Hangover Headache: Treatment and Prevention
Too much Tylenol — over 4,000 mg in a 24-hour period — while hungover can lead to dangerous liver swelling or liver failure. Combined with alcohol, NSAIDs can increase your risk of stomach bleeding. Vitamin B6 is an essential nutrient that’s found in all sorts of common foods, such as poultry, potatoes, and alcohol causes migraines fruit. Alcohol reduces your levels of B vitamins, making it harder for your body to metabolize and eliminate alcohol. It’s easy to find tons of purported hangover headache “cures” that you can make at home and even buy in stores. But most of them have no reliable scientific research that proves they work.
When to contact a doctor
However, a 2019 study found higher rates of vodka consumption among drinkers with frequent migraine attacks. The response to alcohol varies from person to person, and there is no alcohol that absolutely will not cause a migraine or other headache. In a 2018 study involving 2,197 people with migraine, 25% of the participants who had stopped or always avoided drinking did so because alcohol triggered migraine attacks. More than a third of the participants said that alcohol had this effect, with about 78% naming red wine as the most common alcohol trigger. Whether alcohol acts as a trigger is really a case-by-case basis for people with migraine.
Staying Healthy
One of the most common symptoms of a hangover is a headache. Hangovers occur when the alcohol levels in your blood drop significantly—frequently the morning after you drink. Hangovers can affect pretty much anyone who has had too much to drink.
- If you notice consistent patterns, then chances are it’s the alcohol that’s causing your migraine headache.
- If a headache persists or worsens, visit a doctor for an examination and treatment recommendations.
- A cocktail headache is a headache that occurs within as little as three hours after drinking alcohol.
Diagnosing hangover headache
Alternative migraine therapies can work alongside traditional treatments to reduce migraine attack frequency and lessen the impact of symptoms. It’s important to work with your obstetrician and your headache doctor when you have migraine to establish a safe treatment plan. If you’re not already working with a headache doctor, use our Find a Doctor tool to find someone in your area. Plan to discuss the FDA’s safety guide for medication use during pregnancy. It may be worth considering some treatment options to help you manage your symptoms. It will be crucial to have access to reliable resources on migraine as you work to manage this disease.
Can alcohol give you a migraine attack?
- However, if you still experience a migraine attack after drinking any kind of alcohol, the best solution is to avoid alcohol altogether.
- But unless you intend to keep drinking, the alcohol levels in your body will eventually drop, causing a headache anyway.
- Symptoms can vary from light sensitivity and dizziness to food cravings or body chills.
- Chemicals called congeners are also a component of alcoholic drinks.
- Finding a community of people who understand exactly what you’re going through is like being welcomed home after a long, tiring day.
General hangover tips
What Causes An Alcohol Headache After One Drink?
