Open Access News Health & Social Care News Understanding migraine, from diagnosis to management July 24, 2024 Image: © Just_Super | iStock Despite migraine affecting a large proportion of the population, many people are reluctant to seek help for this often debilitating condition. To understand why and the challenges with diagnosis and treatment, Lorna Rothery spoke to esteemed assistant professor and headache specialist Dana Ionel What are some common triggers and risk factors for migraine? Many different factors can trigger migraine, such as weather changes, dehydration, lack of sleep, stress, and, for many females, getting their period. It’s important to note that migraine is not solely linked to hormones, despite common belief.
There’s a lot of misconception about food being a common migraine trigger. People often believe that foods like cheese or chocolate can cause migraine, but there isn’t enough evidence to support this. Red wine can be a common trigger for some people, but in terms of other foods, what we’ve learned over time is that the things we thought were food triggers are actually just normal food cravings associated with migraine.
Most of the time, migraine triggers are things that we can’t always avoid, such as weather changes or imperfect sleep due to various obligations or stress. It’s important to use the term ‘trigger’ rather than ‘cause’ because environmental factors tend to be the most common triggers. Migraine is a complex neurolog.