In a 2019 survey of 2,197 folks with migraine, nearly 80 percent of folks reporting alcohol-induced migraine actually blamed red wine. Research from 2014 also concluded that wine — especially red wine — is a very common migraine trigger compared to other alcohols. Storms, excessive heat and changes in barometric pressure are common weather-related migraine triggers that can lead to a migraine attack.
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About 1/3 of people with migraine say dehydration is a trigger, and for some, even the slightest hint of dehydration can be the fast track to debilitating head pain. Dehydration affects the body on all levels and can cause dizziness, confusion, and can even become a medical emergency. Wine (more red than white) and other grape products have been shown to have an endothelium-dependent vaso-relaxing activity, probably via nitric oxide (NO)-mediated pathway; https://sober-home.org/sobriety-strategies-13-tips-for-staying-sober/ ethanol and resveratrol cause no relaxation [62]. Alcohol-free red wine polyphenol extract increases endothelial NO release [64]. However in vivo studies show that only the ingestion of red wine with alcohol, but not of dealcoholized red wine, provokes arterial dilatation and thus the effect of wine is due to ethanol [65]. Also oral intake of pure alcohol (at a dose corresponding to a two drink equivalent) produces significant vasodilatation in man [66].
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Alcohol can give you a headache due to its dehydrating effects, the presence of congeners and the dilation of blood vessels in the brain. MWP and BB was involved in the conception and visualization of the study. All authors have read and agreed best programs to quit drinking of 2023 to the published version of the manuscript.. As long as you don’t eat meals containing other triggers, this is one of the best things you can do. Try to stick to just a glass or two and eat enough for the food to soak up some of that alcohol.
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After using the above key terms, 1,892 articles were identified in the three databases. 511 papers were found in PubMed, 773 in Embase and 608 in Web of Science. Subsequently, 38 non-English articles, 30 animal studies, seven studies concentrating on molecular pathways to alcohol intake and 562 papers not related to our topic were removed from the remaining records.
- 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).
- Reducing or eliminating alcohol may reduce the frequency of 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.
- Reducing your alcohol intake can lower your risk for heart attack, even if you’ve been a heavy drinker in the past.
- Although, as we’ll discuss below, there are other factors that can lead to headaches no matter what form of alcohol you consume.
In fact, around 30 percent of people who experience recurrent migraines report alcohol as a trigger. Most studies point to red wine as a common headache culprit, particularly in people with migraine. These alcohol and seizures can drinking cause epilepsy or convulsions individuals commonly cite wine, especially red wine, as a migraine trigger. The short answer is that while it’s possible for alcohol to cause a migraine attack, it’s often a bit more complicated.
There’s a lot more research showing that over time, alcohol can impact heart health, including by raising the risk of heart attack. When it comes to heart health and alcohol, in general, less is more. If you do choose to drink alcohol, keep to no more than moderate intake. Acute migraine can be treated with medications such as acetaminophen or NSAIDs (such as naproxen). Triptans cause blood vessel constriction and should be avoided by people with a history of stroke, peripheral artery disease, or coronary artery disease or with multiple risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Other, newer classes of migraine medications include gepants and ditans, which are expensive and are typically reserved for people who cannot take triptans or whose migraine does not improve with 2 or more triptan medications.
The same is true if you find that some types of alcohol trigger your migraine headaches more than others. Avoiding migraine triggers is one of the only sure-fire ways to avoid migraine symptoms. Early effects of alcohol can dull sensations and have an analgesic effect, but as alcohol leaves the body it can have the opposite effect and actually increase sensitivity to pain. Some studies have reported that alcohol can trigger a migraine headache in people who are sensitive to it in as little as 30 minutes — or it could take 3 hours.
Many people confuse this with a regular hangover until the intensity of the migraine sets in. Migraine is complex, and other neurological conditions may cause migraine-like symptoms. For this reason, it is important to see a doctor about migraine symptoms or chronic headaches, with or without drinking. Headaches, including migraine, are treatable with the right combination of medication and lifestyle adjustments. Mounting evidence suggests there may be a connection between migraine and mental health. Anxiety disorders and depression are two of the most commonly reported mental illnesses among people who are diagnosed with migraine.
But while there is some older research from 2009 that shows a link between drinking alcohol with more tannins and gnarlier hangovers, there isn’t really any evidence that they can cause migraine after just a couple of glasses. Since red wine has more tannins than white wine, tannins are a commonly called-out culprit for those fateful migraine episodes. These plant chemicals give your body the green light to produce serotonin (aka the happy hormone), which can also (sadly) cause headaches in some people. The level of histamines, tannins, and sulfites in red wine may also cause headaches and migraine.
Moreover, there were significant trends of decreasing prevalence of migraine and non-migraine headache with the increasing number of alcohol units consumed [28, 31]. Over-the-counter pain relievers such as ibuprofen or acetaminophen may help ease migraine symptoms. If you have a prescription migraine medication, follow your doctor’s instructions. Be cautious with medication and avoid exceeding recommended dosages.
The ways describing alcohol consumption habits were variously presented in almost each study, therefore could develop the observed heterogeneity among migraine analysis. Also, the majority of the studies had high or moderate risk of bias. The meta-analysis showed a 1.5-lower risk of migraine in people who consume alcohol.
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]. The steps for case–control assessment are presented in Table Table55. Although alcohol has long been suspected to be a common migraine trigger, studies have been inconclusive in proving this association. If they trigger migraines look for an alternative without alcohol. So it’s best to make alcohol the single, isolated factor and journal what triggers each migraine. Whenever one comes on, jot down what you last ate, how much sleep you got, what the current environmental factors are, and anything else that may help you to find out what the cause is.
