In addition, individuals may find relief from using cold compresses or taking over-the-counter pain relief medication as recommended by their healthcare provider. Avoiding further alcohol consumption and consuming a balanced meal to stabilize blood sugar levels can also support recovery. It’s essential to listen to the body and give it the rest and support it needs to bounce back from a migraine triggered by alcohol consumption. If migraine symptoms persist or worsen, seeking medical advice is advisable. Migraines and alcohol triggers are closely linked for many sufferers. Understanding how alcohol can impact migraine headaches is crucial for managing this condition effectively.

Distinguishing Between Alcohol-Induced Migraine Attacks and Hangover Headaches

The more congeners a drink has, the more severe your headache will be. They tend to involve a dull, persistent headache and other hangover symptoms like fatigue and dehydration. Note that to qualify as a cocktail (or delayed alcohol-induced) headache, the pain must start within three hours of drinking. 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 your headaches are only caused by post-acute withdrawal syndrome and not by other health problems, they should go away in about 6 months.

Perhaps you’ve experienced that splitting headache after a night of indulgence. Let’s delve into the world of migraine research and explore how alcohol might be a contributing factor. AlcoholAwareness.org is dedicated to providing support and resources for individuals struggling with alcohol addiction. We aim to raise awareness, offer guidance, and connect people with recovery programs to help them regain control and improve their lives. Outpatient treatment may be appropriate for people who have a strong support network and have not had an issue with alcohol for long. Alternatively, an inpatient program where you stay at a treatment center may be a good decision if you need a more structured environment.

Alcohol intake behavior

A person should try keeping a migraine diary for a few weeks or months to observe trends in their headache patterns. Always drink responsibly—which includes minimizing the chances that alcohol will affect your migraine. Current medical opinions on alcohol consumption are evolving with research, so it’s important to educate yourself on the effects of alcohol on your health. If you are struggling with alcohol abuse or other dependency issues, there are many resources that are ready to help.

• The relationship between consuming alcohol and triggering a migraine attack is highly individualized, depending on a person’s unique sensitivity threshold and the specific type of beverage consumed.
• 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.
• It’s important to note that alcohol use disorder is a serious illness that can have life-threatening consequences.
• This is concordant with dietary guidelines, recommending that if alcohol is consumed, it should be in moderation—up to 1 drink per day for women and up to 2 drinks per day for men 27.
• Dr. Starling from the Mayo Clinic talks about the benefits of keeping a diary or log and understanding triggers in the context of migraine.
• Furthermore, this study found that there was a decreased likelihood of an attack 24 to 48 hours after consumption.

People with a variant in this enzyme have issues with metabolizing alcohol and can develop total body flushing or reddening of the skin. Beth Ann Mayer is a New York-based freelance writer and content strategist who specializes in health and parenting writing. Her work has been published in Parents, Shape, and Inside Lacrosse. She is a co-founder of digital content agency Lemonseed Creative and is a graduate of Syracuse University. I also find hard liquor gives me more of hangover than when I was younger but doesn’t give as much of a headache. The only alcohol I can have is a wee bit of Irish whiskey in decaf ☕️.

Alcohol and migraine: what should we tell patients?

Ibuprofen and aspirin can help relieve headaches and pains, but you should avoid acetaminophen. Acetaminophen is toxic to the liver, compounding alcohol’s effect on the organ. When you’ve had too much fun the night before and overindulgence has caught up with you, there are treatments and home remedies for a hangover headache. The short-term effects of alcohol usually alcoholism manifest in the form of a hangover. Look for options with lower levels of triggering chemicals, like low-tannin wines. Alcohol can interact with migraine medications, potentially reducing their effectiveness or causing adverse reactions.

This knowledge equips individuals with the tools necessary to navigate social settings and enjoy alcoholic beverages responsibly while minimizing the potential impact on migraine symptoms. In primary analyses, we included any type of headache, and in sensitivity analyses, we restricted to headaches classified as likely to be a migraine headache. In all analyses, we included the calendar day when headache symptoms began as the headache day and excluded all subsequent days with the continuation of headache symptoms. In a sensitivity analysis, we further excluded all days with the initiation of headache symptoms if it was on the next calendar day following a headache day. We constructed unconditional logistic regression models with robust sandwich estimators of variance and stratified on participant and day of week as indicator terms. We estimated the odds ratio of a headache on the day following 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5+ servings Alcohol Use Disorder of alcohol compared to no intake.

For this reason, it is important to see a doctor about migraine symptoms or chronic headaches, with or without drinking. People who get hangovers that trigger a migraine may also wish to avoid alcohol with high levels of congeners. These are substances that the alcohol manufacturing process produces. Some research suggests that congeners play a role in hangovers, although factors such as inflammation also contribute. However, more recent research indicates no relationship between tension type headaches and alcohol consumption. Of the 1,547 participants, 783 said that alcohol was a trigger, and 195 were not sure.

• But as alcohol leaves your body, it may have the opposite effect and increase pain sensitivity.
• This can produce alcohol-related symptoms like slurred speech, loss of coordination, and behavioral or emotional changes.
• In a 2007 study, Austrian researchers examined a number of factors related to migraine, specifically considering consumption of alcohol and other nutritional factors the day before the onset of a headache.
• A total of 739 questionnaires were handed to students; 47 of them met the exclusion criteria, therefore 692 questionnaires were studied.
• This Diagnosis & Treatment page walks you through next steps after a diagnosis.

People who experienced migraine with alcohol were more likely to have migraine with aura and to experience more migraine days and more frequent attacks. Nausea and/or vomiting is just one of many symptoms a person living with migraine might experience. Because migraine is a highly nuanced disease, it is important to learn about all possible symptoms that may appear before, during or after a migraine attack, including less common ones such as aura. If you aren’t sure that alcohol is to blame for your headaches, try keeping a diary.

The timing of an alcohol-induced attack can vary significantly, presenting either as an immediate effect or a delayed response. An immediate trigger typically occurs within 30 minutes to three hours of consuming alcohol, suggesting a direct reaction to the beverage or its components. Alternatively, many individuals experience a delayed alcohol-induced headache, often referred to as a hangover headache, which manifests the following morning. If you notice consistent patterns, then chances are it’s the alcohol that’s causing your migraine headache.

It’s essential to note that everyone’s experience with alcohol and migraines is unique. Some of us may have a migraine episode after just a single glass of champagne, while others may not experience any adverse effects even after consuming multiple drinks. This variability is attributed to our individual genetic makeup, lifestyle factors, and the type of alcohol consumed. Another alternative for migraine sufferers is fruit-infused water, which adds a burst of natural flavor without the alcohol-induced risk of migraines. Infusing water with fruits like lemon, cucumber, or berries can create a delicious and refreshing beverage.

Dehydration headache

Ultimately, a person with migraine should consider multiple factors and know how certain key factors in alcoholic beverages play a role in their own migraine disease. Study participants reported whether they had consumed alcohol each day, and if so, how many alcoholic beverages they drank. The investigators then defined a migraine attack as one migraine day or a series of consecutive migraine days. In a 2018 study involving 2,197 people with migraine, 25% of the participants who stopped or always avoided drinking did so because alcohol triggered migraine attacks. More than a third of the participants said that alcohol had this effect, with about 78% naming red wine as the most common alcohol trigger. After consuming alcohol, individuals with migraines should be mindful of managing their symptoms effectively.