Do You Know Your Causes?

[katharina]

If you suffer from migraines, do you know what your triggers are? I've been fortunate to not have to deal with them more than a time or two in my life but I've heard of various triggers. Two that stick out most are chocolate (how horrible would *that* be?! ) and changes in the atmospheric pressure.

[mollyL]

One of my triggers, and I have heard others say this is a trigger to them, is flickering lights. It can be anything such as light through branches of a tree that is blowing in the wind; light flickering on water; fast changing. images on TV or a movie screen. I make a practice, if I am able to, to close my eyes and get away from the flickering light.
My daughter has a trigger I had never heard of before. Rain hitting on dry soil always makes her have a migraine. She says it's the smell that causes it.

[jason]

One for sure are knots in the muscles of your back.

When i'm stressed i get knots and if i dont get masseuse on them quick i start getting a headache that leads to a migraine.

[katharina]

Originally Posted by mollyL

One of my triggers, and I have heard others say this is a trigger to them, is flickering lights. It can be anything such as light through branches of a tree that is blowing in the wind; light flickering on water; fast changing. images on TV or a movie screen. I make a practice, if I am able to, to close my eyes and get away from the flickering light.
My daughter has a trigger I had never heard of before. Rain hitting on dry soil always makes her have a migraine. She says it's the smell that causes it.

I've not had a problem with flickering lights, but fluorescent lights, like in stores, often make me feel bad with dizziness, etc.

Interesting about the rain on soil. Has she considered that it may be what I mentioned in my original post... the drop in atmospheric pressure? If it's actually that, it *would* be raining when she gets them.

[tater03]

One of my triggers was the birth control pill I was on. Of course that has since been changed thank goodness. One thing I have found with mine is when I am going to get one I will get black dots before my eyes. When that happens if I go take something right away I can seem to prevent a full blown migraine.

[lovetochat]

I have had one occasionally which seems to be related to looking at the computer monitor - but I think it is to do with tiredness as well. I had my eyes tested and they are fine. It happens rarely but when it does it is strange - more visual disturbance than pain.

[riskey58]

I really don't know what cases them. But when I was younger I would get them all the time. But now that I am older I haven't had one for along time. I am not sure why, but I am sure glad.

[mollyL]

Originally Posted by katharina

I've not had a problem with flickering lights, but fluorescent lights, like in stores, often make me feel bad with dizziness, etc.

Interesting about the rain on soil. Has she considered that it may be what I mentioned in my original post... the drop in atmospheric pressure? If it's actually that, it *would* be raining when she gets them.

She always says it's the smell of the rain hitting the soil but it could very well have to do with atmospheric pressure. I have a friend who has arthritis and he says that he can tell what's happening with the barometer with how his joints ache.

[katharina]

Originally Posted by mollyL

She always says it's the smell of the rain hitting the soil but it could very well have to do with atmospheric pressure. I have a friend who has arthritis and he says that he can tell what's happening with the barometer with how his joints ache.

That makes sense, yes... by the time it's actually raining, the pressure would have fallen to make that happen. I've often heard it with arthritis, too... "I can feel it in my bones" takes on new meaning then.

[fiona]

I think that my main cause for my migraines is stress from outside influences such as family, friends, and more importantly myself.

[Green-Moo]

Sometimes if I get very bad tension in my shoulders it passes to my neck and then I get a headache which is of the same intensity as a migrain but without the visual disturbance. When I get a migrain I tend to wake up with it, or find it comes on very rapidly very quickly after I get up. The other sort of headache comes on more gradually during the day.

Green-Moo

[AnitaGullett]

Hello,
The causes of migraine headaches are many, but are not clearly known, and are often misdiagnosed. When a migraine is coming on the arteries going to the brain become narrowed, and then widened. As the arteries are narrowed, the amount of blood flow going to the brain is reduced.