Migraine

I'm just wondering, since it seems everyone is big on keeping track of their triggers, if migraines are always preceded by triggers. Can't you just get a migraine out of the blue?

Jodi -

From everything that I've read, the simple answer I think is Yes, they always have triggers, No they don't come out of the blue.

Migraine is the response of our over-sensitive nervous systems to triggering stimuli. But they certainly can feel out of the blue because there may be many triggers present and then one becomes the "last straw" so to speak and pushes you over the edge. Also because there can sometimes be a delay of hours or even days between the trigger and the migraine. And when people have chronic migraine it can seem like just about anything can trigger them. Though if you look carefully and keep a diary, it's almost always possible to determine what might have triggered you.

This Page on MMC has lots of great reading on the basic anatomy of a migraine, common triggers, tracking triggers, etc.

- Megs

Migraines don't alway have to have a trigger. Sometimes they may have one you may not even realize.

Weather
Foods
Enviromental
Hormones

Those are big ones - but if you have "no trigger" migraines, it could also be signs of something else.

One of the many symptoms of Intercranial Hypertension, formerly called pseudotumor cerebri, is no trigger migraines, among others:

Symptoms of pseudotumor cerebri:

headache, sometimes daily, sometimes severe, not relieved by medication
hearing loss
impaired vision or eventual blindness
memory problems
Migraine attacks with unexplained triggers
nausea pain
behind the eyes
pulsating intracranial noises
shoulder and/or neck pain
tinnitus
vomiting

I my migraines always seem to have triggers. Though lately it feels like everything is a trigger.

It makes sense to keep track of your triggers because if you can find one, you can avoid it!

One of my more obvious triggers is bright light, especially sunlight. Since figuring that out, I now try to do anything I have to do outside before 11am or after 5 pm. I also had special extra dark lenses put my sunglasses. Bought a sun hat.

If you can cause one less migraine, the effort of trigger tracking is worth it.

I know that for me, most of my migrianes have triggers. Normally it's weather, not eating properly, not sleeping well and sometimes strong smells.

I still track my triggers the best I can because if I start to see something out of the ordinary, I want it to be in my migraine diary to see if is the start of a new pattern.

Yes, all Migraines DO have triggers. Sometimes, multiple triggers.

My migraine speck told me when I was there last that the trend in migraine education of doctors will be to emphasize triggers less in the future since so many of the worst triggers are unavoidable anyway.

Of course, he told me he invented Imitrex too...

Wonder if he's ever studied whether his name has a placebo effect?