What triggers migraine for you?

[PaulB]

I discovered yet another one today! Lucky me!

Now I am lucky/unlucky with the migraine because I get the really bad blurred vision with the jagged, zig-zag lights encroaching on the visuals, gradually getting worse and worse and lasting for about 10-15 minutes. Then it goes away and leaves me fairly unscathed (usually) apart from a sore head only when I move it. If I keep it still then there's only a bit of discomfort. So as regards headaches I am fortunate. I am unfortunate in that it leaves me struggling for words or forming a cogent memory for several hours following an attack. I am also fortunate in that I have identified the three big foodstuffs that trigger the attack but today, I discovered a fourth!

The first three I knew of were (in this order) Monosodium Glutamate (E621), Caffeine, Whey protein. I am scrupulous in eradicating any of those and examine ingredients on packages before I consume them so was mystified as to why I had not one, but two migraine attacks today. The culprit? Aspartame. Looking it up on the internet, I discovered it ranks very high on the 'don't touch' list for any migraine sufferer. So I now have another 'avoid like the plague' substance.

Anyone else felled by aspartame?

 

[Melonfish]

No idea what my triggers are, havent had one in a long time tbh. Mine however don't present with a headache just what i call static. mine are all visual i loose vision over one or the other side and in extreme cases total loss to black and white "static"

 

[longers]

Neds Atomic Dustbin did it for me once, had to get my mate to drive us home on his provisional licence and I was out of it for three days.

 

[ColinJ]

I only ever had one attack, when I was about 14 years old. I didn't know what it was at the time but it was just the way you described it - I saw zig zag patterns, my head was throbbing, and I was muddle-headed and confused afterwards. That was it though - 41 year have gone by and, thankfully, I have never had it happen again.

My brother-in-law gets really bad migraine attacks. He thinks that eating cheese is a factor for him, which is a shame because he loves it! My ex's mum has the problem with chocolate, and she loves that!

 

[BSRU]

Coffee does it for me, in fact these days after drinking light tea's like green tea and Earl Grey, even strong tea can do it.
Fortunately my favourite drink is cold milk.

 

[Night Train]

Coffee sometimes does it for me but so does waking up in the mornings.

I haven't worked out the specific triggers as I am now medicated to stop them.

 

[david1701]

children?

 

[buddha]

children?

+1 ... and sometimes their parents

 

[Fiona N]

After my mainly painfree migraines started at age 19, I went through a phase when sudden movement seemed to trigger the auras (sort of spacey feeling followed shortly after by visual disturbances). Playing on the swings (as an adult, I should say), falling when climbing, roller-coaster etc. all brought on 'attacks'. But over the last few years, it seems to be more random but also more infrequent.

I've never had a food/drink trigger luckily - I remember being questioned about coffee, chocolate and red wine - blimey if it was any of those things, I'd be a permanent migrainiste.

 

[fenfirsttimer]

I had them for around 40 years and spent much of my life missing out as I had yet another migraine attack lasting 2-3 days. Looking back I think that as a woman they were mostly hormonal as since I have reached a certain stage in my life they have almost stopped.

However they can still appear if I do not eat and over exert myself ( low blood sugar?) so I NEVER miss breakfast. (A topic of much discussion elsewhere!)

Occasionally they can be trigggered by extreme cold/wind.

I spent years keeping food diarys but never managed to match up with a specific food trigger.

My saviour for the last years was a tablet on prescription called Zomig which friends asked their doctors for and also found it good at relieving the headaches but they do have some mild side effects however I preferred these to missing out on 2-3 days of normal living.

I do occasionally still get auras where my vision blurs for around 15 mins with the flashing zigzag lights but I have no pain with this and usually am fully recovered within an hour.

 

[Paladin - York]

Just when I think I've cracked it - yep, I get another.

ps aspartame eh!

 

[PaulB]

The two major benefits I discovered were 1) running. Once I took that up, attacks dropped from 10-20 a year to one every eighteen months/two years. 2). Feverfew. Now that DEFINITELY helps.

I despise any sick time so will keep the packages of everything I've eaten over the course of a week and if one strikes me down, I'll carefully inspect every single ingredient and possible combination of ingredients. Some things which would be harmless on their own can combine with other substances in the body and produce harmful outcomes. Anything with 'glutamine' on its own can end with a sad outcome.