Migraine

I am a 45-year old male; my migraines began when I was about seven, peaked between the ages of 17-30, and have only become relatively manageable over the past 10 years with the use of Imitrex. Prior to Imitrex, I had tried everything that everyone with migraines tries, including acupuncture, herbals, every drug known to man, etc.

My food triggers include: alchohol (any kind, but especially red wine), chocolate, coconut, bananas, certain meat tenderizers (Lone Star), and certain kinds of nuts (I can get away with some peanuts, which I love, but if I eat too many I'm in trouble). Obviously I avoid these foods. I do not have any food allergies. I stopped using any caffeine 15 years ago, which was an improvement because I was having rebound headaches from taking so much Excedrin (like 10 a day).

I do not have any allergies, and have been tested on multiple occasions. I do have a certain amount of stress (don't we all), but I'm generally pretty upbeat, exercise regularly, enjoy my work, love my life, so I'm hardly the most stressed-out guy I know.

The triggers I can't beat are all related to weather/environment. Fall is my worst time of year, followed by Spring (in the Philadelphia area). I think the reason is obvious, considering the following:

1. Weather transitions are a trigger. While the weather is stable--either sunny OR rainy for a period of days--I'm okay. It's the transition into a storm that I can almost always predict with my head. But there does seem to be some connection to the rate of the weather transition, IOW, how fast the front is moving. I've concluded that this must be connected to changes in barometric pressure. I don't think it's connected to humidity, because humidity in general, at any level, does not seem to be a trigger for me.

2. Cool wind, or anything blowing directly in my face including air conditioning or a fan is a trigger. I drive a convertible; here's an observation. If I drive on a hot summer afternoon with the top and windows down--lots of air--no trigger. But if I drive later that same night and the air has cooled into the low 70s/upper 60s, it's a guaranteed migraine.

3. On the opposite end, sitting in a room that's overly warm (like at my Dad's house--he turns his heat up way too high in the winter) is a trigger. But I can sit on a beach all day in 90 degrees during the summer and feel great. Also, sitting right near a fireplace is bad for me. So it's something about dry heat?? Cigarette smoke is also an instant trigger--one of my worst--but I'm not sure if this is connect to the smoke, or the smell, or what.

4. If I fly anywhere in an airplane, I'll have a migraine within an hour of landing, and I'll have steady migraines for the next few days until I settle into the climate where I'm visiting. This seems connected to the barometric pressure issue.

In looking over the posts in this forum, it's amazing how many of us have similar triggers. You'd think someone would be able to put the pieces together. It seems to me (and I have zero medical knowledge) that there is some mechanism in the body to regulate vasoconstriction/dilation and that this system is in some way malfunctioning in those of us who suffer from migraine. "Normal" humans can tolerate changes in air pressure that we can't. We are sensitive to food and other allergies that they are not.

I guess I don't really have a point other than to say "hi," and that I relate to what everyone in this forum is going through on a daily basis. I just thought I'd post my triggers in case anyone who knows what they're doing (as far as research) ever checks in here.

Hi, Chuck, and welcome to the forum!

When you get a minute, please pop by our Start Folder, where you'll find our policies and tips for getting around the forum.

Certainly knowing our triggers is one of the most important things we can do in dealing with migraines. Like you mentioned, there are quite a few that a lot of us have in common.

We look forward to getting to know you.

quote:

certain meat tenderizers (Lone Star),

That's a trigger for me and that restaurant, in particular, is a killer.

We ate there years ago. I brought my leftover steak home. The next morning I had a tolerable migraine, didn't make the connection, and then ate my leftovers for lunch. By 5 pm I was in agony, and we even called Lone Star but they denied using any such ingredient.

I like how restaurants deal with MSG now, I can call somewhere and they'll be honest about it.

Welcome Chuck.

FWIW, with respect to Lone Star, if I ask them to prepare my steak WITHOUT any seasonings, I seem to be OK. It doesn't taste quite as good, but it's better than having a guaranteed migraine. But you have to emphasize this to the waitress, and insist that she make the kitchen aware.

Hi Chuck, and welcome!

If you're interested, the book The Migraine Brain, by Dr.Carolyn Bernstein, has a very clear description of the biochemical process in our brains that sets off our Migraine attacks, and certainly helped me understand what is going on when I get triggered.

I could relate to a lot of your list.

- Megs

Hello, Chuck, welcome to the forum. We are glad you found us.

It sounds as though you've done a lot of good work in identifying your triggers.

I'll leave you with a link for some general info. If you have other questions, ask away!

• Learning About Migraines and Headaches - Where To Start

Welcome and take care of yourself.

fellow Philadelphian here. I can second you on the weather triggers. This area really is one of the worst for such a thing I think. Warm and 60 one day, cold rainy and 30 the next.

Hi Chuck--

Another book you might find interesting with your particular type of migraine is The Keeling Migraine Method. It not only covers the biochemical process in the brain that happens with migraine but also has an extensive discussion of weather related migraine, with some suggestions of how it can be treated. You and your neurologist might find some new ideas there. I found out I had the right medication but wasn't using it aggressively enough, which my doctor confirmed when I asked.

Tracie

quote:

Originally posted by tracieB:
Another book you might find interesting with your particular type of migraine is The Keeling Migraine Method.
Tracie

Thanks--I'll take a look, but I think you mean Keeler Migraine Method.

Yep--

That's the book I meant. I don't type well with a migraine (weather related no less). I just got home from the ER who actually called by neurologist and gave me my Magnesium/DHE/Zofran,etc,etc, cocktail and broke my week old weather related migraine. Yea!!!!

Tracie

Tracie,

Sorry you had to go for the ER visit but I'm glad you're feeling better and the Migraine cycle is broken! Gotta love that Magnesium

Hello Chuck,
Thanks for all the great info on your triggers and weather related migraines.There is nothing like quality information from the real deal to help those who are searching for possible triggers.Reading about your triggers,many of which I share gives confidence that my own observations have some validity.
I have studied my own weather change migraines for many years and agree with your observation on rate of change and intensity.The worst are spinning low pressure systems with the intensity of the system and my distance from it both important.Using doppler radar(available almost everywhere online)and high resolution barometric monitors (also available online)it became obvious that the second half of the dramatic fall and rise of pressure from these systems spells doom for me.If it passes overhead- sick migraine.If it passes where I'm still in the middle to outer spinning bands-migraine without nausea.If it passes where the spinning bands are 50-100 miles away-minor migraine.
A 2 mb a hour change in pressure is the point where I begin to trigger.
The pressure during the passing of low pressure systems both falls and rises rapidly.The migraine appears after this whiplash on the rise in pressure on the back side of the system.The more intense the system(rate of change in mb per hour) the worse my migraines.
If the pressure falls rapidly but doesn't rise rapidly too,I have no migraine.But I have charted numerous ice pick type headaches of very short duration(seconds)on rapid declines in barometric pressure(that didn't include a following rise).Go figure.
Barometric pressure changes by their nature include temperature and many other conditions,a cocktail of change that if looked at like food triggers would be like Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner at a strangers house!The glass overflowith!
What to do?If you can move away from intense systems before they hit you.At the least monitor the weather conditions that cause your migraines and be aware of the approaching trouble so you can not cheat with other triggers and be as clean as possible when it hits.
I began taking co-q 10 at 100 mg a day last fall and noticed that I recovered quicker from weather change migraines after 2-3 months of taking it.It did not stop them.
Good Luck

Hi Lifer,

Welcome to MyMigraineConnection.

Trigger identification and management is an important part of Migraine management and preventing Migraines. You may have some triggers that you can avoid, thus preventing Migraines brought on by those triggers. You seem to know what some of your Migraine triggers are, which is great. I wonder if you have any more. Have you ever kept a Migraine diary? When working to identify triggers one of the best tools is a good Migraine diary. You can read more about this and download a free diary workbook in our article Your Migraine and Headache Diary.

Migraine triggers vary from person to person. Some people don't have any food triggers, while others are bothered by lots of foods. Some other triggers may include dehydration, too much or too little sleep, fluctating hormones and certainly weather. Our Migraine trigger page has lots of helpful information you can find HERE

This Ask The Clinician question: Preventing Migraines triggered by weather changes may be particularly helpful for you.

Let me know what you think,ok?

Chuck,

I've had a few airline related migraines and the two worst migraines I have ever had were flight related.

One I got on the flight, and they actually had to have emergency crew meet me when we landed and drag me to their little clinic to medicate me.

They told me after, that is is not just the pressure change on the flight, but also the lower level of oxygen, and that if this ever happened to me in the future I should ask them to give me oxygen, and that will help.

I'm always very nervous flying, but now make sure I always take meds with me.

The worse for me is when I land somewhere with a diff. altitude. Like I live at sea level and going to a place at sea level is definitely easier than going anywhere else.

In my case, so far as I can judge, it doesn't really matter where the plane lands--I'll have migraines for several days after the flight until my body readjusts. It just seems like the plane flight is so disruptive to my system that it takes a few days to recover.

Interesting about the oxygen level.

On another front, I have some degenerative arthritis in my cervical spine, which is aggravating the nerves running through my neck. When it flares up it is also a migraine trigger. Yesterday I went to have a "nerve block" injection to break the muscle spasm in my trapezius. Unfortunately I got a horrible migraine the night before, and when I got to the surgical center I was really in bad shape. Well, they hit me with some Zofran (which killed the nausea), and then some Versed (which made the migraine much more tolerable). But then they used something to knock me out for the 15-minute procedure, and when I woke up the migraine was totally gone. My wife said the drug was Propofol, and the doctor told her that it will frequently break a migraine cycle.