4 Little-Known Migraine Attack Triggers

A migraine is much more than a simple headache — it’s a neurological disorder. Ask anyone who copes with the pain and many neurological symptoms. Over 90% of people living with migraine lose precious pain-free time from work, school, and social activities, according to the American Migraine Foundation.

Though treatments exist, it’s also critical for those living with migraine to know what triggers these awful attacks, so they can get ahead of them, if possible.

The respected provider team at Houston Neurological Associates is both knowledgeable and compassionate as they approach your treatment. They partner with you to free you from the pain and many other debilitating systems associated with migraine.

Along with innovative treatments, you can take steps to prevent your next migraine attack — by identifying and avoiding your triggers.

Migraine: A complex condition

When we noted that migraine causes much more than awful, throbbing pain — often on one side of the head — we were serious.

A migraine attack has four stages (not every patient experiences all of them each time), each of which is accompanied by unpleasant symptoms.

1. Prodrome stage

This occurs up to two days before the attack. You might experience neck pain and stiffness, nausea, fatigue, and anxiety or depression. Yawning excessively is also a common occurrence.

2. Aura stage

During this stage you might see light flashes, dark spots, or zigzag lines. Your vision may also become blurry, or you might experience tunnel vision or even vision loss.

Some patients may have problems with speaking, hearing loss, muscle weakness, tingling in the arms and legs, and tinnitus (ringing in the ears).

3. Pain stage

The headache can last as long as three excruciating days and include pulsing or throbbing pain, usually on one side of the head. It often comes with severe light, sound, and smell sensitivity; stomachache, nausea, and vomiting, and blurred vision.

You may also experience appetite loss and lightheadedness, or even feel faint.

During this time, people often retreat to a dark and quiet room to avoid loud noises or bright lights.

4. Postdrome stage

As the migraine attack recedes, you can feel incredibly exhausted and drained, for up to two days.

There’s no question, you’ve been through a lot.

Since this cycle is so awful to experience, it’s important to learn about migraine triggers and prevention strategies.

Are you aware of these rarely discussed migraine triggers?

Some of the more well-known migraine triggers include stress, hormonal shifts, certain foods, and changes in the weather, but your Houston Neurological Associates provider can go over some of the more obscure triggers.

1. Odors

It might surprise you to learn that what you smell can lead to a migraine attack.

One study showed that strong perfumes, tobacco, fabric softener products, body odor, garbage, and hair products are some of the biggest culprits.

To address these triggers, don’t use perfume yourself, and exit an area where you encounter strong cologne scents; don’t smoke or spend time in environments where people smoke; and empty your indoor trash frequently.

Avoid buying scented beauty products and fabric softeners.

2. Neck pain

This is a tricky one because neck pain is often a migraine symptom in the prodrome stage. However, neck pain that has nothing to do with migraine can nevertheless trigger an attack.

In order to avoid this trigger, you may want to consult with an orthopedist or chiropractor in addition to your Houston Neurological Institute provider.

There are steps you can take to address “tech neck” if you work at a computer all day or are on your phone frequently, and you can assess your sleeping position at night, as well as your overall posture to minimize neck problems.

3. Don’t overdo exercise

We all know that daily physical activity is a must for good health, but increasing or intensifying your exercise routine suddenly can lead to more hunger and dehydration, and it can cause your body to release more stress hormones — all of which can provoke an attack.

4. What medications do you take?

Some medications can trigger migraine attacks, so bring up the possibility of switching to a different medication if possible.

Medications that are known migraine triggers include nitrous oxide medications that treat chest pain, erectile dysfunction (ED) meds, nasal decongestants, and opioids and other pain medications.

To make matters more complex, blood pressure meds and antidepressants have been found to both prevent and trigger attacks, so a conversation with your doctor is essential.

We at Houston Neurological Institute are eager to help you get relief from your migraine attacks and can offer treatments like lifestyle management strategies, BotoxⓇ injections, and dihydroergotamine (DHE) infusions (available at our Pasadena office).