This is a series of articles that deals with Migraines and the challenges a family faces to find a cure. Migraines can have a hugely negative impact not only on the person suffering but also everyone involved. Hopefully other migraine victims will find helpful relief … if not within these articles from the resources available to date.

Part 4

Patience, sacrifice and diligence: these three distinguishing qualities are helpful in any endeavor in life. When trying to unravel the enigma surrounding migraines … patience, sacrifice and diligence are indispensable. Don’t rule out anything as a possible trigger. There are some excellent articles on triggers on this website.

The only thing I would add in regards to triggers is that sometimes there is a synergistic pattern of not just one, but multiple triggers that exacerbates the onset and duration of a migraine. For example maybe chemical changes could sometimes trigger a mild migraine or no migraine at all – while the addition physical stress or emotional triggers in conjunction with certain foods would guarantee the onset of a migraine.

This is where the daily use of a journal to identify possible triggers is invaluable. Not only do you want to include your diet and medications but anything that is going on and how you feel about the events occurring in your life – especially when you start your doctor’s prescribed medication to treat your migraines. As a woman you might discover that while on a certain type of birth control medication attributes to the onset of your migraine. However, when you add in the stress of children (yours or others’), divorce, family problems, work, etc. to birth control pills you have a “whopper-doozie” migraine cocktail.

The Headaches of Family Life with a Migraine – Part 4

There are many different kinds of triggers, and every person has different ones.

You may have some triggers that start your headache attack at one time, and then these triggers can change. Triggers can be divided into different groups, including:

Emotional triggers: These are triggers that have to do with emotions and your state of mind. Some examples of emotional triggers are: family problems, problems at work, success at work or school, anticipation, anxiety, an emotional crisis, the post-crisis period, a new job, a new school, weekends, and so on.

Stress triggers: These have to do with physical effort, such as strenuous exercise, excessive physical work at the work place or at school, physical sickness, not enough sleep, too much sleep, and so on.

Environmental triggers: These triggers are responses to our surroundings. For example, bright lights, different kinds of aromas like perfume, tobacco, or any kind of odor. We can also include loud noises, altitude, weather, and barometric pressure changes. I have a patient who can predict rain two hours before it starts because of the barometric pressure change that triggers her headaches.

Chemical triggers: The most common chemical triggers are hormonal changes that occur during the premenstrual period, during a woman’s period, or during the post-menstrual period. These triggers are extremely common in women who suffer headache. But there are a variety of chemical triggers, such as low blood sugar that results after not having eaten for many hours. This is a very common trigger for headache.

Food and beverage triggers: Rarely do we connect our eating habits with headaches, but there is a strong relationship that often goes unnoticed. Some foods are commonly related to headaches.

• Some of the most common trigger foods are:
  • Hard cheese
  • Hot dogs
  • Chocolate
  • Nuts
• Less common food triggers are:
  • Smoked fish
  • Vinegar
  • Fermented food (cream, yogurt)
  • Freshly baked yeast products
  • Peanuts (and peanut butter)
  • Monosodium glutamate (commonly found in Chinese food)
  • Soybean
  • Onion
  • Canned figs
  • Citric food
  • Bananas
  • Pork
  • Caffeinated beverages
  • Avocado
  • Liver

I have noticed that a few of the above-mentioned triggers are more common than others. Bananas, pork, and Chinese food seem to be high on the list. You have to take into account that certain foods may serve as intermittent triggers, but once a food has affected you once, it becomes a risk factor. In addition, almost any alcohol drink may trigger a headache, but red wine is the most common culprit.

How Can You Recognize Your Triggers?

One of the most important aspects of headache treatment is your own control over your headache, and control starts with identifying your own triggers, and learning to avoid them.

I recommend writing down your triggers in a trigger diary. Each time you have a headache, try to relate it to one or more of the triggers that are listed above. At the end of the month you can sit down and analyze your results to see which are the most common triggers in your case.

Headache Triggers Revisited

In your bed and on your pillow and on most furniture and carpeting in your house, live millions of microscopic creatures that are sustained by the dead skin that cells that flake off of you and your household pets. Grossed out yet? Good, because the really nasty part is that over one hundred thousand of these dust mites can live in one square meter of carpet and each one of these cuties can leave up to 20 droppings a day. Still not grossed out? Well good, because every day you breathe in thousands of little microscopic mite turds and you may be suffering from an allergic reaction to the icky combination of dead skin and mite feces that float around your house.

Fun Fact: An average mattress can harbor as many as 10 million dust mites. Sweet dreams!

Allergens produced by dust mite detritus are on of the common triggers of asthma and are also to blame for a variety of other respiratory ailments. Symptoms of dust mite allergies can include itchiness, sneezing, inflamed or infected eczema, watering eyes, runny nose, hay fever, headaches, and clogging in the lungs.

Fun Fact: 80% of that dust you see in a sun beam is … yeah, mite feces and dead skin

So how do you eliminate this dread infestation from your home? Well, you don’t really. You can, however, minimize their impact by making a few changes around the house.

Getting Rid of Dust Mites

1. May sound obvious, but get rid of the dust. Give your entire house a thorough cleaning, especially the bed room.
2. Throw away all of you pillows and buy hypo allergenic pillows with mite resistant pillow cases and mattress cover. Mites love the mattresses and pillow ’cause it’s all nice an warm up in there.
3. Splurge for the HEPA filter. They can be pricey, but they do make a difference.
4. Keep the pets confined to certain portions of the house. Pets greatly increase the amount of dust mites in a home so if Fido has to stay inside, best to keep him confined to one or two rooms. Preferably not the bedrooms.
5. Get rid of your collection of stuffed animals from the state fair. These things are mite hotels. Well, actually more like birthing centers.
6. Vacuum all the time. Every spare minute. The mites are your enemy!  And since you will be vacuuming so much go ahead and get a nice hypoallergenic vacuum cleaner.

Are Dust Mite Allergies Causing Your Headaches?

There are many headache triggers that you probably come in contact with every day, often without even realizing it. By making just a few alterations in your daily lifestyle, you can avoid many of the triggers that will lead to a severe headache.

House Hold Chemicals

Most house holds are stock full of toxic chemicals that also emit strong odors that can be the cause of headaches for many people. Pay close attention to the types of cleaning chemicals, nail care products, and pesticides that you keep around the house and consider less toxic organic substitutes. Most of the cleaning chemicals used around the house can be substituted with plain old soap and a little elbow grease.

Food

Be conscious of what you are eating. Many seemingly harmless foods can cause headaches in a certain percentage of the population. See my earlier post on avoiding foods that cause headaches.

Radical changes in diet

This includes going on a long fast or trying the latest celebrity diets. Often your body will react negatively to large changes in caloric intake. Changes in blood sugar can also be responsible for headaches when changing your eating habits. If you are making a drastic change in your diet, do so with the supervision of your doctor.

There are plenty of triggers out there that are unavoidable so be aware of the ones that you can avoid and you may avoid at least one painful headache.

Headache Triggers You Can Avoid