A wide variety of substances and activities are known to trigger migraine headaches. After ruling out or diagnosing and treating sleep problems and other mechanical problems such as neck issues, the frequency of headaches can be reduced by recognizing the non-food triggers that affect you and avoiding them as much as possible.
The following are some of the things known to trigger headaches. Not everyone will be affected by each of these triggers. The list can be a useful guideline for isolating triggers and reducing them as much as possible. We suggest you discuss your theories about what triggers your headaches with your headache specialist.
Stress. Many things cause stress. We don’t think stress itself is the trigger, but rather our reaction to stress. Anxiety, worry, psychological tension, emotion changes, anger, depression are all responses to stress and can be a trigger.
Weather. Most people think that weather affects their headaches, and we have research to back that up. We think one of the factors is barometric pressure change. Before wind, rain or snow storms, the barometric pressure drops and fluctuates widely as fronts move through. Wind also triggers headaches partly because of the things that may be in the wind as it blows through but also because the wind blows in your nose and your ears and irritates the membranes and triggers a headache that way. Any big change in temperature, hot or cold, can be a trigger.
Hormones. Both men and women have hormone fluctuations, but women know about it. When a woman who has migraines becomes pregnant, her migraines are likely to do one of two things: stop or vastly improve. After the pregnancy is over, the headaches return. Headaches often start around puberty. Some women tell us they took a birth control pill or hormone replacement therapy and as soon as they got on it they started having terrible headaches and when they stopped the headaches continued. So we often see that as a trigger that starts a series of headaches that can’t be stopped simply by stopping the medicine. We also know that as you approach menopause as a woman (male menopause is a little trickier) headaches tend to get worse. After you pass menopause, they tend to dramatically improve. But if you have a hysterectomy to try to hasten the menopause, its very likely that your headaches will get dramatically worse, because surgical menopause is dramatically different than natural menopause. We don’t know exactly how to manipulate hormones to affect headaches, but we acknowledge that hormones greatly affect the occurrence of headaches.
Exercise. Exercise, such as overexertion, lifting or bending can trigger headaches.
Change of routine. Weekend migraine or vacation migraine are well known phenomena. They come about with relaxation after a time of hard work. It happens to college students and medical students after the finals are over. Shift work and changing work can also be triggers. Not getting enough sleep or sleeping in both act as powerful triggers. Any type of travel including the jostling of train, changes in cabin pressure on airplanes, and excitement can all be triggers so many patients suffer on their vacations.
Light. Light in the form of TV commercials and driving at night are big triggers. Some patients say certain video games may trigger migraines.
Humidity. Either too much or too little humidity can cause problems.
Air conditioning. Some people with migraines cannot tolerate air condition
Noise. All kinds of noise can be a trigger, especially excessive bass in a car. The kind of music doesn’t seem to matter. But when you have a headache, lots of things can trigger it to be worse. Lawn mowing and office machines may have to be muffled; knitting needles or someone chewing celery next to you can be a killer when you have a headache.
Odor. Intense penetrating odors such as paint thinner, cologne and perfume can be powerful triggers.
Low blood sugar. Low blood sugar is sometimes thought to be a trigger, but we really think this has to do with not eating regularly. Whether that results in low blood sugar or not, skipping meals or fasting can be a powerful trigger for individuals. Certain weight loss diets can in the same way be a powerful trigger.
Driving. When you’re out driving there are a number of stimuli that could trigger a headache.
Glasses. If your eyeglasses are not the right prescription they could trigger a headache. But remember that your eyes dilate during a headache so they are out of focus, you don’t want to do is be examined by tan eye doctor just before, during or after a headache.
Allergies. There is no proven direct relationship between allergies and headache as far as cause and affect. However, a number of people who experience allergies think they tend to trigger migraine.
Anesthesia. Many people will wake up after surgery with a blasting headache. Its good to let the anesthesiologist know if you have headaches and they can give you different products to put you to sleep that may not have as high a chance of resulting in a headache.
High blood pressure. Extremely high blood pressure, the kind that puts you into the emergency room, can cause headaches, but ordinary high blood pressure is usually not a problem.
Clothing. Tight clothing, shorts, and wigs can trigger headaches.
Dental problems. These can certainly give you headaches, but they are not the cause of the headache.