Alcohol and migraines

Alcohol often gets highlighted as a major migraine trigger, but the evidence shows that it’s not especially a worse trigger than other significant migraine triggers. But alcohol abuse is also increased in chronic pain sufferers. When we’re in chronic pain, we often look for small ways to relax — and that martini with dinner can be hard to give up. So what’s the evidence, and what should we look out for?

In this article

Track your alcohol intake

Red wine gets the blame, but it’s not always the culprit

Don’t forget another important trigger: dehydration

What to drink instead

Consider why you’re drinking

Track your alcohol intake

You’re already using this app — go ahead and track your alcohol intake with it. Break down the trigger into specific alcohols, too: wine, liquor, cocktails, beer. Some migraine sufferers are fine with a beer or two, and others are spiraled into pain by one sip. Track your intake to see if alcohol is a trigger for you.

Red wine gets the blame, but it’s not always the culprit

A reason to break down your alcohol tracking into specific types of alcohol is because you can’t reliably predict which…