkeys]

Triggers

Stress

Orange Juice and Banana (too much potassium I'm guessing)

 

Cures

Super hot washcloth (I microwave a wet cloth for about 20 seconds) with a heating pad on top of it. If I do that for about an hour, reheating the cloth as it cools, then sleep with just the heating pad on my head for about 2 to 3 hours it is either completely gone or gone enough that I can function.

[Lisa in Jax]

My family suffers from migraines. My husband had them 6 days out of 7 for 25 years, and two of my daughters suffer them nearly as often. About 6 months ago, we found a book "Heal Your Headache" which talks about migraine triggers, and it lists all the foods that are common triggers for migraines. It recommends staying off of all of them for 2 months to see what happens. It does not mean to imply that these are the only things that cause migraines, but it has the theory that food triggers mixed with other triggers brings them on. You often can't control the "others," but you CAN control diet. And maybe controlling the diet will be enough to keep them at bay. (That's the philosophy.)

 

So, my husband gave it a try and... two months later, he is almost headache free! He feels like a new person. So, we put both of our daughters on it, and it works for one but not the other.

 

The one who it does not work for has the daily migraine thing with no relief. She is 16 years old. We are seeing doctors, and they have even put her on a minor dose of calcium channel blocker to see if that might help. (It hasn't, yet.) Anyway, I so want to help her. I'm wondering if others have found unique triggers or cures that I might remove from her life (if a trigger) or try out (if it's a cure).

 

Have you tried giving her GABA for her migraines? Works like a charm for us.

 

Lisa

[Dobela]

Triggers:

hormones not properly leveled.

MSG and hydrolized anything

nitrates

fatigue

not drinking enough water

Dust mites

 

Relief:

extra sleep

1500mg Calcium a day (takes a month for this to work if I fall off and get out of habit)

excedrine migraine on rare occassions

making certain bedding is dust mite free

 

ETA: I went thru a period where we could not stop the migraines and I was about to go crazy. Finally the neurologist did an MRI or CT scan and found that I had a small amount of arthritis in my neck from a minor car accident several years before. He sent me to PT for a few weeks where they essnetially did lots of massages on my head, neck,and back. Sometimes now if I can't control migraines thru any other method I Will go have a couple of head and neck massages and they will go away.

Edited May 5, 2010 by Dobela

[J-rap]

***

Edited February 28, 2023 by J-rap

[KristenS]

My triggers are things in combination, usually. Stress will do it by itself, though.

 

Stress

Caffeine

Too much salty stuff

PMS

Weather changes (air pressure types)

 

Any of those come up at the same time, and it's look out below! So I kind of have to keep an eye on things. That said, I'm more a once-a-month major migraine type, and can usually medicate it. They came on after my last kid was born. And finding some of those triggers helped find some anxiety attack triggers, so that was a good thing.

[Mommyof4ks]

My son's trigger is bananas. As long as he does not eat them he is fine.

[TravelingChris]

My main triggers are hormones and thunderstorms. Some others that are triggers in combination are milk chocolate, cheese, salami, and a few others but they don't bother me unless in combination with some weather change or minor hormone issues. Dark chocolate isn't a problem for me.

[2cents]

My triggers are: Wheat, barometric swings, heat and bright sunlight for extended periods. If I eliminate wheat the headaches pretty much disappear. In bright sunlight and on hot days I make sure to wear dark sunglasses, hat and drink LOTs of water. There is no cure for the weather change headaches but if I can I will try to head them off by taking an aspirin early before the weather can get to me. HTH!

[Desert Rat]

At your daughter's age my migraines were triggered by hormones. By the time I was 22 or so, I didn't have as many migraines because of a combination of age and birth control pills. They flared again when I went to work full time in an office with no natural light and lots of fluorescents. I got special permission to wear sunglasses when not in the public view (filing, etc.) This helped a little but once I stayed home with my ds, they virtually disappeared. Now I get 4-6 a year, mostly stress or hormone related. I'm a bit nervous about the migraines returning during menopause, but I'll cross that bridge when we get there.

HTH

[mom2jjka]

Triggers:

lack of sleep

stress

hormones

too much screen time/eye strain

allergies

lack of caffeine

perfume or other strong smells

Mc Donald's food :tongue_smilie:

 

Helps:

sleep

caffiene

lack of sensory items (a very dark, quiet room with no scented items)

Relpax

[Aunty Social]

If you had asked me about 2 years ago, I'd have listed a lot of the same triggers that are in the other responses. Smells, improper nutrition, dehydration, hormones, etc.

 

2 years ago, I read some things on here about natural body and hair care and, being bored, decided to try them. I went no poo (baking soda to wash and vinegar to rinse), purchased natural soap, and started using oil in lieu of moisturizer. About 6 months later, I realized I hadn't had a single migraine! This is after years of getting them 2 or 3 times monthly (since I was 9 - they run in the family). After a year, I decided I'd better try using commercial products again for two reasons. First, my family is less than thrilled with their mother/wife's new "weird" habits and won't consider converting; plus, I was curious to see if the continued lack of migraines was due to my product changes or something else. The first day of using commercial shampoo and lotion I was incapacitated. I tried a couple more times (going all natural and then trying commercial) and had the same result every time.

 

All this is a very long way to say that you might want to try avoiding commercial body/beauty care products. I'm sure it won't work for everyone, because everyone has a different body chemistry. But it sure won't hurt to try! If you do decide to give it a try, go for about a month. I'm not sure how long it would take to get all traces of the commercial products out of her body.

[Aunty Social]

Say what you want about the evils of phramaceutical companies. The people who developed that little pill called Zomig have my undying devotion.

 

:lol: I feel the same way about my Imitrex. Before I got rid of my migraines, I would swear that God created migraine meds on the 8th day.....and they were VERY good!

[LindaOz]

For me and my boys, it's allergies. If we can take sinus/headache/allergy meds before a certain threshold, we can stave off the migraine. If not, we'd almost rather be dead.

 

Yes, I agree. I am becoming more and more convinced that allergies are a major trigger. Even the head nurse at our local hospital has said that migraine sufferers should take an antihistamine. My dad has suffered from migraines for as long as I can remember, but since he has been taking Claratyne over the last 18 months or so, he has hardly had any. I am seeing the same trend in myself and in my oldest dd.

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

My daughter gets them after eating take-out or boxed pizza, and boxed lasagna. She thinks it is the tomato sauce, I think it is the sodium and MSG. When she can tell one is coming, she takes a shot of expresso. and excedrin.

 

 

My 3rd child gets mild headaches from excess sodium and MSG also.

[Tap]

Trigger....chocolate at night.

 

Cure....1000mg Naproxen in one dose.