If alcohol is a headache trigger for you, think before you drink. In other words, the best treatment for a cocktail headache is actually preventing one in the first place. Before consuming a cocktail, ask yourself if it is worth developing a headache over and ruining your celebration or holiday.

The Headache Doctor’s Tips for Drinking Alcohol Without Pain

The body converts the ethanol in alcohol that we drink to a chemical that can trigger headaches. Many people may also develop headaches due to the dehydrating effects of alcohol. Scientists are still trying to understand how or why alcohol acts as a trigger for some people who suffer from migraines. At present, most studies seem to link to headaches after alcohol to congeners, a byproduct of alcohol, most commonly found in darker drinks, such as whiskey, brandy and red wine. A cocktail headache is a headache that occurs within the same evening of drinking alcohol. Unlike a hangover headache, cocktail headaches can be caused by even small amounts of alcohol.

• Our early encounters with alcohol often set the tone for our relationship with it, creating powerful perceptions.
• These early perceptions often overshadow the delayed negative consequences.
• Their global prevalence is estimated at 52% of the population [3].
• Of the studies included in our analysis, 19 were based only on questionnaires while five included interviews with patients.

Be Cautious With Pain Medication

Once the initial effects of alcohol wear off, our nervous system becomes overexcited, leading to anxiety. Because anxiety can trigger or worsen headaches, these two hangover symptoms are often related. Histamine has been known to cause headaches for almost 100 years.² When it enters the bloodstream it dilates blood vessels, which leads to headaches. While all alcohol contains high levels of histamines, red wines have a significantly higher amount than other beverages, and therefore may lead to more severe headaches. After a migraine attack, you might feel drained, confused and washed out for up to a day.

How long will a sore throat from alcohol last?

• Pregnancy can add another complicated layer to your migraine journey, but having a strong support system will make it easier to navigate the ups and downs.
• If you start feeling unwell after drinking just a small amount of booze, you might want to get to the bottom of what’s going on.
• A cocktail headache is a headache that occurs within as little as three hours after drinking alcohol.
• While this is not necessarily true for everyone, it’s true for so many people that a trend toward abstinence developed among migraine-sufferers.
• Let’s take a look at why you get a sore throat after drinking, some of the most common symptoms, treatment options, and how to prevent it from happening again.

Patients often make this decision after experiencing a strong connection between alcohol and migraines firsthand. Learning more about your specific health history and drinking habits can help you better understand your risk of alcohol-induced headaches. At Monument, you can speak with a specialized physician, like myself, to get personalized information and care. Ethanol is also a diuretic, meaning it increases urination, which then leads to electrolyte loss and dehydration.

People who come to me to work on their alcohol consumption often feel perplexed by their own behaviors. They see all the good reasons to drink less, yet for some reason, they just can’t seem to figure out how. Researchers and lawmakers are recognizing the vital need for increased research on women’s why does alcohol cause migraines health. Major federal investments into women’s health research are a vital step toward developing better prevention and treatment options for women. What we’ve found in animal models of binge drinking is that certain subtypes of neurons lose the ability to talk to each other appropriately.

In the USA, 51% of adults consumed alcohol in the last year; additionally, 11% of those over 50 years old and 6% over 65 age reported the symptoms of alcohol abuse or dependence [21]. In Europe, 60% of adults over 60 years of age are current drinkers, and 20% of these had higher levels of consumption than the general population [22]. Statistically, males drink more alcohol than women and have more alcohol-related behavioral disorders [23]. Drinking problems occur in every age, but in the 25–49 age group, alcohol has the highest impact on mortality caused by cancer deaths and also life disability [24, 25]. Headaches are one of the most common neurological symptoms related to the sensation of pain [1] and cause a decrease in patients’ quality of life [2].

Try to stick to just a glass or two and eat enough for the food to soak up some of that alcohol. Take our short alcohol quiz to learn where you fall on the drinking spectrum and if you might benefit from quitting or cutting back on alcohol. If you frequently suffer from alcohol-related headaches, and are struggling to cut back, there are also new solutions. Ria Health’s online program can help you cut back or quit without having to put your life on hold.

How can you prevent getting a migraine headache from alcohol?

Sometimes more sulfites are added during the wine-making process to help preserve the drink. But the exact cause of a migraine after a few glasses of red wine is likely multifaceted and may be due to a combo of the following causes. As long as you don’t eat meals containing other triggers, this is one of the best things you can do.

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However, they can still contain other triggers like histamine or tannins. Histamine, tannins, tyramine, flavonoid phenols, sulfites, and phenylethylamine are all found within alcoholic beverages and this also includes beer. Drinking too much can trigger migraines, and possibly other types of headaches—such as cluster headaches and tension headaches—in people who are already susceptible https://ecosoberhouse.com/ to these issues. Such headaches can occur while you are drinking, or a few hours after—even if you’ve had as little as one drink. With Christmas over and Dry January in full swing, you might be noticing differences in your migraine attacks if you’ve drunk more or less than normal recently. If there seems to be a connection between alcohol and your migraine, you’re not alone.