Can I drink alcohol with migraine attacks?

What is the relationship between alcohol and migraine and those dreaded alcohol-induced headaches? Well as alcohol is a diuretic it can make you go to the washroom more, and make you dehydrated easier.

Not having enough water can be a common migraine trigger for most folks. As well alcohol can boost your histamine levels in your blood which can make your blood vessels expand which can trigger a migraine or tension headache.

Both of these reasons can be why you experience a headache after alcohol use. As well, you can experience more pronounced hangover headache symptoms because of this.

Does the type of alcohol impact the chances of migraine attacks, as well as how much alcohol? Well, kind of! It’s individual to each person but on average beer and wine can be two of the most common among those who live with migraines to bring on a migraine. Even with a small amount of alcohol, you can still experience a headache from alcohol and have alcohol trigger migraine attacks and symptoms.

This article is not providing medical advice, please speak to a medical professional about your migraines to lean more about if alcohol is a migraine trigger factor you need to be aware of and treatment ideas and options. 

Reducing Alcohol Consumption

One of the first tips on how to have a healthy relationship with alcohol and migraines is to be comfortable and open to reducing your consumption. Depending on where you are at in your migraine journey can impact your relationship with alcohol.

For myself, when my migraines were rampant and out of control (so to speak) alcohol terrified me, and the idea of consuming alcoholic drinks was terrifying. This was not a healthy relationship; I was just plain scared.

Since understanding more of the medical side of my migraines and learning more about the impact of my migraine triggers helped me better understand the role of alcohol wasn’t as worrisome as I once thought it was.

Now, I’ve learned how to increase my migraine threshold which is your vulnerability to migraine, and trying to increase my threshold to reduce migraine episodes. You don’t need to remove alcohol completely from your life with migraine, more likely you need to learn when to reduce your consumption when attacks are more prevalent.

It’s all about adjusting to what your body needs but trying to reduce the fear and being open to reducing drinks or eliminating them for a period of time.

Taking preventative measures such as reducing hours of drinking and ensuring you have plenty of water can help with reducing and alcohol hangover and overall reduce the likelihood of a tension-type headache. 

Alcohol Drink Size

When it comes to maintaining a healthy relationship with alcohol, understanding the concept of standard drinks is crucial. A standard drink is a unit of measurement that helps individuals track and moderate their alcohol consumption such as the number of ml of red wine you have in an evening.

One standard drink typically contains about 14 grams of pure alcohol, which is roughly equivalent to a 12-ounce beer, a 5-ounce glass of wine, or a 1.5-ounce shot of distilled spirits.

Being aware of these standard measurements empowers individuals to make informed choices about their alcohol intake, promoting responsible and mindful drinking habits to reduce cluster headaches and alcohol-related headaches.

By incorporating this knowledge into your approach to alcohol, you can better navigate social situations, prioritize moderation, and contribute to a healthier overall lifestyle to help reduce regular migraine attacks.

Stress and Alcohol

It’s common for some people to reach for a drink when feeling stressed, or anxious. This can be a common remedy for stress that people feel is effective and helps them, which increases their alcohol intake.

Alcohol does change serotonin levels which can make you feel better, temporarily, but when the alcohol wears off the stress and anxiety return and can actually be worse than before. Not to mention this can be a common trigger for migraines with stress and alcohol use, even in small amounts these together can increase your likelihood of migraines.

If you live with migraine or chronic migraine, finding new ways to cope with stress and anxiety that do not include alcoholic beverages is encouraged. Reducing stress can be moving your body, cooking, colouring, meditation, journaling, playing video games, or playing a musical instrument.

Helping lower your stress levels and not turning to alcohol to help can help reduce migraine attacks with alcohol and encourage healthy alcohol choices when you want to have a drink.

Helpful tips for alcohol and migraine

Here is some advice for helpful ideas on how to drink alcohol and help reduce headache pain and reduce the chances of a trigger migraine headaches. Be sure to drink lots of water to stay well hydrated while drinking – yes this is a helpful alcohol tip for anyone, not just those with chronic headaches!

Ensuring you stay well hydrated is the best way to helping reduce the effects of migraine and alcohol. For myself, I ensure to drink lots of water, and once I’m done with my drink to also drink a hydrating sports drink.

This helps replenish my body with essentials and helps provide a big boost of hydration that my body needs. As well this helps with water loss which can occur as alcohol is a natural diuretic that can promote alcohol-induced migraines.

Another tip to help reduce headaches from alcohol is using migraine wands for reducing wine headaches. These migraine wands help remove the histamines that can bring on migraine symptoms while drinking. Use one wand per drink to help!

Lastly, remember to have a good meal and be eating regularly. Lack of eating or irregular meals can be a common trigger of migraine. Making sure you have a good meal in your body before drinking will help your body process the alcohol helps for the general population reduce the hangover symptoms and effects of alcohol on migraines.

Summary

For migraine sufferers alcohol doesn’t have to be scary – you can learn to have a healthy relationship with alcohol and enjoy that nice glass of white wine without fear of a migraine or headache.

This article is not providing medical advice and is simply suggestions and experience sharing from a chronic migraineur from my migraine diary. One of the most important things to think about is where are your migraines at – are they well-controlled, out of control, and still learning?

Once you’re able to learn and better control triggers and increase your migraine threshold this can help you learn how to enjoy alcohol without the migraine following. If alcohol is a consistent trigger be sure to speak to a medical professional to learn more about common migraine triggers and how to help reduce your trigger headache.